Fish compatibility

[Justikanz]

Hi hi... I have some questions on fish compatibility...

In your opinion and experience, is the

1) Tiger barb compatible with Discus?

2) Tiger barb compatible with Angel Fish?

3) Discus or Angels compatible with Pencil Fish?

That's all I can think of at almost 3am!...

Thanks!

[GaspingGurami]

Tiger barbs are fast fish, but they are fin nippers. Discus and Angels are cichlids and though they are the "silent" sort, they still have a cichlid's character.

I used to have this aggressive angel that kills everything in its tank that's less than 5 inches in size.

I then put in a a bunch of tiger barbs and the angel is humbled! It cannot catch the rascals who would quarrel amongst themselves, then suddenly turn and attack the angel instead.

But as a result, all its hairs on the angel's fins got trimmed off, displeasing the lady owner exceedingly. So she bought 2 black ghost knife fish....

[benny]

I agree with the bit about tiger barbs being very fast fin nippers. But usually, when you have enough of them in a group, they are not a problem.

Pencil fishes are also nice and definitely a better community fish. Get Nannostomus beckfordi if you don't want to spend a bomb on dither fishes. But make sure you get larger ones or they will become angel fish food.

Cheers,

[diki]

Hi hi... I have some questions on fish compatibility...

In your opinion and experience, is the

1) Tiger barb compatible with Discus?

2) Tiger barb compatible with Angel Fish?

3) Discus or Angels compatible with Pencil Fish?

That's all I can think of at alost 3am!...

Thanks!

Personally, I think none of the above combination is suitable to be put together as 1 fish would bully the other fish. Why not keep a single type of fish in a tank?

[Justikanz]

IME, Tigers do great if they are in a large group. They play amongst themselves and seemingly ignore the rest.

I AM worried that they may suddenly decide to play with some fish not ready to 'play' with them... But I am less worried if they are kept in a group. Just need to check...

Also, I had discus eat neons... So am worried of what can happen if I use pencils and discus/angels together...

Oh, what about Discus AND Angels? I had quite a bad experience where my angels killed my discus when they spawn...

What are your views?

[vinz]

Just to share my experience... when I had 25 tiger barbs in the tank with my arowana, he was quite agitated... I think their boisterous behaviour disrupted his usually peaceful domain. I managed to remove all but 4 and calm returned to the tank.

I suspect the barbs will be too boisterous for discus.

Altums and discus are piscivorous... they will try to eat other fishes/shrimps that can fit in their mouth. I think pencilfish will not do well, unless it's a large tank and plenty of foliage.

Fact: Breeding cichlids are aggresive and violent.

Altums and discus not recommended. IIRC, altums carry a disease or parasite that is fatal to discus. Search the forum/web for details and you can ask Simon.

[ranmasatome]

Justikanz... personally i feel its bad bad combo.. tiger barbs i would only put in a species only tank.. so would altums or discus... decide on one... dont all "champoh" together..doesn't make the tank look attractive anyway..

[Justikanz]

I know about the angels passing parasites to discus thing... Think if I didn't recall wrongly, it applies to wild angels... So, Altums and discus are out. Ok.

Ranma, understand the either tigers OR discus OR angels thought... If I can get healthy tigers, think I will opt for tigers...

Naughty thought... What about festive (festivum) cichlids and tigers?