Good Schooling Fish For My Tank?

[onidrase]

I'm having a really hard time getting this question answered, so here's a thread specifically for it.
It's a 75 gallon aquarium, 48 inches long, 18 inches wide, something inches tall don't really care about height

Stocking Plan

1 green terror
1 firemouth
1 senegal bichir
3 raphael cats
1 featherfin cat
2 bristlenose pleco (male and female)

lots of sturdy live plants, mainly anubias and java fern, so no fish that will eat them allowed

the pH is around 7.6, hardness is pretty dang hard but I can't give an exact number, and temperature is about 76-78 F

I've been looking particularly at tiger barbs, turquoise rainbowfish, or odessa barbs.

I mostly want tiger barbs, and the only thing keeping me from getting them is the idea that perhaps my GT or bichir would try to eat them. On the other hand, they are quite rotund and quick little things. Is this fear unnecessary?

I'd rather have a large school of fish big enough to not get eaten than a small school of huge schooling fish like rainbows.

any suggestions on schooling fish, including how many could fit, would be appreciated. Thanks much

note, my firemouth has been more aggressive than the green terror thus far. I'm not expecting too much aggression out of him. But I guess it's possible he'll turn the other cheek. (or she?)

 

[fishprotector]

Arulius barbs are slightly bigger and good looking. They are a little harder to find, but I have seen them in a few shops recently.

 

[onidrase]

Arulius barbs are slightly bigger and good looking. They are a little harder to find, but I have seen them in a few shops recently.

you know they're hard to find when I have never even heard of them

I mostly like the personality of the tiger barbs, they're good schoolers, active little guys, always hungry, and they always nipped at my arm whenever I was moving things or cleaning substrate instead of running away like fish normally do It'd be amazing to have a school of like 20-30 of them, but I don't wanna end up feeding them to my fish when they get larger. right now they're just sweet little guys, but they won't stay little forever

I'm also looking into rainbows, but I don't know much about these guys. They have australian, boesemani, an turquoise rainbows at my LFS's, I like the boesemani best, but they're 11-20 dollars a pop in every one of them, and I don't like them that much they also seem to get pretty huge, and it doesn't seem like I'd be able to fit a decent school in a 75 gallon tank.

The odessa barbs are kind of a long shot, I don't know much of these guys or anything. I just like how the males look i don't think they have a whole lot of males left at the LFS, seems like everyone has bought them and left all the ugly matty females there

 

[onidrase]

any yay's or nay's on the tiger barbs? anything? anyone?

hello?

 

[parker313]

I would go for the tiger barbs. Loads of personality and they get to be a decent size full grown.

If you go for the rainbows, you definitely need 5-6 all of the same kind. I tried mixing and had 6 rainbows but different species and they turned into serious terrors, even going after a severum.

 

[Hunterprey]

I think the Tiger Barbs might get eaten by the Green Terror or Senegal when they get older. I had Arulius Barbs and Clown Barbs but decided to just keep Clown Barbs. I like how they remind me of Tiger Barbs but gets bigger and pretty tight schooling fish.

Hopefully my 6" Oscar and 8" Bichirs wont eat them. They've been together for over 6 months.

 

[onidrase]

I think the Tiger Barbs might get eaten by the Green Terror or Senegal when they get older. I had Arulius Barbs and Clown Barbs but decided to just keep Clown Barbs. I like how they remind me of Tiger Barbs but gets bigger and pretty tight schooling fish.

Hopefully my 6" Oscar and 8" Bichirs wont eat them. They've been together for over 6 months.

what a shame I'm honestly not at all too attracted to the look of tiger barbs, just the way they act. I'm probably gonna go with australian rainbowfish, rather. How many would fit in a tank my size? Or what about turquoise rainbowfish?

 

[onidrase]

I would go for the tiger barbs. Loads of personality and they get to be a decent size full grown.

If you go for the rainbows, you definitely need 5-6 all of the same kind. I tried mixing and had 6 rainbows but different species and they turned into serious terrors, even going after a severum.

Yeah, I was gonna get all the same species, of either australian or turquoise. I'd love to get a bunch of tiger barbs, but I'm getting mixed messages on if they'd be safe with the bichir and GT.