tb19

Ok so i bought 3 tiger barbs about 4 days ago. One regular colored and one green and one orange -redish. The orange one died! i found it dead between the fake plants this morning. Now..i dont know if it was becuase it wasnt eating. I tested the water a day before its death and all was fine. My green one wont eat much. I dont want it dying of hunger... it doesnt seem to eat like the rest of them... how else can i get him to eat?

sirdarksol

Unless they are really emaciated, it's unlikely your fish died from hunger. Most cold-blooded critters (fish included) can survive for days or even weeks without food. Besides, many fish won't eat until they've acclimated to the tank.
I don't know much about barbs, despite having three of them. Do they normally come in greens and other colors? If they don't, you got "painted" fish, which several banners I've seen around here say die about 80% of the time.
I'd get a water sample from your tank immediately and bring it to a pet store for testing, but that's just because I don't trust my own ability to read those tests absolutely correctly.
Was this a new tank? Were there any changes recently, such as a power outage? What else lives in the tank?
Depending on the load in the tank, water chemistry changes can happen very quickly if something goes wrong, usually the bacteria colony that provides the biological filtering dying off.

BTW, sorry your fish died. I don't know how attached you were to it, but I hate it when a pet dies, no matter how long I've had it. I'm sure the next people in my house will be thrilled to know that several of the bushes in my yard are tributes to and resting places for my deceased pets.

sgould

There are a few varieties, including green, so painting is not likely an issue. I would be more suspicious of water quality. You mentioned the water tested ok the day before the barbs went in, but that was several days ago. What are your test results now? Also, how are they getting along together? Barbs can be agressive when kept in groups smaller than 6...do they seem to be picking on each other?

tb19

well actually i tested the water before its death...and it was a day before. The water was fine...There were five other barbs in the tank. But im probably guessing if he was attacked or got stuck on the fake plants. But for some reason he wouldnt eat....i know that it takes time for them to settle down....but my other barbs settled down within 3 days....hopefully my green one wont die...

sgould

Glad to hear they are settling in. Don't forget to keep testing the water periodically now that the fish are in it. I have a tank that was cycled and tested great, but then when I added my angels the increased bio-load was more than the tank could handle and it went right back into another cycle! Now I'm spending so much time with my 5 gallong buckets doing water changes that I'm thinking of naming them!

sirdarksol

Thank you for answering my question. When it came up, I got very curious about it.
Follow up question. For most fish, coloring is part of the schooling instinct. It allows fish of similar types to find and stick with their fellows. Do different colors in barbs affect the schooling instinct at all?

I don't have much to add, but I do want to reiterate what someone else said. Keep testing that water daily. I would do so for a week or so after the values stabilize in a safe zone. I would then go to checking them twice a week for awhile. Any time the numbers are in the "unsafe" zone, do a partial water change to give the fish a breath of fresh water. Hope your green does well.

tb19

Sgould i got a question for you. How do you maintain your 20 gallon with so many fish in the tank? Just curious

sgould

I am not 100% sure of the answer as to the greens schooling well with a "normal" tiger. I think they would school together just fine, but perhaps someone else can say for sure...I'm just not positive because I have never tried it.

TB, the 20 gallon is fully cycled and is actually pretty stable with what I have in it. I test the water quality a couple of times per week, and both ammonia and nitrites have stayed consistently 0. I do a 25% water change and gravel vac once per week, at which time my nitrates are peaking at about 20. After the water change the nitrate drops to 10. I try to be pretty cautious with feedings, and over time I've been able to get the amounts of food figured out to where everybody is getting some, but very little is making it to the bottom to decay and mess with my water quality.

Sean

tb19

i see cuase my tank is supposedly crowded...the testing shows good results so far... i was just wondering

jacksonbm

I just read about different color tigers schooling together on another post and the that was given was that fish school together by shape not so much colors. There was a little more written on the topic, if I can find it again I'll let you know what post it was.

vin

This is correct....Also, fish give off their own little 'signal', sort of like echo location...The jury is till out as to whether or not fish can see colors.....