Trauma Over Now What....

[funkyboots]

Having sorted out my trauma having been told by the pet shop that cherry barbs are cold water I now have a heater in my tank. Now that I have a heater I have more options for fish.
I've been told that barbs will nip at fish with fins so guppy's are out (I assume) so does anyone know if I put neon tetra in if they'd be ok with my Cherry barbs?

 

[TropicalLad21]

I have cherry barbs in with guppies & neons & they get on fine together - no problems whatsoever.

If getting Neon's be sure to get a group of at least 6+.

 

[funkyboots]

Brill thank you, my tank is 45-50 litre. I have 6 cherries. Would 6 neons and 2 guppies be too much for a tank of that size do you think?

 

[TropicalLad21]

I don't see why not... others may question it but that stocking seems reasonable to me.

Although if your getting guppies i would just get males, therefore your not having female's that may be already pregnant giving birth in your tank, therefore over-filling your tank with fry.

 

[tnfishlady]

My (little) experience with cherry barbs is that they can chase other fish. I have 3 male cherry barbs and 3 gold barbs, all around 1 inch in size, and one or more of the cherry barbs will chase not only the other cherry barbs, but also the gold barbs occasionally, especially around feeding time. I consider my aquarium (12 gallons / 45 liters) fully stocked as the cherry barbs can get 1 1/2 to 2 inches and the gold barbs can get 2 to 2 1/2 inches as far as I know.

With a 12 gallon I'd personally not add any more fish, but if you do, perhaps adding some neons would be ok.

 

[funkyboots]

Ok thanks. Bit gutted because I originally wanted guppies but only intended on having a cold water tank. Just goes to prove that pet shop only want your money rather than decent care of the fish. Think I'll probably get some neons and call it a day. I've gone a bit fish happy today having managed to keep the barbs alive.

 

[fluttermoth]

Just a couple of things, funkyboots...

Your tank is new, so it's not what we call 'cycled'. This means you don't have a colony of beneficial bacteria living in your filter yet. The bacteria are very important because they eat the ammonia that your fish excrete and stop it poisoning them.

You're in what we call a 'fish in cycle' and you shouldn't add any more fish until those bacteria have grown. Until they do, you'll be needing to do a lot (probably daily) water changes to stop your fish getting poisoned by the ammonia.

If you click on the 'beginner's resource centre' link that's in my sig, you'll find some very useful articles that will help you cycle your tank safely