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Help plz

931 views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  jaysee 
#1 ·
Hi
i have a bit of fin nipping going on, i would say its the tiger barbs ,in the tank i have-
3 tiger barbs
5 golden barbs
4 rosy barbs
3 cherry barbs
1 opaline gourami
3 large black tetras
1 cory
1 red tail black shark
i have read that increasing the number of tigers may help but i dont want to make it worse.
any advice would be really appreciated, the tank is 125 litres.
any advice on which fish could be added would also be appreciated
thanks
 
#2 ·
Hi, welcome to TFK!
It probably is the tiger barbs doing the nipping, and adding more would probably stop this, but I wouldn't. Personally, I think you should rehome them. Just seems like 4 barb species in 125 liters is way too much. I'd bump up the other barbs so you have at least 6 of each type. Wouldn't hurt to get rid of another barb species so you could have larger schools of two types, versus smaller schools of 4 types. Watching fish swim around in groups and interact is quite rewarding if they have good sized groups.
You should also have more cories, at least 5 more, as they are schooling fish and shouldn't live on their own.
 
#3 ·
Welcome to the forum

This is a classic case of te wrong kind of fish in too small of a tank. The fish may be all nipping each other. In this situation, the culprits are probably the fish with the best looking fins.

I would keep the gold/golden barbs, cherry barbs, the Cory and the gourami and increase the schools to an appropriate size. Get rid of the rest.
 
#4 ·
I agree. This tank, a 33g (125 liters) is overcrowded now, and fish need to be removed. The Tiger Barb are nippy fish and while having a dozen in this tank on their own would be the only way to reduce this, the other fish would all have to go; so remove the Tigers.

As for the rest, they are going to need more space, the Golden Barb attain 3 inches and would be better in a 4-foot tank.

Don't know what the "black tetra" may be, but if it is the Black Widow Tetra it too is nippy in small n umbers, and not good with gourami. If a black neon, they need more numbers. All tetra, barb, corys are shoaling fish that need a group.

The red tailed shark will likely be trouble one day, as explained in the profile, and it too will need more space.

Please have a read of our profiles, all these fish are included. Shaded names means you can click those for that fish's profile.

Byron.
 
#5 ·
The gold/golden barbs may or may not attain 3 inches, depending on if they are gold barbs or golden barbs. Otherwise, they will get a little bigger than a cherry barb. Time will tell which you have, if you keep them. You may have some of both, even if you bought them all together.
 
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