Otto Catfish Or Cory With Tiger Barbs

[mancin]

I'm trying to find a bottom feeder that will be compatible with Tiger Barbs. It is for a 29 Gallon tank. I'm currently in a fish-in cycle and watching the waters very closely, so I will NOT be adding this fish for a couple months (possibly longer, basically whenever the tank is cycled and ready for more sensitive fish) but I want to be more prepared than I was when I started off!

Currently I have in the tank:

6 Tiger Barbs (4 regular - 2 albino)
2 Tinfoil Barbs (yes I know these get HUGE, they will be re-homed to a friend of mine when his tank is ready)
2 Red Wag Platys

pH: 7.2
Temp: 79 F

I may get a couple more Tiger Barbs after the tank is ready because I just love those fish, and since they are really going to be my favorite fish of the tank, I have been basing my selections off of what is compatible with them.

I found a fish compatability site and found that many loaches and plecos are compatible with Tiger Barbs, but they all just get too big for a 29 Gallon tank (I love the clown loaches... but I'm going to have to wait until I have a much larger thank for those!) I have been interested in Otto Catfish, and I believe the dwarf ones don't get very big so they may be a good size for my tank, but I haven't been able to find anything to tell me if they are compatible with Tiger Barbs. The site I originally used does NOT list them as compatible, which makes me think there could be some issues?

Any suggestions? If not an Otto Catfish, what other small fish options do I have for bottom dwellers?

 

[mark.w.jones]

Cories are a far better bottom feeder than otos which are not technically a bottom feeder as they feed all over the tank primarily on algae on plants, tank sides, ornaments substrate etc. Without a constant algae supply they can soon starve or worse, attach themselves to the sides of slower moving fish. Although you don't have any slow moving fish I would stick clear of them and go with cories which are a far hardier species. In my experience they were not troubled by Tiger Barbs at all as they are true bottom feeders so rarely come into contact with the barbs at all. Mid to Top dwellers especially large and slow moving ones will suffer most from fin nipping with Tigers. There are lots of species of cory to choose from ranging in size from 1" to 3"> just look through the species index on here or head to one of the many catfish websites to get some ideas.

In addition, I think gold barbs look amazing with tigers if you can find them.

 

[mancin]

Ah, I forgot about corries. I do remember reading a little about those as well. For some reason I thought they got really big too, but it sounds like not all of them do. I do remember reading that they should be in large groups, but even at 2.5", wouldn't more than 3 be excessive for my tank?

 

[mancin]

In addition, I think gold barbs look amazing with tigers if you can find them.

I haven't seen those before, but they are beautiful fish! (gotta love google) I will definitely do my research on those as potential additions later on down the line as well. Thanks for your input!

 

[mancin]

OK so I just did some quick searching on corries to get a visual and get some basic facts, and I really like the panda and peppered corries. However, both of them max out temp wise at 75 F. My tank is at 79 F for the fish I currently have. I know the Tigers had a pretty wide range of "acceptable" temperature, as did the platys, so if I lowered the tank to 75 F do you think that would work for the corries? (of course when I'm ready for them) Or should I have it more at 72 F?

 

[mark.w.jones]

Temperature is not really an issue with the vast majority of tropical fish now. Most fish will tolerate water temps outside what is suggested in books etc. Both those cories are great or if you need something smaller there are 3 pygmy cory species widely availabe which reach no more than 1.5"

 

[mancin]

Great! Good to know. Thanks again!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

agree that the cories would be your best choice, i'd steer away from the panda's though, they're very very sensitive and even experienced keepers often struggle to keep thema live in community tanks. for your first experience of cories and your first tank i'd suggest the pepperds would be a much more robust choice.