Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => General Fishkeeping advice => Topic started by: Pawel on September 30, 2014, 01:42:35 PM
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I'm looking ahead thinking of adding new fish to my tank. I'm quite attracted to tiger barbs, I think they are great characters, also have been reading about dwarf cichlids and think they would be a great addition. Perhaps a pair of Kribensis or Cockatoo Dwarfs? Currently I have:
Cherry Barbs (4)
Chain Loaches (4)
Cardinal Tetras (7)
Amano Shrimps (6)
I have 180 l tank, pH8 and hard water. My water company lists hardness as 100 mg/l or 14.01 German deg.
I'm planning to redo my tank in the near future with soil substrate topped with sand and lots of plants, so I won't be adding any new fish until that's ready.
Could I add either Tigers or Cichlids or both?
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I really don't think adding tiger barbs would be a problem for you as long as you get at least six. Have you seen green tiger barbs? They're the same as regular tiger barbs but a bit more unique looking :) I think the cichlids might prove problematic with the shrimp unless they're fully grown... any shrimp babies you have will stand almost no chance in the same tank as a cichlid.
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I've seen the green ones! They are really striking with their red fins and tail and I love the look of them. These are the ones I would get :) and 6 is a definitely a minimum.
I like my shrimps and one is fully grown, while the others are in various sizes. I also have a 22l tank, so I guess I could raise them in there and move to the big tank when fully grown.
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Five band barbs look similar to tigers but aren't nearly so aggressive. But never having had them I have no idea if they fit your 'interesting character' category.
With your water, cockatoo cichlids would be OK; they are one of two or three apisto species that can cope with harder water. The only problem would be breeding them in hard water. But the other fish in the tank would probably eat any eggs anyway.
The 22 litre tank would be fine for shrimps. I've had amanos with apistogrammas and they haven't bothered them.
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Five band barbs look similar to tigers but aren't nearly so aggressive. But never having had them I have no idea if they fit your 'interesting character' category.
I have nine five-band barbs and love 'em to bits. They are totally peaceful and hang around together, cruising the bottom of the tank under the crypts looking for bits of food. As for 'interesting charactors'.... there's a bit of half-hearted chasing but that's about it.
The Cherry Barbs are more interesting, and I see you have four. The males go bright cherry red and flare their fins at each other and 'dance' round in little circles, then dash back to 'their' place in the tank... so you would be better off having more of these, at least 3xmales and 3xfemales. Mine even bred in my tank, unbeknown to me. I only discovered it by finding a very small fry living in my filter. I waited until she got big enough and put her in the tank - she's doing really well.