Barb Tank, Bottom Feeder And Other Suggestions

[FishyFriend101]

Hello everyone,
I currently have a fairly empty 29 gallon tank that I plan on making into a barb tank. Right now I have 4 firecracker barbs, 2 cherry barbs, 3 corys, and a rubberlip pleco. I plan on buying a few more cherry barbs and moving the corys to my 45 so that a can have a decent school in that tank. Since there will be no bottom feeders I was hoping for some suggestions. I was thinking about loaches as I have never had those before, however I have not yet found a species that is small enough to fit in my tank. If anyone has suggestions for other types of barbs that would be appreciated as well, I would like to have some green, blue, or black in the tank if that's possible. 
Thanks

 

[DomH]

Hey man,
 
Barbs are a schooling fish and just do a lot better with more barbs. Some barbs I would recommend would be albino tiger barbs, black ruby barbs and green tiger barbs.
 
Have fun

 

[Byron]

I concur that the barbs should be in larger groups.  That will fill the upper water column.  I certainly would not add other species to what you already have, there is simply not sufficient space for more.  Barbs are very active swimmers, and need space.  The Tiger Barbs, whatever variety (original, albino or green) are not going to work as they need a group of 10-12 minimum and that in this tank on their own, so stay with the nice species you have but increase their numbers a bit.
 
As for substrate fish, loaches do work well with barbs because of the activity levels of both.  And most loaches do get largish for this space, but there are a couple of options.  One is the Dwarf Chain Loach, Ambastaia sidthimunki.   A group of five minimum, or six.  Provided you have lots of chunks of wood on the substrate, this species will do well.  I've had a group of five for several years now.  Another "dwarf" species which is not seen so often but is ideally suited is the Banded Dwarf Loach, Micronemacheilus cruciatus.  I had a group of five of these for several years, very lovely loaches.  Third option is a group of the Zebra Loach, Botia striata.  Be careful of common names, which are not consistent around the hobby; the species B. striata is fine (a group of five), but one sometimes sees much larger and nastier loaches labeled "zebra."
 
With any of the loaches, lots of chunks of wood with crevices and tunnels (the Malaysian Driftwood is ideal here) is essential, as loaches are highly social fish but must have their individual "home" in the tank.  A sand substrate is helpful too, as they do like to excavate a little.
 
Byron.

 

[BettaBettas]

should have at least 4+ cherry barbs, or barbs of any kind really. and the rubberlip pleco eventually will need a larger tank (over a long period of time though). also some interesting bottom feeders are a twig catfish, there pretty unusual to find in a tank so that's my suggestion.