The lively, colorful, and very hardy, Tiger Barbs are often a choice of new fish owners. To date we usually find 3 varieties in most lfs - The "Sumatranus" or "Regular" tiger, the Green tiger and the Golden or Albino tiger. The Green tiger barb, Moss-banded barb, or Moss barb is one of the most notable colour morphs of the regular Tiger Barb. The Albino tiger barb is another colour morph, the biggest difference from that of their parentage is that the Albino tiger does not always have gill covers.

In the days to come, 3 more new varieties will be on the market. These breeding forms are called the Gold-green-stripe tiger, the Albino-platinum tiger and the Green-platinum tiger barbs. Their aquarium requirements, behaviors, care and feeding are the same as their parentage.

GOLD-GREEN STRIPE

ALBINO-PLATINIUM

GREEN-PLATINIUM

They will be a lovely addition to all those hobbyists who keep tigers

Wowww nice specimen. Nothing beats the colour of the original tiger though IMO.

Exactly punky!

Awsome barbs

On the subject of Tiger barbs, I'd really love to get half a dozen or so for my tank, but lfs's tend to stress the need for a neutral ph. The problem is that mine's at ph8 with a hardness of 15 or so, although I come across a lot of websites that maintain that Barbs will do just fine within such parameters.

Who to believe?

Most barbs do well within a 6.5 - 7.5 range and are quite adaptable to higher pH and hardness. I have successfully kept Rosy barbs at pH8, although this needs to be reduced to induce breeding. There are a few delicate species that require a softer pH, such as the Cherry Barb (Barbus titteya).

Being in that they're quite adaptable then I'm really keen to interpret that as a yes. I had the tigers in mind btw.

Edited by - richard on June 08 2010 22:48:21

Tiger barbs are frequently found in clear or turbid water and their typical habitat is shallow and medium fast streams in the tropics. They have also been found in swampy lakes where the water level fluctuates a lot. This type of fluctuations is commonly associated with fluctuating water quality as well, and the wild "normal" tiger barb might therefore be more tolerant to changing water chemistry than their hybrid cousins. Although they adapt well to a pH between 6.5 and 7.5 and a dH between 5 and 18, try to avoid sudden changes between the water they are housed in at LFS and that of your home aquarium. Sudden changes usually cause stress and death!

A minimun shoal of 5 individuals is a must to form a pecking order and minimise aggressive behaviour such as fin nipping.

Yes I've been reading up on Barbs a lot these past few days, so Is It chiefly the initial shock of being subjected to the differing parameters thats the main issue here? Say If I were to gradually acclimatise them to my water over a period of a few hours would they be OK?

Ultimately If you think that ph8 is too high for them I'll look for something else.

Ta

Imho, a pH of 8 is a bit too high. What about opting for a shoal of Australian Rainbows?

I'll check out the alternatives then, shame as I really like Barbs. Thanks for the info.

Regards