Small Fish VS Big Fish

[vally206]

Hey everyone,
since im new and i know absolutely nothing about tropical fish, except that the tiger barb is my favourite, i thought i'd get some advice from the pro's

Tank: 3Foot 92cm x 41cm x 41cm Approx 150litres

I need to start putting fish in my tank soon and i'm a bit confused with what i can get.
I want a couple of small fish and also some big ones and including 2 tiny yabbies, and some fighting fish maybe 2 or 3, but after reading some of the stories on this forum, all the big fish seem to do is eat the small ones.

Are there an big fish out there who wont harm other fish and will just eat flakes or something? Big fish i mean more than 10-15cm.
Because im gonna have some neon fish and some barbs and i wouldnt want the poor things to be eaten cause that would just SUCK. I mite throw in a catfish too they look pretty cute.

OR if that wont work out.. id love to have just 3 BIG fish which are really aggressive and love to eat everything

Any Help would be greately appreciated.
Cheers
Val

 

[The-Wolf]

Hey everyone,
since im new and i know absolutely nothing about tropical fish, except that the tiger barb is my favourite, i thought i'd get some advice from the pro's

I need to start putting fish in my tank soon

I want a couple of small fish and also some big ones , and some fighting fish maybe 2 or 3,

Are there an big fish out there who wont harm other fish and will just eat flakes or something? Big fish i mean more than 10-15cm.

I mite throw in a catfish too they look pretty cute.

First of all tiger barbs can be very aggressive and IMO
should only be kept with themselfs.

Secondly; Is the tank cycled?
You cannnot keep more than 1 male betta (fighting fish)
in any one tank. They will fight to the death! you can keep
more than 1 female though and 4 seems to be the magic number.

You might throw in a catfish?
Which one many will grow huge!

do you want fish bigger than 15cm or ones that get to 15cm?

 

[CFC]

I think you have a lot of research to do before you buy any fish. Yabbies (or crayfish as most people know them) cannot be kept with any fish and need a tank to themselves, they are fierce predators that will catch and eat or seriously harm any fish they are kept with, any fish that is too large for the yabbie to hold onto will probably eat the yabbie.

If you want to keep neons you are going to be very limited to anything you can keep with them, nearly all fish over 4 inches (10 cm) will consider them food, the only exceptions are the truely herbivorous fish like plecs and other members of the Loricarid (sucker mouthed catfish) family. Fighting fish or Bettas as they are more commonly known do not do well when kept with other fish and should only ever be kept one to a tank, if two males are kept together they will kill each other.

You need to sit down and have a real hard think about what you want in your tank, you could either have a community of small peacefull fish or a few larger fish up to a maximum adult size of 6".

 

[melleth]

First I agree with all of the advice above.
You won't have much sucess if you just toss in whichever fishe catch you fancy at the store. Decide what type of tank you want. I keep mostly tetras and a few danios and killies. All are more agressive fish and I have a huge tank so they have plenty of space to move around.
Bettas and barbs are a bad combo. The bettas tail will be shredded very quickly.
I do keep a black shark in my tank, he is prety peacefull, being abottom feeder. He is about 5" and is supposed to get at least 6" but I have actually heard that they can get much bigger. Plecos also get quite big and are peaceful.
You definatly need to do some more research. Go to a good fish store, not like Petco or Petsmart either but preferable one of the small shops that specialise in fish and ask lots of questions. You'll find the people tend to be very knwlageable and will tell you what fish will be good togather. Point out the ones you like tell them your tank size and follow the advice they give you.
Unless of course you want to be replacing dead fishe every few weeks.

 

[SimonA]

You shouldnt keep tiggerbarbs with fighter fish as tigerbarbs are fin nippers.

 

[wrs]

how many US gallons is that tank?

If you want bigger fish, why not a bristlenose pleco and some gouramis? Gouramis are like bettas, but can be kept with eachother, and do get to 6 inches. I dont think tiger barbs can go with them though.

 

[rvm]

First of all tiger barbs can be very aggressive and IMO
should only be kept with themselfs.

