Can Tiger Barbs Live With Guppies?

For those who are experienced enough to know, fish keeping is not something you just wake up one day and buy different kinds and species of fish, buy any size of tank you want and start feeding them any type of food you want. Fish keepers are researchers and good readers. This will help you to understand the nature of the fish you want to keep and also the Suitable Tank Mates they can have. If you’re reading this article, it means you’re searching for information on how well guppies will get along with tiger barbs. All your questions will be answered!.

Can tiger barbs live with guppies? No, Tiger Barbs are semi aggressive and fast fish, they will nip at the guppies fins and tails which might lead to death or serious injuries.

Naturally, it’s not all types of fish that gets along with other fish.

Every fish have their suitable tank mates, so guppies and tiger barbs don’t get along.

Come to think of it, The purpose of research is to find informations, that’s why I said fish keepers should be able to research very well before getting a fish.

Guppies and Tiger Barbs Water Conditions and Temperament

Guppies Water Conditions and Temperament

Guppies are very gentle and non aggressive fish.

Although the male ones could sometimes seem to be aggressive on their fellow males, but they don’t have any atom of aggression in them.

They live in a tank temperature of around 72–79°F, with water hardness at 8-12 dGH, and pH in the 6.8 – 7.8.

They’re freshwater and love soft substrates and aquarium plants.

They are tropical fish and so does not need to cold water.

So provide them a heater if the temperature is lower than 72°F.

Because of the male aggression and their rapid birthrate, keeping more females than males in a tank is the ideal.

This fish can eat anything, including smaller animals, vegetables, fish foods etc.

And they can grow up to 3 inches with long tail.

Tiger Barbs Water Conditions and Temperament

Tiger Barbs are fully aggressive fish and also omnivores because they can eat both plants and smaller animals that they could be able to kill and eat.

They need a tank temperature of 70-80°F and water hardiness not above 10dGH and a pH of 6.8-7.5.

They have the habit of nipping at anything they stay with.

They do this mainly because they’re very fast.

This is why they usually make unsuitable tank mates with so many aquarium animals.

The males rarely tolerate each other, as they’re normally aggressive to their fellow males.

They could grow up to 4 inches and are naturally lively fish.

So keeping 3 females to 1 male is the ideal to curb aggression, and they need big tank to have enough space and swim around.

The best tank space is each barb in nothing less than a 10 gallon tank.

So seeing the above characteristics and nature of each fish, do you think they could be able to coexist peacefully in a tank?

Although it’s very obvious that both could comfortably live and survive in the same water, but will it be a peaceful coexistence?

No, the barbs being fast, curious and can not at anything with always nip at the guppies, thereby cutting their tails and fins.

This will injure the guppies and might bring about diseases and stress which could kill them eventually.

The fact is, guppies although are lovely, but they are not as fast and as active as the tiger barbs.

So the barbs will use this as an advantage to hurt the guppies if they stay together.

Apart from hurting the guppies and killing them, they eat almost the same things with the guppies, that’s bloodworms, vegetables, fish foods etc, so they will always snatch the foods meant for the guppies because they are faster than them.

This is very bad, as the guppies will have to face starvation and malnutrition if they’re not getting enough food to eat.

So these two different fish can’t get along in any way, or one will suppress the other, which could definitely lead to Sickness and deaths.

So don’t put them together in a tank, unless the tank is divided into two, each fish staying in their own side.

Can I Keep Guppies with Barbs?

As we all know, there are many species of barbs, which tiger Barb is among. You might be wondering if you can actually keep some other species of barbs with Guppies.

Can I keep Guppies with Barbs? No, all barbs are very problematic, fast and semi aggressive, so they can easily hurt guppies by nipping at their fins and tails.

Tiger Barbs, gold barbs, Desion barbs and Rosy barbs are all problematic and unfit to be kept with a non aggressive fish like the guppies, goldfish etc.

So no specie of barbs is suitable for Guppies, so they can’t get along very well.

Do Tiger Barbs Eat Live Fish?

Knowing that tiger barbs are omnivores and could eat smaller animals and could also eat alot of food, including vegetables, plants etc, can they also eat live fish too?

Do tiger barbs eat live fish? Yes, they are omnivores and would eat anything that can enter their mouth, including tiny fish.

Apart from tiger barbs, all barbs can eat any tiny fish that fits in their mouth.

This is another problem to consider when choosing tank mates for your fish, because you don’t want the eggs and baby fish of your pet fish to be eaten by an aggressive tank mate.

So to answer the question, yes, tiger barbs will eat small fish and eggs that could fit in their mouth.

Although they might not necessarily go about chasing and catching the baby or tiny fish in the tank, but anyone that enters their mouth is gone.

So they can eat small fish if they get the chance to do so, either knowingly or unknowingly.

What Fish can Live Peacefully with Guppies?

Although guppies can’t get along with tiger barbs, but there are some fish that could live peacefully with Guppies, they are:

Mollies.

Sword tails.

Bristlenose Pleco.

Cardinal Tetra.

Honey Gouramis.

Cory Catfish.

Platies.

Tiger Barbs Suitable Tank Mates

You might be interested to know the types of fish that are suitable for tiger barbs as tank mates.

It’s not very useful telling you that they can’t coexist without mentioning some fishes that could coexist with tiger barbs. They’re:

Neon Tetra.

Cory Catfish.

Cherry Barb.

Pictus Catfish.

Clown Loach.

Tinfoil Barb.

Conclusion

Guppies and tiger barbs can not coexist in anyway, so don’t listen to anybody telling you it’s possible because you will only end up losing your guppies.