The albino tiger barb is pale gold, with cream bars and pink to red eyes. It is an active schooling fish for the middle of the tank and a good beginner fish if you plan its tank mates.
Did you know
Cross an albino tiger barb with a normal one and every fry looks normal, because the recessive albino gene needs two copies to show. Those fry carry it silently, and spawning them together brings albinos back at roughly one fish in four.
Caring for the albino tiger barb
Keep at least six albino tiger barbs, and more is better, in a tank of 20 gal (75 L) or more. They are active swimmers in the middle of the tank. A planted tank with open swimming room and a gentle current suits them.
The water can run soft to fairly hard, at 68 to 79°F (20 to 26°C) and a pH of 6.0 to 8.0. Albino tiger barbs are easy eaters, taking flake, micro pellets and frozen foods such as bloodworms and brine shrimp. Albino fish are often reported to see less well than pigmented ones. Shaded cover and a settled feeding spot help them in a bright, open tank.
Albino tiger barbs are aggressive, and they can shred trailing fins. In a small group they pester other fish, while a large school spends its time chasing and sorting out rank among themselves. Avoid long-finned or slow tank mates such as bettas and angelfish.
Albino tiger barbs are egg scatterers with no parental care. Move the parents out after spawning, since they will eat the eggs if left in the tank. The eggs hatch in roughly a day or two, and breeding them is hard.
Good to know
Albino to albino pairings breed true, so farms run the strain separately instead of pulling albinos out of mixed spawns. With melanin gone, the bars survive only as faint bands, and on some fish they look almost absent. The eyes look red because blood vessels show through the iris. The strain is one of the most widely farmed tiger barb forms and turns up in most shops that stock the species.
In the wild
The albino tiger barb is a farm-bred strain with no documented originator, country or date. Albino mutations turn up regularly in commercially spawned fish, and breeders keep the ones that appear. Albinos are selected against hard in the wild, so the form exists only in tanks.
From published sources
Tank mates
Each fish here is named as a tank mate for the albino tiger barb by at least two published care guides. Keep the tiger barbs in a group of eight or more, which spreads out their nipping.
Is an albino tiger barb a different species from the tiger barb?
No. An albino tiger barb is a variety of the tiger barb, Puntigrus tetrazona, and it wants the same tank, water and food as the species.
What size tank does an albino tiger barb need?
An albino tiger barb needs at least 20 gal (75 L). It spends most of its time in the middle.
What does an albino tiger barb eat?
An albino tiger barb is an easy eater, taking flake, micro pellets and frozen foods such as bloodworms and brine shrimp. A settled feeding spot helps, since albino fish are often reported to see less well.
How big does an albino tiger barb get?
An adult albino tiger barb reaches about 2.8 in (7 cm).
Does an albino tiger barb need a group?
Yes. An albino tiger barb is a schooling species and should be kept in a group, not singly.
How does an albino tiger barb breed?
Albino tiger barbs scatter their eggs and give them no parental care. Move the parents out after spawning, since they eat the eggs. The eggs hatch in roughly a day or two, and breeding them is hard.
2.8 in (7 cm)29 gal (110 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)
2.2 in (5.5 cm)29 gal (110 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)
2.8 in (7 cm)20 gal (75 L)64–75°F (18–24°C)
2.8 in (7 cm)20 gal (75 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)
2.8 in (7 cm)40 gal (150 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)
2.8 in (7 cm)24 gal (90 L)61–75°F (16–24°C)