Tiger Barb Tropical Fish Information

Tiger Barb Tropical Fish Learn all about the Tiger Barb's feeding habits and food types, its behaviour, its origins, its natural habitats, is it male or female, breeding advice and information, suitable tank mates, its sizing and growth range, minimum tank size, water PH and more. Use our fish community creator tool to plan your tank set up and ensure that the Tiger Barb is the right fish for your aquarium.

The Tiger Barb is a popular aquarium fish although it is only suited to specific communities of fish.

The biggest problem with Tiger Barbs is their well-known tendency to fin-nip, a reputation that has undeservedly passed on to barbs in general. The fin nipping originates from the fishes social hierarchy in which a 'pecking order' is established within a group. If the fish are kept in groups they will nip and 'play fight' amongst each other and generally ignore other fish. When kept in smaller numbers however, they can become aggressive fin-nippers, which is not the fault of the fish as it is only because they are unable to exhibit natural grouping behaviour. Apart from this trait the fish are good hardy aquarium fish that will do well mixed with other small active species.

Avoid mixing with moderately long finned fish (e.g. gouramies and angels) unless the barbs are in a group of 10 or more and in a large aquarium, and never mix with long finned fish such as guppies or Siamese fighters. Can be prone to whitespot. Green and albino colour varieties are available.

Called Puntigrus tetrazona; the aquarium Tiger Barb is actually a hybrid between several Puntigrus species. It mostly resembles P. anchisporus, although P. tetrazona is probably involved, as well as possibly P. navjotsodii and P. partipentazona.