Tiger Barb Bully

Betsy

I have two of them. One is beating his tankmate up. Tearing off pieces of his tail. To be honest I don't even know if he will make it... But how do I keep him from being mean. I have tried increasing the ammount of food, just in case he's hungry. I have also tried re-arranging the plants and stuff in the tank, and nothing's working... :( He has also taken a chunk out of my Serpae Tetra's tail.... UGH! HELP ME PLEASE!

okiemavis

Tiger barbs are very nippy, active fish. You'll need to keep them in a group of at least 6 to help spread out the aggression.

Lupin

What size is the tank? Tiger barbs are best kept in a large group to minimize nipping issues. Cramped spacing will also lead to nipping.

Betsy

well crap. I have two and I think I am about at the limit for my tank... what do I do now? I have two serpae tetras, two Tiger Barb, a dalmation molly, a silver tip tetra and a Glowlight Tetra

beweeb

how bigs ur tank

Betsy

only 10 gallons. I am going to get a bigger one someday. Just not in the budget right now. My husband thought he was helping by buying me fish, and didn't know the inch of fish rule...

Pasfur

First, you may want to consider why the LFS sold you 2 Tiger Barbs without warning you of the difficulty you were about to encounter.

Next, you almost need to srat over with your fish selection. You have no room in a 10 gallon aquarium to mix this many species of schooling fish with any long term success. I would remove the Tiger Barbs, Serpaes, and Silver Tips. All of these fish are "nippy" community species and do best in much larger aquariums, say 55 gallons or more.

You can add 4 or 5 more Glowlights and a few more peaceful species, such as Lemon Tetras.

Betsy

Ok, and what do I do if I don't have the "luxery"of a caring LFS. I only have two choices, one that is 20 mins away at least, that has halfway knowlegable staff if you get there on the right day, which I've only hit once out of five trips at least. And the other is walmart. Only 5 mins away. I am going with walmart for now, since its closer, and I am just careful when I shop to look for the healthier ones and only in tanks with other healthier ones.... And I also can't return them... so I am stuck with what I have, like it or not. I need to know now what to do with what I have....

iamntbatman

Unfortunately there's not a whole lot you can do. The nippy fish are going to stay that way unless you can increase the size of the group and give them more space to live in. You might not be able to return the fish and get your money back, but you will likely end up with some dead fish if you don't do something. The LFS you mentioned will likely take the fish off of your hands.

PDXfishy

You could start with a good book. I'm not saying this to be mean. A bad store will not help you with your tank, so the only thing you can do is educate yourself on your fish's needs.

If no fish stores accept the fish Psfur suggested to get rid of, offer them on Craigslist to people who are already keeping the species.

Then get one schoal (at least 6) of glowlights or go for a nice pair of Dwarf Gourami or killifish.