# Are all Barbs bad for a planted community peaceful fish tank?



## miogpsrocks (Sep 3, 2015)

Are all Barbs bad for a planted community peaceful fish tank? 

Someone told me they were fin nippers( like the tiger barb) or love to eat plants. Sound like a bad fish for the type of tanks most people on here do. 

My question is if there are any good barbs that won't nip fins or eat plants? Someone on youtube was saying the " cherry barb" was ok but I don't know if it is a sheep in wolf clothing like the buenos aires tetra. 

Thanks


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Cherries only chase each other. They're good community fish.
Another good community fish are odessa and checker barb.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

Denison barbs are the greatest large(r) community fish in existence, IMO. Cherry barbs are great too. My tank is primarily these two fish and I have no issues with them.


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## ckeep22 (Nov 25, 2015)

Any word on rosy barbs?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

ckeep22 said:


> Any word on rosy barbs?


It'll munch of soft plants from what I can remember.


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## miogpsrocks (Sep 3, 2015)

Ok, so we have. 

1. Cherries Barbs
2. Odessa Barbs
3. Checker barb.
4. Denison for a larger barb and I am assuming for large fish community aquarium?

Is this list good with everyone? Anything else to add to the list or has anyone had issues with these barbs. 
When I went to the petstore, I had in my notes " No barbs" so I was under the impression that they were all bad especially since I have Guppis, female betta, neon tetra and other small and delicate fish that were recently destroyed by a Buenos Aires tetras


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

I cannot guarantee they won't damage your plants, I can only say in my case my various barbs do not seem to bother the plants. The 2 bushynose plecos on the other hand seem to do more damage. The attached video shows my various plants and includes (6) Tiger Barbs, (3) Green Tiger Barbs & (8) Black Ruby Barbs along with (2) SAE's, (2) peppered cories, (2) panda garras, and (2) L144 bushy nose plecos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTt6oLnnTwU


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## sohankpatel (Jul 10, 2015)

Denison barbs do well in a community with smaller fish actually, they are large but are very peaceful. My LFS has a 500g tank with 5 of them and they look amazing, they used to have 8, but they have a african cichlid tank 3 feet away and one cichlid jumped and landed in their tank, it terrorized the denison barbs so 3 jumped and died


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Black ruby barbs are good community fish. They are typical barbs in their constant activities, but mine never seem to even notice other fish in the tank. And, even though they are egg breeders they do breed in my community tank, with quite a lot of the fry growing to much larger babies. The color change of the males is very nice, going from vertical stripes to solid black in the back 2/3's and red in the front 1/3. Even the striped females look very nice. Last, they grow to around 2 inches long, so they don't need a huge tank.


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## RWaters (Nov 12, 2003)

I've never had aproblem with Black Ruby Barbs, Cherry Barbs or even Gold Barbs in a community tank.


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## miogpsrocks (Sep 3, 2015)

sohankpatel said:


> Denison barbs do well in a community with smaller fish actually, they are large but are very peaceful. My LFS has a 500g tank with 5 of them and they look amazing, they used to have 8, but they have a african cichlid tank 3 feet away and one cichlid jumped and landed in their tank, it terrorized the denison barbs so 3 jumped and died


My Buenos Aires tetras is that even is that they would go for food so aggressively that if another smaller fish happen to be around the flake or eating it, they would rip the fish's jaw off. Particularly with the Bloodfin tetra 

That is one of the reason I would say to never have those Buenos Aires tetras in a community tank. 

I wondering if that larger dension barb would have the same issue?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Does any body here have Dawkinsia rohani or
Dawkinsia filamentosa? I read they're good community fish but how are they with plants?

They're a little larger and more expensive than the usual aquarium barbs.


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## essabee (Oct 7, 2006)

Schuberti barb is a good addition for a planted community tank.


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## bluesand (Nov 3, 2014)

My rosy barbs once uprooted my dhg and ate away halves of my rotalas.

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## jr125 (Mar 5, 2015)

I've got 11 Tiger Barbs in my 125 along with
5 Rainbowfish
2 Pearl Gouramis
6 Black Skirted Tetra
1 Angel
2 Yoyo Loaches
2 Bolivian Rams
1 Common Pleco

I had always heard that if you get a large enough group of Tigers they will not bother other fish. That has been my experience except for when I had a pair of Angels(female now deceased) the Tigers would aggressively go after the eggs to the point that the female was relentlessly harassed at times(the other fish would also go after the free meal but nothing like the Tiger Barbs).

