The Tiger Barb is native to Malaysia and Indonesia and possibly parts of Indochina. It is also found in other areas which are not its native range.

P. tetrazona of Malaysia/Indonesia with black-edged dorsal fins and P. anchisporus of Borneo with red-edged dorsal fins look very similar and are both called the Tiger Barb.

Named after their black stripes, they have a red nose and red pelvic fins. They grow to some 7 cm long.

Above centre and right with metallic green on pink/gold is suspected to be the Gold Green Stripe captive-bred variant of P. anchisporus. The Green Tiger Barb, with a fully metallic green body, is another captive-bred variant. Natural wild Tiger Barbs have silver bodies.

The Dwarf Tiger Barb or Partipentazona Barb is native to densely vegetated streams of Southeast Asia (Thailand, Malay Peninsula and Cambodia). It grows to 4cm long. It has similar silver to yellowish body colour and 4 stripes (3 body and one through the eye) and a black with red edged dorsal fin as the P. tetrazona above. The red markings are brighter in males than in females.