They are also great for removing 'pest snails' eggs. Once mine discovered the little blob of jelly was food he used to search for them.
They can be quite aggressive but due to their huge finnage they aren't as mobile as most of the other fish you will keep, therefore it must;ve been a slow barb. lol
Mine was in with 4 mollys, 4 plecs, 6 Danios, 6 Glolight Tetras and all seemed to get on reasonably well together.
Andy