They do not seem to bother the plants at all.

They may not be the best choice for some situations but work well in others I think.


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

Dwarf gold barbs are small, shy, and unaggressive. They act more like tetras than barbs- and I'm referring to the timid tetras, not the demonicly aggressive ones. They're like glowlight tetras.


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## bigbadjon (Aug 6, 2015)

I'll second the black ruby barbs and odessa barbs. I am trying to build up my school of the ruby barbs but they have gotten popular and hard to find in my parts.


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## koiboi (Sep 4, 2011)

I think you're fine with the Denison's. I've kept larger ones with big fish like angels and smaller ones like Harlequin Rasboras, and their feeding style was fine in all cases.


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## jag51186 (Nov 30, 2015)

I agree that Denison's are amazing barbs!! I have 6 of them, 5 rosy's, and 11 Black Ruby's in my 80 gallon (along with a bunch of cories and some oto's). I had the rosy's and denison's before I added the full school of Black Ruby's and everything was great, then when I added the Black Ruby's they completely decimated all my stem plants. I basically just keep swords, vallis, and crypts now because they eat everything else. Even eat the new leaves on my anubias before they unfurl.

But all of them are very peaceful together, the Black Ruby's duke it out during spawning time...but otherwise they all get along well.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Filament Barbs (Dawkinsia filamentosa) mow the plants to the ground. Do not add them in a planted tank. 
They are large, active, and can uproot plants just swimming by them. 

I have several in a 125 gallon (6' long) and the only surviving plant is a very sad looking Anubias. 
Golden Pothos rooted in the tank is the only plant that is doing well.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Diana said:


> Filament Barbs (Dawkinsia filamentosa) mow the plants to the ground. Do not add them in a planted tank.
> They are large, active, and can uproot plants just swimming by them.
> 
> I have several in a 125 gallon (6' long) and the only surviving plant is a very sad looking Anubias.
> Golden Pothos rooted in the tank is the only plant that is doing well.


Lol, thanks. They're pretty though.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I have cherry barbs with other fish, they don't bother anyone. Even were fine with my prior betta, he didn't bother them. They nibble on algae sometimes, I've never seen them tear up plants.


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## Fireweed farm (Apr 3, 2015)

Denison barbs are great in a large tank even with embers and neons, but something is eating the new growth on my Ranunculus and pretty surenitbisnt the tetras- probably the denisons.


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## RWaters (Nov 12, 2003)

RWaters said:


> I've never had aproblem with Black Ruby Barbs, Cherry Barbs or even Gold Barbs in a community tank.


At the end of the day, the best, most readily available barbs are the ones I mentioned:
- black ruby barbs
- cherry barbs 
- gold barbs

So tell us, miogpsrocks. Have you made a decision?


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## sevendust111 (Jul 15, 2014)

I have albino cherry barbs which look very cool, but the males can get aggressive. I had 6, but 3 died, which has increased their aggression. I want more but am having trouble sourcing them locally. They mostly nip each other but they occasionally go after my neons and Cardinals. I would definitely get a minimum of six and I would get a two to one female to male ratio with cherry barbs or albino cherry barbs.


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## miogpsrocks (Sep 3, 2015)

RWaters said:


> At the end of the day, the best, most readily available barbs are the ones I mentioned:
> - black ruby barbs
> - cherry barbs
> - gold barbs
> ...


Maybe Cherry barbs. I need to get some things sorted out in my tank before I can add anymore fish. I am also limited by the selection of what my local petstores feel like ordering. 

When my tank issues are revolved, I think I will look for some cherry barbs since they have nice color and appear to be peaceful. 

Thanks.


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## philipraposo1982 (Mar 6, 2014)

I got close to 40 cherry barbs in my 75g. They are awesome fish!! Get them.


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## miogpsrocks (Sep 3, 2015)

philipraposo1982 said:


> I got close to 40 cherry barbs in my 75g. They are awesome fish!! Get them.


I will try as long as my local Petco carries them. Otherwise, it might be more difficult especially if I have to order them from a foreign country or something. 

Thanks.


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## Chelsea Willis (Nov 21, 2018)

miogpsrocks said:


> That is one of the reason I would say to never have those Buenos Aires tetras in a community tank.
> 
> I wondering if that larger dension barb would have the same issue?


I agree that buenos Aires tetras are very pushy. I have not had a problem with my Roseline Sharks (aka Denison barbs). They have played well with others in my tank.


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