While there have been reports of this species being found in parts of Southern India, that hasn’t been scientifically verified. Removing the eggs from the breeding tank is important because tiger barbs will eat them otherwise. The eggs fall to the bottom so some marbles on the bottom glass would be ideal. Here they also find nutritious food sources like insects, algae, detritus and invertebrates. Monitor water quality closely as ammonia spikes can easily kill off your fry. – read more. These fish are a tropical species that comes from Sri Lanka. When stocking conditioning tanks, you should follow the 1 fish per 1-gallon rule, and you should create optimal tank conditions as described below. only house them with compatible tank mates, Rosy Barb Fish Profile – Care, Feeding, Breeding, Requirements & Tank Mates, 15 Best Tiger Barb Tank Mates – Full List of Tiger Barb Compatible Fish. Once they feed on commercial fry foods, you can move them to grow-out tanks. Also, when other fish are introduced first in a community tank and tiger barbs are added later, they’re more likely to curb their aggressive behavior. Native to Southeast Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo), tiger barbs are popular in freshwater aquariums because of their hardiness, bright colors and ease of care. Before I delve into the nitty-gritty of tiger barb conditioning for breeding and tiger barb spawning, there are a few things to know about breeding these fish in a community tank and determining their gender. When she is in the breeding tank, the pregnant Tiger Barb will lay her eggs. Change a part water in the tank. Therefore, if you’re serious about breeding this fish, you should invest in separate breeding tanks, where you can offer your tiger barbs the environment and diet needed for breeding. Tiger barbs will not only pick fights with other fish, you’ll also see them bullying their own kind, so watch out for signs of aggression even if you’re housing them with their own kind. Tiger barb juveniles start to swim and eat on their own 3 4 days after that. The stocking density should be around 4 to 20 fry max per gallon of water. Hatching Tiger Barb Eggs. In about three days after hatching, the yolk sac disappears, the larvae become free-swimming and they’re ready to take their first meal. Having plants in the tank that may shield the fry from adult fish and provide them coverage, may help a little. In my years of being an aquarist, I have bred tiger barbs commercially and have tested various methods. This involves separating them in different tanks and offering them a diet that consists of 2-3 feedings a day with brine shrimp, tubifex, bloodworms, and other protein-rich food sources. Brighter, more vibrantly-colored males are more likely to successfully fertilize the spawned eggs of the female cherry barb. I find that water that is just slightly soft is best to induce spawning. The content of this website is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advice. All Rights Reserved. For the most part, females exhibit the following physical traits: Males, on the other hand, are much more colorful: Once you get to know this species better and build some experience under your belt, it will become much easier to spot the differences. I believe 20 hours is how long mine have been hatching at? Because the parents won’t be around to aerate the eggs and prevent rotting or fungus growth, you should account for these things and set up the tank so that these problems are prevented. Once they do reach breeding maturity, things become a little bit easier. Before you can expect any eggs from your fish, first you must determine their gender, so you can pair them off. A lot of people will try to breed the tiger barb in a community tank with little to no success, and that’s because a lot of the eggs or fry get eaten by other fish in the tank. As with any other fish species kept in an aquarium, take care not to overfeed your tigers and you perform water changes regularly to keep the water from becoming toxic to your fish. Feeding tiger barbs two to three times a day with high-protein foods like frozen bloodworms, tubifex, Artemia, paste foods (beef heart paste is great if you have the time to prepare it!) The eggs will hatch after 2 days depending on temperature. or a protein-rich quality flake food is essential for proper conditioning. Tiger Barbs (Barbus tetrazona), sometimes called a Sumatra Barb, is a tropical fish from the Cyprinidae family. Aeration should be provided to supply enough oxygen to the eggs. Difficulties mostly arise from determining the gender of tiger barbs and setting up multiple tanks for conditioning, breeding, hatching eggs and raising fry. Hatching Brine Shrimp. © Copyright 2021 - SmartAquariumGuide. At this point, tiger barb larvae are not swimming, and they feed on their yolk sacs. Keep with the water changes 10% every other day and keep up with the malac… In this guide, I lay down the basics of how to breed tiger barbs including the water requirements, tank requirements and feeding requirements of tiger barb brood stock. In the wild, you’ll find tiger barbs concentrated in Borneo, Indonesia, Sumatra, Thailand, and other parts of Southeast Asia. Bottom: a 2.5" long mature female that's full of eggs. The Tiger Barb is relatively easy to care for and will grow to a maximum of 3 inches in size once they reach adulthood, making them the perfect size for either a community tank or a species-specific tank. The life expectancy of a Tiger Barb is around 6, although this may drop to 3-5 years in limited aquarium conditions. The water in the aquarium should be soft, slightly acidic (pH at around 6.5, hardness up to 10 dGH). Even so, breeding this fish either for your own enjoyment or commercially can be easy and satisfying if you know what you’re doing. For professional tiger barb breeding you’ll need 4-5 separate tanks – two conditioning tanks, a breeding tank, a hatching/rearing tank, and a grow-out tank. They are seem to be sick or depressed. Here are the steps involved: Step 1: Setting Up the Hatching/Rearing Tank. Disclosure: I may earn a commission when you purchase through my affiliate links. In commercial breeding, the spawning substrate is designed in way that it doesn’t allow tiger barbs to eat their own eggs. The eggs are translucent about the size of a sand grain, eggs hatch in about 24 to 48 hours. Conditioning requires that you place tiger barbs into separate tanks based on sex, separating females from males, and placing them on a high-protein diet that will induce spawning. The Tiger barb fry once born would absorb nutrients from the yolk sac & are free swimming in about a day or two. Conditioning should last for about 3-4 days, after which single pairs of tiger barbs should be moved to the spawning tank. Here is a great video on how to breed tiger barbs: If you’re used to fish species that take care of the eggs and fry themselves and which are excellent parents (e.g. The fish is native mostly to central and south part of the Sumatra islands and it inhabits on the Malay Peninsula and in Thailand as well.Its habitats are as a rule thickly planted small rivers with clean water. 10 Best Bottom Feeder Fish for Freshwater Aquariums. You can also find green tiger barbs with varying degrees of green coverage. The breeding tank does not require a substrate, but it must be additionally darkened with a dense blanket of floating plants. Molly Fish and Tiger Barbs – Can You Keep Them in Same Aquarium? I prefer to feed my tiger barb fry freshly hatched brine shrimp that comes from my own cultures. The breeding tank should have a bare bottom or you can place marbles as a substrate, which can offer some coverage for the eggs, and remove the adult fish instead of removing the spawning site.