Golden & Rosy Barb compatibility?

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I have a 12g tank, planted, with 5 golden barbs...wonderful fish, very
lively, hungry all the time.

I also have a hair algae problem I'm trying to get rid of...and now I'm
resigned to get another fish to get rid of it.

I had some ottos before, but they died. The barbs never bothered them.

A few questions:

1) are golden and rosy barbs compatible with each other? (have heard
the rosy barbs are a bit nippy)

2) how many rosy barbs would I have to get? I've heard they like to
school in groups of at least 4.

3) would 5 golden and 4+ rosy barbs be too much for a 12g tank?

4) what do rosy barbs eat if they eat up all the hair algae? do they
prefer food (I use Spectrum, but have been literally hand-feeding it to
my barbs) or algae? (will they come up with the golden barbs for pellet
food?)

Thanks!

[Newbie Bill]

I am new(ish) to most freshwater fish, so you may take everything I say with
a grain of sea salt.
Rosey Barbs can get up to 6 inches so adding 4 of them would probably not
be a long term answer. As far as the algae I would look at several things.
How is your water quality. Perhaps your nitrates are just too high. Poor
water parameters would also be one reason your otos may have died. If you
dont want algae why not just brush your tank? Good Luck
Bill Brister


> wrote in message
oups.com...
>I have a 12g tank, planted, with 5 golden barbs...wonderful fish, very
> lively, hungry all the time.
>
> I also have a hair algae problem I'm trying to get rid of...and now I'm
> resigned to get another fish to get rid of it.
>
> I had some ottos before, but they died. The barbs never bothered them.
>
> A few questions:
>
> 1) are golden and rosy barbs compatible with each other? (have heard
> the rosy barbs are a bit nippy)
>
> 2) how many rosy barbs would I have to get? I've heard they like to
> school in groups of at least 4.
>
> 3) would 5 golden and 4+ rosy barbs be too much for a 12g tank?
>
> 4) what do rosy barbs eat if they eat up all the hair algae? do they
> prefer food (I use Spectrum, but have been literally hand-feeding it to
> my barbs) or algae? (will they come up with the golden barbs for pellet
> food?)
>
> Thanks!
>

[Jason]

Thanks for the advice, Bill. I don't think my tank could handle *one*
fish that size, much less 4 of them.

My nitrates are all under control--I do water changes weekly (50% at
least), and check the values. They never go above 20ppm.
The otos unfortunately died because of pH crashes, which are now under
control, after someone posted here to do some severe gravel vacuuming,
to get all the rotting muck out. ;-)

The problem with the algae is that it has covered almost all the
plants--true, if if were just the glass, I would just brush it off (I
do that). I just read some advice about removing old/dying plants,
since they are the algae's preferred substrate (I've noticed that--the
new leaves are algae-free), so I've done some serious clearing of
plants and am keeping my fingers crossed!

Jason

Newbie Bill wrote:
> I am new(ish) to most freshwater fish, so you may take everything I
say with
> a grain of sea salt.
> Rosey Barbs can get up to 6 inches so adding 4 of them would
probably not
> be a long term answer. As far as the algae I would look at several
things.
> How is your water quality. Perhaps your nitrates are just too high.
Poor
> water parameters would also be one reason your otos may have died.
If you
> dont want algae why not just brush your tank? Good Luck
> Bill Brister
>
>
> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> >I have a 12g tank, planted, with 5 golden barbs...wonderful fish,
very
> > lively, hungry all the time.
> >
> > I also have a hair algae problem I'm trying to get rid of...and now
I'm
> > resigned to get another fish to get rid of it.
> >
> > I had some ottos before, but they died. The barbs never bothered
them.
> >
> > A few questions:
> >
> > 1) are golden and rosy barbs compatible with each other? (have
heard
> > the rosy barbs are a bit nippy)
> >
> > 2) how many rosy barbs would I have to get? I've heard they like to
> > school in groups of at least 4.
> >
> > 3) would 5 golden and 4+ rosy barbs be too much for a 12g tank?
> >
> > 4) what do rosy barbs eat if they eat up all the hair algae? do
they
> > prefer food (I use Spectrum, but have been literally hand-feeding
it to
> > my barbs) or algae? (will they come up with the golden barbs for
pellet
> > food?)
> >
> > Thanks!
> >