Gentle Tiger Barbs?!?!

[mewhorse]

I currently have 4 tiger barbs (thought only 3 survived but 1 hid for 24 hours somewhere when tank overheated)...today I bought some guppies (asked for 3 males & 5 females but he gave me extra females for free - got 11 total guppies!) I always thought tiger barbs are aggressive fish, keep in large schools (6+) so they only pick on each other...was a bit worried about the guppies but it was actually quite cute - the tiger barbs formed teams of 2 and went up to individual guppies and seemed to be sniffing them, almost touching them with their noses. If the guppy swam away the barbs went on to the next one instead, but a few guppies were still in shock from the bagging/unbagging/moving experience and just sat there and the barbs would hover there 'sniffing' them for almost a minute before moving on...not the least bit aggressive - no nipping or shoving just welcoming the newcomers I guess! Was quite sweet...

anymore sweetheart 'aggressive' fish stories out there? Would like to hear them if there are!

 

[Captain Retardo]

not really a sweethart story but an interesting one:

Ever since I gave away my other male Bolivian ram (he was really getting ripped up by the one i have now) now my dominant one seems like he isn't tough anymore, he is the biggest scaredy cat fish in my tank (even more scared of me than my Kuhli Loaches!) He even runs away when my honey/dwarf gourami gets near him (the gourami is 2/3 of his size)

My Bolivian is the only fish in my tank that would be technically considered semi-aggresive

 

[QuotheRaven]

I have 3 Tiger Barbs who are not aggressive at all except to each other
I have 4 striped kuhlii's who are out all day and aren't scared at all...
not really sweethearts but oh well

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I currently have 4 tiger barbs (thought only 3 survived but 1 hid for 24 hours somewhere when tank overheated)...today I bought some guppies (asked for 3 males & 5 females but he gave me extra females for free - got 11 total guppies!) I always thought tiger barbs are aggressive fish, keep in large schools (6+) so they only pick on each other...was a bit worried about the guppies but it was actually quite cute - the tiger barbs formed teams of 2 and went up to individual guppies and seemed to be sniffing them, almost touching them with their noses. If the guppy swam away the barbs went on to the next one instead, but a few guppies were still in shock from the bagging/unbagging/moving experience and just sat there and the barbs would hover there 'sniffing' them for almost a minute before moving on...not the least bit aggressive - no nipping or shoving just welcoming the newcomers I guess! Was quite sweet...

anymore sweetheart 'aggressive' fish stories out there? Would like to hear them if there are!

Give the fish a couple of weeks to settle in and you may see some not so nice behavior though.

 

[BBrain]

As Tokis-Phoenix wrote, don't judge a fish on its first day!

I bought a school of Lemon Tetras, after reading everywhere that they were peaceful, good in a planted tank, etc., etc.
After a few days, one became totally obsessed with harassing any of the other Lemons that dared enter "his" end of the 27 gal. tank. I never even saw him leave his territory to eat. After a month, another one became aggressive too. Then, I caught them nipping off the fresh growing tips of my lovely plants. In all my research, I never read that they are plant eaters.

So there's another lesson for me: individual fish can be quite different in behaviour from usual behaviour of that species. Just like humans!

 

[Captain Retardo]

So there's another lesson for me: individual fish can be quite different in behaviour from usual behaviour of that species. Just like humans!

He's quite right, My cherry barb is a hell raiser, he nips my cories fins (My cories are my favorite fish in my tank) and tries to eat the ADF's. While my Bolivian never ever caused a problem.

 

[Dan-25]

my friend has a tank not quite sure how big it is but he has got
3 tiger barbs
3 cherry barbs
2 loaches
1 siamese fighter - male
6 neon tetras
2 tropical frogs
1 ghost catfish
1 goldfish
1 shrimp
1 lobster
and 1 large goldfish with big brains and big tail about a pound in weight

all together with no problems