Rainbow Sharks and Tiger Barbs are both beautiful, active, and aggressive tropical freshwater fish. If you are a fish lover, you must have imagined keeping two beautiful and active fish like them in a tank, but the issue is, can they live together and can they tolerate each other? If you are wondering whether Tiger Barbs and Rainbow Sharks can be kept together, then read this article to the end.
Can Tiger Barbs live with Rainbow Sharks? Tiger Barbs and Rainbow Sharks are compatible, but they can’t be kept in a small tank.
Rainbow Sharks and Tiger Barbs have many things in common such as being tropical fish, aggression, being able to eat almost the same food, etc.
Having similar behaviors, etc makes them compatible with each other.
Although we normally advise against keeping 2 aggressive fish in one tank, in the case of both fish, you could keep them together in a big tank, but sometimes the Sharks might become very aggressive and might start chasing and stressing the Tigers.
We all know that Tiger Barbs are schooling fish and they are recommended to be kept in a group of at least 8 fish for them to be happy, and Rainbow Sharks being big and active fish too needs nothing less than a 55-gallon tank to thrive, so to keep them with Tigers, it is recommended to have up to 120-200 gallon tank and above depending on the number you want to keep.
This is because Rainbow Sharks will from time to time become aggressive and will chase them about and might even harm some of the Tigers.
to successfully keep them together, you need to do 2 things,
1. Get a very big tank that can contain all of them with enough room to explore.
2. Put in place some hiding places in the tank such as live plants, caves, pipes, etc.
These two things are non-negotiable if you want to keep any two aggressive and active fish in a tank because they will need hiding places to hide to escape aggression and also they will need to keep themselves busy by exploring them.
Tank size matters a lot to aquatic animals because smaller tank size is one of the main factors that breed aggression in aquatic animals, so once they are in a tank with enough room to explore and claim their territories, they will be alright and can only display a tiny level of aggression, and that’s all.
Although sometimes it can depend on the way the Sharks are raised because there are some that don’t even notice other fish in their tanks and there are some that are overly aggressive and will chase any fish they see, so try as much as possible to keep only adult Tiger Barbs and avoid the smaller Barbs or the sharks might eat them.
Again you can keep them together in the same tank by dividing the tank with a tank divider, thereby separating them from making contact with each other.
I think this is the most secure method of keeping both fish and having 100% peace in your tank.
Conclusion
Although they can be kept together, it might come with a risk, so I do suggest dividing the tank.
Anyway, follow your advice.