# how many cory should i add?



## NoaDon12 (Jan 6, 2010)

Angel079 suggusted that i add some cory to the bottom of my 15 gallon tank, which already has 3 tiger barbs. there is one slight problem, Angel079 did not mention how many cory i should add. anybody who knows, please respond! -NoaDon12-:|


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## rrcoolj (Dec 5, 2009)

get 4-6. And the cool thing about corys is that most races will school with each other so you can actully have diffrent species in there and they should all school together.


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

I'd strongly suggest a group of 6.
Get something like Peppered or Panda Cory's; do NOT get bronze Cory they will get quite some larger and you don't want that for your tank.


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

NoaDon12 said:


> Angel079 suggusted that i add some cory to the bottom of my 15 gallon tank, which already has 3 tiger barbs. there is one slight problem, Angel079 did not mention how many cory i should add. anybody who knows, please respond! -NoaDon12-:|


You can ask more than one question in your thread.

IMO a 15 is too small for corys. There just isn't enough floor space for them to behave propperly.

As I said in one of your other threads, you ought to considder takng the tigers back and getting cherry barbs instead. Tigers are not suitable for such a small tank.


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

What are the dimensions of the tank? If it's a standard, 24" long 15g then I would say that tiger barbs would be alright in it, but a 20" long 15H is getting pretty small for fish that like a lot of swimming room.

Now, I've personally never kept tiger barbs with cories, but rumor has it that tigers absolutely love nipping the dorsal fins of cory cats. You might want to wait for the input of someone who has actually done this before you take my word on it, though. If you do decide to stick with the barbs and cories combo, you'll want at least six barbs and at least four cories, although six would be better. For a small tank like yours, you'd probably want to introduce them in small batches to avoid overloading your beneficial bacteria.


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## NoaDon12 (Jan 6, 2010)

_*OMG!!!!! I just went to go check on my fish, and the biggest tiger barb nipped off some fin on one of the smaller ones!*_ Should i do something about this, or just accept it as natural behaivor? -NoaDon12- 5:19pm


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## mikea079 (Jan 7, 2010)

tiger barbs can be very aggressive and territorial. the best thing that i can suggest that you do is add lots of decor and plants to their environment. this should help cut down on some of the aggression with each other. but keep in mind that you are still going to have lots of fin nipping in your tank as long as you house these "tigers"... good luck...


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

You need a bigger school of tiger barbs, which I would worry about before bothering with the cories. Six or so tigers would really help reduce (or at least spread out) the aggression between them.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

I agree they need to be more in number, but I also think this tank is too small. Pasfur had a good post on this very issue the other day, here it is: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/freshwater-aquariums/fact-fiction-34742/

Many have had success keeping tiger barbs relatively peacefully by having a large group (9 or more) in a suitably large tank (I would agree with Pasfur's suggestion here). Fish with this sort of temperament can experience behaviour problems when they are stressed by either too few companions to interact properly, and/or too small a water volume. I know there is a biological reason for this, but the outward issue we can recongnize is the confined space. It is better to avoid stressing the fish.

Byron.


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Pasfur is a lot more experienced than I am so I would weigh his opinion much heavier than my own, but I'll throw in my two cents on the issue for what it's worth. I have kept a school of tiger barbs successfully in a 20g tank. The behavior Pasfur described was evident (although I never let it get to the point of any of the fish actually dying) until I had six members in the school. At that point, I had three males and three females. One male was sort of the runt of the group and essentially started acting like a female (even subdued his coloration to look more like a female) which prevent further harassment. There remaining two males did get into spats from time to time but never to the point of torn fins. The fish lived this way for quite a long time, until eventually the surly jewel cichlid they lived with figured out they were edible.

But again, I could have just lucked out with this particular group dynamic.


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

My tigers started out in 10 (they were small), then they had a 20 and are now in a 29. I had 5 in the 10, then when I moved them to the 20 the problems subsided. Then they came back, so I added 2 more to make 7. It subsided, then came back. So I moved the 7 of them to a 29, which had corys in it. They did do a number on the corys dorsal fins, so I upped the school to 10. Then 12. Even with 12, they went after the corys to the point they were corralled inside an ornament with the tigers swimming around above. I promptly removed the corys and added 3 more to make 15, with a crayfish as their only tankmate. They've been happy ever since.

As a testiment to how tough these fish are, I had to put a ghost tube in the tank so the crayfish could eat without the tigers biting at his antannae, eyes and swimmers.

YouTube - crayfish and tiger barbs

BTW, the tigers were already fed...well.


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## NoaDon12 (Jan 6, 2010)

So in order to give more hiding places for the fish, i should add more plants. Right?


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

NoaDon12 said:


> So in order to give more hiding places for the fish, i should add more plants. Right?


Plants do provide security for many fish, but assuming this is following along the lines of protecting fish from the aggression of tiger barbs, it is not the answer. I think enough members have commented on what you may be in for with these fish in a relatively confined space. And there is a psycological issue for the other fish.

In any aquarium fish have no escape from other fish, they are together within a relatively small volume of water permanently. In nature, fish can usually find refuge that keeps them out of sight of the aggressor. In an aquarium, the aggressor realizes that the other fish is still there (there are chemical indications as well as visual) and will be even more relentless than in the wild. The other fish become more and more stressed, and stress cause innumerable health problems.

Here's an example from my own experience. I put a group of Aphyocharax paraguayensis in a former 90g tank. I know that these fish, in spite of being quite small (3.5 cm or 1.4 inches), are boistrous and sometimes can be a bit nippy although most say less so than tiger barbs, but I figured that in a group of nine and in a 90g tank they would be fine. I was wrong. Within 2 days I noticed that almost all the other 70+ fish, which included largish tetras and Corydoras, were not swimming around as they had for months; at feeding time I saw why. The fish were cowering, literally, among the plants, and when the odd one did venture out to eat, one of the A. paraguayensis chased it. I did not observe any actual nipping, just chasing, but clearly something had to be done. I pulled the A. paraguayensis out, and after 2-3 hours the other fish sensed the danger was gone and began to come out one by one; next day they were fine, except for a bout of ich on several brought on by the stress.

The point is that fish are the way they are by nature, and while certain conditions in an aquarium can sometimes lessen the bad traits, it is not a certainty and sometimes the aquarium makes them worse. Small tanks almost always do this, probably another chemical issue as well as mere space. If you really want tiger barbs, and I admit they are a beautiful little fish, consider only a group of them in a suitably-sized tank. But I would not recommend them as community fish in anything other than larger aquaria, and then with reservations.

Byron.


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