The colors really come alive in this fish gallery picture of a Tiger Barb, Puntius tetrazona, by K.Zadorozhny. I kept a school of 6 Tiger Barbs in my first freshwater fish tank. They are a fun fish to watch. I think Tiger Barbs have gotten a bad name of being aggressive fish. Keeping them in a group, does help them avoid getting into trouble.

Originally, I had two regular Tiger Barbs, as you see above. I schooled those with two Green Tiger Barbs, and two Albino Tiger Barbs. Unlike Tetra fish, who generally only school in their own group, ie. Neon Tetras will only school with Neon Tetras, and Black Neon Tetras wil only school with Black Neons; it doesn’t matter with Tiger Barbs. Feel free to mix and match these fish. Some considerations to think about if you’re looking to add the Tiger Barb to your aquarium:

• Tiger Barbs are best kept in groups of 5 or more
• Belongs to the Cyprinidae family
• Tank conditions most suitable include 73 - 79°F, pH 6.0 - 7.0, KH 4 - 10
• Maximum size is 3 inches

I kept my Tiger Barbs in a semi-aggressive tank. Other fish included Loaches, Gourami, a couple Plecos, a Redtail Black Shark, and Swordtails. I never saw the Tiger Barbs attack other fish. One thing they would do, which was quite hilarious, is chase each other around the tank. I’m not sure if it was just a game they played, or something else. They wouldn’t do it often, but the Tiger barb in the lead would weave in and out of plants, twisting and turning everywhere. The others followed exactly behind. They would also periodically do face to face duels. Again, I’m not sure if this was to determine a leader, or just a game.

For breeding Tiger Barbs; let them pair off. The male Tiger Barb fertilizes the eggs once the female lays them. You’ll want to feed the fry brine shrimp after they beome free-swimming. That takes about a week.
I fed my Tiger Barbs flake food and bloodworms. I also spoiled them with Brine shrimp. This will bring out the lovely red color you see in the photo. I highly recommend the Tiger Barb, if you want a fish that’s fun to watch. I miss mine.

So you’ve brought your new fish home and now need to acclimate it. How do you acclimate fish? Well, fish are as sensitive as humans to sudden changes in water temperature. Have you ever been in a hot shower and had the water turn cold on you? You probably didn’t enjoy it. Your new fish may do worse than not enjoy the change in temperature. Disease, ich or death can occur if you don’t take the time to acclimate your fish properly. Go slow. It’s very easy to do.

You’ll first want to distract any other fish you may have in the aquarium by feeding them. Turn off the light in the fish tank and float your bag containing the new fish in the water for a 1/2 hour. Make sure the bag is still tightly sealed! This will slowly acclimate the water in the bag to the water in your fish tank.

The next step is introducing the aquarium water. I’ve found the best way to do this is by placing the bag in your fish bucket with some of the aquarium water. You can leave it in your fish tank, but watch for jumping fish (I had a yoyo loach leap from the bag on to the floor once!), or a bag that rolls. You don’t want to add the pet store water to your aquarium.  (Please note:  I use the fishless cycling technique when initially adding fish.  A reader saw that I had a lot of bags in the picture, and thought I was adding too many at once.)

Add 1/3 of the aquarium water to your bag water. By using the bucket you just dip it in a little. Wait 10 minutes, then add a 1/3 more. After 10 more minutes your new fish should be acclimated. The slower you do this process the better. Take about 45 minutes to an hour when you acclimate saltwater fish. Net the fish and place him in your aquarium.

You’ve avoided mixing the fish store water with your tank water and the fish is acclimated to his new home.