What new fish can I add?

M

Marcos

New member
I have 1 gourami and 5 tiger barbs. They dont bother each other.
But use to have 2 dwarf gouramis that got nipped to death by the blue one. So I got 5 tiger barbs, because at petco, the fishkeeper said they would be ok, since they were semi-aggresive themselves. So I did, and they both did fine, no more nipping, the Barbs minded their own business and so did the blue gourami, but yestarday, kinda ignoring the fishkeeper warning of not keeping other fish that are not aggresive, I bought platies, red platies I think. ( I also bought them because people kept saying that as long as they have short fins they are fine) Boy was that wrong. When I put them inside, the barbs started chasing them, then I feed them and stoped. But later on, one got nipped to death and another got nipped. So I took the remaning three out, today in the morning one dide, two remiend, wich I gave to my freind. sorry for the long story.
Anyways, what fish can I keep with these fish? Someone told me I could get a kissing gourami, but also heard that kissing gouramis are the most aggresive of the gouramis, so I was wondering, If I did get it, would it eat my barbs? or bully my blue gourami?
PLease help, what can I get?
I have a 20 gal tank.
 
First of all, I would stay away from other gouramis if you've already had problems with one nipping another. Kissing gouramis can also get quite large (about 12" max). Definately stick with other semi-aggressive fish. You can do other barbs such as Rosy barbs (no cherry barbs, though). Giant danios are usually pretty good with tiger barbs, as well. A small school of 5 giant danios would be a nice addition. Maybe a redtailed or rainbow shark. Just remember not to get too many fish at one time and not to overstock your tank :)
 
Who said Kissing Gourami? That's a big nono. Yes they are aggressive and they also get around 12" long, they need more like at least a 55-75 gallon tank. Gouramis wouldn't work in your tank.

To be honest in your tank it's pretty heavily stocked and I would stick to robust bottom dwellers. A trio of Corydoras may work, they are tough little bulldozers and will stay out of the way of a Barbs.

As your Barbs grow (they get pretty big and chunky) you may want to look into getting more like a 30-35 gallon longer tank. In a longer tank you could have a group of 5 Chain Loaches - small active Loaches that are pretty good at looking after themselves. My brother had some that have been relocated to a "rejects" tank that didn't work with other community fish, they actually bully the Serpae Tetras - Serpaes are as nippy as Tiger Barbs.
 
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