kieley

hey
i have 8 tiger barbs and a corey that seem to be getting harassed by a rainbow shark... although he picks on the smaller barbs more the bigger ones are not left out. all the victims have been in the tank for a few months now and the rainbow shark was just added and just cant seem to get along.. i purposely waited to get him so that hed be much smaller then the rest of the fish but he still chases them around .. im not sure if hes actually nipping them as there dosent appear to be any damage but you can see the contact he makes with them and sometimes the corey dosent even run away and just sits there and takes it! what can i do?
my tank is 35 gallons with lots of hiding places provided by driftwood and plants, fluval 204 filter.. normal water conditions...

Barbrella

Rainbow sharks are aggressive and although they may not bite other fish, they will harass them - especially if they're small or slow - often relentlessly.

You chose a good combination, since usually they do well with other semi-aggressive fish like your Tiger barbs. How big are your barbs?

What I would do is get a cave for him, and put it at the far end of the tank. Hopefully he'll set up his territory there and not feel as though he has to chase the other fish all the time. After he's established in his cave, he may just dart out when others get too close. Put some plants or rocks nearby, to break up his line of vision across the tank floor so he can have a smaller territory.

I don't know if keeping corys with sharks is a good idea, but you shouldn't have just one cory. They're much happier in groups.

Hopefully someone who keeps corys and a shark can reply about that!

kieley

5 out of the 8 barbs are all the fully grown, then there are 3 that are slightly smaller and are the albino versions.
the cave sounds like a good idea and i have already put one in to see if it will work!
i didnt know coreys had to be kept in groups.. do you think that i have enough room in my tank for more fish?
thanks for the help!

platy ben

i think you could have about 3 more .

kieley

3 more little corys or 3 more fish in general?

Blub

Corys. I'm slightly doubtful on how they would get along though... It may be wise to separate them.

kieley

maybe i should take one of them back then?

platy ben

maybe take one back and get 4

Blub

One orf the whats? If you mean corys, then just don't get any and take back the lone one... And you can get something like Rainbowfish perhaps?