Tiger barb

Water parameters

Tolerated range for this species. Aim for the middle of each band rather than the extremes.

Tank and habitat

Substrate: any.

Behavior

Plant interaction: plant safe.

Feeding

Greedy omnivore that eats anything offered. Flake food, pellets, frozen bloodworm, frozen brine shrimp, live daphnia, blanched peas, blanched zucchini. They rush the surface at feeding time and eat fast. In community tanks, slower species struggle to get food when tiger barbs are present. Feed at multiple spots or use a mix of floating and sinking food so bottom-dwellers get a share. Twice-daily feeding keeps aggression lower than once-daily; well-fed tiger barbs nip less. Color quality improves with a varied diet that includes frozen and live food alongside dry staples.

Compatibility

• Notorious fin-nipper. Tiger barbs harass anything with long flowing fins: bettas, angelfish, fancy guppies, pearl gouramis, and long-finned tetras. This is the single most common compatibility mistake in the hobby and the source of a thousand "my tiger barbs killed my betta" forum posts.
• Keeping tiger barbs in groups of 8+ reduces nipping of tankmates significantly. In small groups (under 6), they redirect aggression outward. In large groups, they establish an internal pecking order and spend most of their energy on each other. The nipping doesn't disappear but it becomes tolerable for robust, short-finned tankmates.
• Good tankmates: other barbs (cherry, rosy, gold), larger tetras (black skirt, buenos aires), rainbow fish, loaches, and catfish. Anything fast, short-finned, and not delicate.
• Active schooling fish that dominate the middle of the tank. In a well-stocked community, they're a constant source of motion. They're the fish you see when you look at the tank; everything else orbits around them.

Origin and habitat

The natural range of Puntigrus tetrazona reportedly extends throughout the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo, though P. tetrazona is probably endemic to central and southern Sumatra, with Borneo records corresponding to congeners such as P. anchisporus. The genus Puntigrus was erected by Kottelat in 2013 to separate several species formerly grouped as the 'Puntius tetrazona group'; other members include P. anchisporus (western Borneo), P. navjotsodhii (central Borneo), P. pulcher (eastern Borneo), and P. partipentazona (Indochina). Type locality is Lahat, South Sumatra. Found in clear or turbid shallow waters of moderately flowing streams; also reported from swamp lakes with fluctuating water levels, suggesting wide tolerance to water quality changes. The characteristic color pattern is four black vertical bars on a pale body with black pigmentation on at least the basal half of the dorsal fin. Grows to about 7–10 cm. Average lifespan about 7 years. Numerous captive-bred color variants exist, including green (dark body with reduced bars), albino, and fluorescent GloFish forms. Feral populations from aquarium releases are established in Singapore, Colombia, the Philippines, and possibly Australia. One of the most widely sold freshwater aquarium fish in the world. IUCN Least Concern.

Breeding

Egg scatterer that breeds easily in captivity. Condition a group with high-quality frozen food for a week, then move a plump female and a colorful male to a breeding tank with fine-leaved plants or spawning mops. Temperature at 26–27°C. Spawning happens at dawn; the pair scatters 200-300 eggs among the plants. The eggs are adhesive and settle on leaves and the substrate. Adults eat eggs immediately, so remove them right after spawning. Eggs hatch in 36-48 hours. Fry are free-swimming in another 3-4 days and need baby brine shrimp or microworms as first food. Growth is fast; juvenile bars appear within 3-4 weeks. Commercial breeders produce millions of tiger barbs annually using mass spawning in outdoor ponds and indoor raceways. The species responds well to hormone-induced spawning in commercial settings. Home breeding is a good beginner project because the fish are robust and prolific.

Common problems

Fin nipping is the defining behavioral problem (detailed above). Beyond that, tiger barbs are tough. Ich is the most common disease, usually appearing in newly purchased fish that were stressed during transport. Standard ich treatment (elevated temperature to 30°C or malachite green) works. Tiger barbs tolerate a range of medications without complications. Obesity is easy to induce because they eat relentlessly; an overfed tiger barb becomes barrel-shaped and lethargic. Feed a controlled amount rather than letting them gorge. Internal parasites (tapeworm, roundworm) occasionally appear in farm-raised batches, showing as progressive weight loss despite eating. Treat with praziquantel or levamisole. Color loss in tiger barbs is almost always environmental: poor diet, stress from small group size, or washed-out lighting. A group of 10+ well-fed tiger barbs under warm lighting are strikingly colorful. The same fish in a group of 3 under harsh white light look like different animals.

Bioload

Further reading

• How to cycle a fish tank
• Stocking ideas by tank size