Sharks and Barbs

[jshoemaker]

I'm getting ready to set up a tank and load fish into it after the cycle is finished. Obviously, I'm going to add them in slowly, but any suggestions are welcomed. Would like to know what everyone thinks.

I want to put the following fish in a 55 Gallon tank with live plants (lots of cover), caves, dark gravel, and a river thing that creates flow in the aquarium.

I would like to add:

5 or 6 Cherry Barbs (would like to have half-half male and female or 40-60) (Possibly mate one day)
3 Rainbow Sharks
3 Red-tail Sharks
1 Polka-dot catfish
1 Bala Shark

I know the Rainbow and Red-tail are very aggressive. I've done a lot of research on each fish. I've read that either just one of the rainbow or red-tail or many of them, so I decided to go with three of each. I will do some browsing to pick the ones that seem to get along and aren't that aggresive. I will have plenty of hiding spots for the fish. Maybe some moss at the top, not sure. The Bala Shark is the odd one here, plan on buying a baby one, and if it gets to the point its getting to big, I'll buy a bigger aquarium in the future. Would all these be ok in the type of aquarium I suggested? Any order to put them in? Any other similiar "interesting" fish to put in? I would like to eventually mate the Cherry Barbs, i noticed they can go well with the sharks (minnows) and do mate relatively easy with lots of cover and right water conditions/food. I want a mating fish as well, but guppies and egg-bearing fish will get eaten in this aquarium.

I would like a catfish in there and the Polka-dot is very cool looking. Also, would adding a snail or small shrimp be benificial? I'm sure the shrimp would be eaten, but would the snail benefit?

Any suggestions would be great!

[jackson17]

Maybe 1 redtail? From what I've read, redtails beat the hell out of eachother, don't know about Rainbow that much though.

[cer]

You can't have more than one shark. So you can only have 1 rainbow shark or 1 red tail shark. If you do get a shark it would tear the shrimp to bits and kill the snails. The barbs should be fine. The bala shark will get to big for the tank and they need a school. They can get huge within 6 months. If you are talking about the polka dot catfish I am thinking about they are rarely seen in stores. Just so your tank is pretty active I would add some more barbs. Also I think that you would like to also add a large school 10-15 of harlequin rasboras or cardinal tetras. Also instead of a few large catfish how about a school of 6-10 corycats.

[kcodrumlrak]

From what I understand, rainbow sharks and red-tail sharks are of the same species and neither of them can live with another of the same species in an aquarium. I have a rainbow shark and a 55 gallon aquarium, and when we first got it, it was relatively placid and peaceful. After about three weeks though, it became excessively territorial and earned the name "Grumpy" as it would chase any fish away that got near its hiding spot (we thought it looked like some old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn). Judging from what I've seen of my rainbow shark's behavior and that I have a 55, I don't think there's enough room in a 55 to hold half a dozen sharks of the same species and have them all have adequate "territory." My rainbow shark's territory takes up about a quarter of the tank.

In terms of snails, I have tiger barbs and a rosy barb in my tank. Whenever we drop snails in there, they rarely hit the bottom alive as the barbs swarm it quickly, so I doubt a small snail would survive very long with cherry barbs.

A large snail though, will be devastating for your plants. We got a large snail in hopes it would alleviate our algae problem, and it proceeded to go to town on our plants, decimating most all our Giant Hygro and our Java Fern.

I would suggest looking at Tiger Barbs in addition to the Cherry Barbs. They add a lot of movement to the tank and in groups of 5 or more, are fun to watch their dominance fights and how they school. If you want a few catfish, I personally love pictus catfish and they are also fun to watch.

Cer already mentioned the issue about bala sharks (I was disappointed when I learned about that too.)

I also would personally add the barbs first, then progressively add the other fish.


Good luck to your aquarium, it sounds like you have a great idea in mind!

[jshoemaker]

From what I hear, if I buy the sharks in bunches it would work out. But I'll take your advice. I did a lot of research for about a week now, maybe longer. I've read that it would work, but after watching them in the store today, the red-tails are very aggressive. I would still like to add atleast three rainbow sharks in an aquarium together. I really do appreciate everyone's help and suggestions on the type of fish. I've been reading and looking through multiple stores for types of fish I would be interested in. BTW, the polka dot is available in the store near me. The bala shark was a wish, I didnt think it grew that fast.

How about this then.

7 Cherry Barbs (4 females, 3 Males)
3 Rainbow Sharks ( I've read over and over 3 will do fine in a 55 gallon tank, 2 would fight to much, but as long as they are the same size, they will get along. Plus with the other fish in the aquarium, they wont battle each other.)
1 Polka-dot catfish (Wont they get to big to put more than one in?)
5 Tiger Barbs (3 Females, 2 Males)


How big do Cory's get?


The link below has most of the fish that our pet stores have here. I dont know much about the other barbs, any help is great!

http://www.elmersaquarium.com/c106community5barbs.htm


Also, I'm thinking about having a 10 gallon tank for african Cichlids. (I know they dont do to well with the fish that I have above) Any help on that?

And a smaller tank for Guppies and Neons.