Tiger barbs I bought 5 tiger barbs in one shot about 2 months ago.  One now seems larger in the belly than the others.  I read that they are not easy to breed but should I isolate it in a breeder net to see what happens. <You could> If you actually look at the tank for a while you will see the noticeable difference.<oh>  It is still as active as the others so I don't think it is a worm or illness.<yea, it could be just a fat fish. and it also could be pregnant. I doubt that it would do any harm if you setup a breeding net inside the aquarium and placed the fish in it for a while>  What do you guys suggest.  I will be off this Thurs. to Sunday so will be able to monitor the fish and tank more.....Any Suggestions?<good luck, IanB>

FAMA article Dear Mr. Fenner, <Tim-Uwe> my name is Tim-Uwe Jandeck, I read your article "The Minnows Called Barbs, Danios & Rasboras" on the WetWebMedia site with pleasure. I am especially interested in the genetics of tiger barbs and found a very interesting reference to the following publication in the article: Norton, Joanne. 1994. Tiger barb genetics. FAMA 9/94. I tried to order/find/organize this article in many different ways but it seems to be nearly impossible for me to get it (I am from Germany (Berlin) and even our university libraries don't collect the FAMA Journal anymore). So my question is if you could copy/scan me the respective pages of this 9/94 Journal. I can pay you by MasterCard or PayPal. I think that it would be a great help for my further studies if I could get this article, sincerely yours, Tim-Uwe Jandeck. <I do have the issue, and will ask Sue Steele of FAMA if she minds my sending it along, or better, if they will send/sell you an original copy. Bob Fenner>

Tiger Barbs and Black Neon Pregnant Questions Hello. I really enjoy reading your site and I can only marvel at the dedication (and politeness) of your crew in answering questions to help out people like us. I wrote because I have a question on breeding. I am trying to get my tiger barbs to breed. I do have a separate tank and tried to follow what I have read on various websites on how to breed them but nothing seems to be happening. Is it absolutely essential to separate the male and female? Is it ok to leave the males in the main tank, put the female in the breeding tank, and when she's ready, that's when I put the male in? How do I even know if she's pregnant or just fat? I am also concerned about the female being kept too long in the breeding tank. When I first placed her there, she looked miserable. When I added two companions, she perked up. I also have black neon tetras. I think they are females and they look like they are going to burst in their bellies. I am not sure if they are fat or pregnant, or if that is even possible since I don't have male black Neons. They eat fine and I feed only once or twice a day. Do I leave them like that? They swim fine but I'm not sure if it is healthy for them to look/be that fat or pregnant. < When tiger barbs get ready to breed the female will fatten up and the male will be paying lots of attention to her. If you see the two side by side making runs at bunches of plants then they are getting ready to breed. The Neons do a similar motion but don't make the runs at the plants. To get egg scatters to breed I feed the fish heavily with live food for about a week and then heat up the tank to 80 to 82 degrees F. I clean the filters and do a large 50%  water change with soft to medium hard water. This usually gets them going but creates another problem. The eggs become scattered all over the tank and they now become a food source for the adults. To separate the eggs from the adults old timers lined the bottom of a bare breeding tank with marbles and allowed the eggs to fall between the pore of the marbles and then remove the parents from the tank. A coarse mesh suspended an inch or two off the bottom of the aquarium will do the same thing. It is nearly impossible to get the tiny fry out of an existing community aquarium. Females may become ripe with eggs without a male being present and will absorbed the eggs after awhile without spawning.-Chuck> Mei

Pregnant Tiger Barb I just bought 7 Tiger Barbs it looks as if one of them is pregnant.  I have a 10 gallon tank and do not want a bunch of baby Tiger Barbs.  If I do nothing will the baby's survive? or should I remove the pregnant one? any advice? Thanks, Maria <<Dear Maria; if you do nothing, and the tiger barbs mate, chances are that the parents will eat the eggs and whatever fry happen to hatch. If you want to keep the fertilized eggs, you can remove them with a siphon hose to their own tank, and when they hatch, feed them newly hatched baby brine shrimp. IF the tiger barb in question is simply fat, and her scales start to stick out like a pinecone, then she is sick with an internal bacterial infection and will require medication or euthanasia. Please test your water for ammonia (zero), nitrites (zero) and nitrates (try to keep around 20-40ppm with weekly water changes). -Gwen>> 

Tiger Barb breeding 7/11/05 Hello, I have a ten gallon freshwater tank that I'd like to breed tiger barbs in. Is this tank too small <Nope> and if so what other kind of barb can I breed in this tank and if not what does this tank require? <Many barbs that are too large to breed here... e.g. Tinfoils, T-Bar, Rosies... and some that are easier... Checkerboards, Golds, Cherries... Need to do a bit of studying re making a barrier to keep the parents from eating the eggs, conditioning to reproduce, growing foods for the young. I suggest going to a public library (or buying used on the Net) some of the old T.F.H. books on aquarium fish breeding. Bob Fenner>