I know you said "IMO", but I just wanted to throw in my 2 pence worth!! Tiger barbs can be kept with a lot of fish, you just have to make sure that you get a bare minimum of 6 tiger barbs, and preferably 8. I've succesfully kept them with neons, platies, danios, and significantly larger cichlids!! They never bothered any of the other fish at all.
Having said that, a Tiger barb species tank looks really good. you can get yourself about 14 in that tank (40g), and get a mix of albino, striped and green.
They're a good fish to start with as they are very hardy, and they are always active and playful.

 

[FishDan]

I tend to agree that tiger barbs seem to get a pretty bad rap. I have kept them and seen them kept with angels, which would be a prime target for a fin-nipper. I agree that if you have a large enough number (I have also found 6-8 to be the minimum) that they are far to busy establishing and maintaining a pecking order among themselves to really bother any other fish in the tank. Though I do agree with the above advice about doing research. Between here and other fish sites and LFS you should be able put together a good list of fish that will work together. As a general rule though, many larger fish will eat most smaller fish, with the exceptions noted above. It is just their natural instinct.

\Dan

 

[Inchworm]

Hi vally206

Welcome to the forum. You are about to begin a wonderful hobby that might well keep you interested and learning new things for your entire lifetime. It is well worth taking a little time to learn the scientific principles that govern it and to learn about the many different kinds of fish that are available.

Many new hobbyists start out with an idea about what fish they want and find out that it is an unrealistic combination. Don't let this worry you since you will soon learn that the choices of great fish are almost endless. I strongly recommend that you begin at the beginning with cycling your tank. Here's an article about it that will give you a good place to start:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099

There are many experienced fishkeepers here who will be happy to help you get started. Please don't hesitate to ask questions in the Beginners section.

If you continue to post here, by the time you have your tank set up and ready to stock, you will have been exposed to many different possibilities and might have already changed your mind about the fish several times. This is all part of the hobby.

Above all, enjoy yourself. I'll be looking forward to reading your posts

 

[candy]

big fish vers little fish....i got around that problem with geting two tanks but for most people that something time and space and often family memebers wont alow.

no one has said anything about oscars....dont know how common they are where u live but over here in newzealand u can get red tiger oscars or albino oscars..they grow to about 12" but thats only if they are fed realy well.as long as the oscars all come from the same batch they genaraly get along but i would limit 2 oscars to a 3 foot tank.put a cat fish in with them or a pleco and they get along realy well.

plus no little fishes they will get eaten..but if u find feeding fish to other fish fun these guys love hunting goldfish.
only problen with then they make a lot of wast so a pleco would be a good thing to have in with them...and u need a good filter system and do reguler water changes...

i just hope u find some fish u realy like cause there is no point in having fish u dont realy like the look of or u find hard to keep.

i hope u have heeps of fun looking for fish u like and seting up ur tank..

good luck finding what u like
candy

 

[David]

no one has said anything about oscars....dont know how common they are where u live but over here in newzealand u can get red tiger oscars or albino oscars..they grow to about 12" but thats only if they are fed realy well.as long as the oscars all come from the same batch they genaraly get along but i would limit 2 oscars to a 3 foot tank.put a cat fish in with them or a pleco and they get along realy well.

You can't keep even one oscar in a 3 foot tank, it's simply not big enough for it to grow to full size and live a full and healthy life, much less two oscars. You could probably keep one small 4-5 inch oscar in a tank that size but as soon as it gets any bigger I would suggest moving it to a tank of at least 70-75 gallon (5 ft). Since you seem to enjoy tiger barbs then how about some clown loaches? They look a lot alike, and they also get quite big (14" in captivity) and are very active and fun to watch, and not at all aggressive even towards smaller fish. Of course they may eventually outgrow the 3 foot tank as well if you put in too many.

 

[vally206]

Hey thanks for the advice everyone,
I'm really intrested in Tiger Barbs they are the most unreal looking fish ever, even tho every one says they bad.

What are some of the fish i can keep with Tiger barbs? Because they are my fav fishy.
And im planning to get Big Tiger barbs and a really tiny yabbie, so i hope that works out.

THanks Every 1
Val

 

[wrs]

if CFC said that you shouldnt get yabbies listen to him. Gouramis can go with tigar barbs.