xanthangum2000

Hello,
I have 4 green tiger barbs which have at least doubled in size in the months I've had them. They nip me when I have my hand in the tank and last night I observed them harrassing my two spotted corys. I had a third cory, brought home the two to join the first maybe a week or so ago. The third disappeared this week. I wonder, would the barbs be responsible for the disappearance of all the 4 or 5 fish who've simply vanished in the 8 or 9 months I've had the tank?
I want to put the barbs in another tank, maybe with a dwarf puffer (or two? safe?). My thinking is that they'll keep each other at bay. Or tear each other apart. Thoughts?
Also, one of my barbs constantly sits by itself in the little decorative pot where we have an airstone planted. Could she be pregnant or something? Does anyone know what this could be?
Thank you so much!

Shawnie

if you have room, id get 3 or 4 more barbs to have a school of 7 or 8 ...it helps with their aggression...I doubt the barb ate the cory..anything else in the tank that might have? I dont think id want to chanace the barbs and puffer "tearing eachother apart" because then you would have to remove them and be back to square one!

xanthangum2000

Yeah, I hope they'd reach some kind of uneasy peace.... don't really have room for another few barbs... also in the tank: 2 (sad) spotted corys, lemon tetras, cardinal tetras, one chinese zebra loach, a couple snails, 2 angels, rummy-nosed tetras.
At the moment 2 barbs are flat-out FIGHTING. Why might they be getting much more aggressive in the past few weeks in particular? Simply the school-size issue?

Alessa

just out of curiosity, how big is your tank?

Shawnie

wow thats alot of fishies..what size tank? have your angels lost any fins as barbs are huge fin nippers as well as the angels have snacked on tetras before..but never heard of them eating a cory

xanthangum2000

30 gallons. The angels used to be a little nippy themselves but I wonder if the barbs aren't keeping them in check. Maybe I'm anthropomorphizing a bit. And no, the angels seem fine. One cardinal tetra lost his dorsal fin a while back but seems fine.

Shawnie

I think its a super territorial issue because of lack of space ...do you have another tank to move the barbs too and get a few more?

xanthangum2000

Yes. It's only 5 gallons though... been wondering what would fit in it at all, actually. Thoughts?

Shawnie

5gal is way too small! that would make it worse...I would think to keep the fish safe, to either return them, or get a 20 gallon setup at least for the barbs ....

xanthangum2000

That's what I was thinking.... what would one keep in a 5-gallon tank anyway?

xanthangum2000

Thanks, shawnie.

Devon

In my experience, Barbs are really feisty and nasty with one another and any tank mates until you have at least 6 or 7 of them. Even then, they are just bullies (this isn't always 100% true though... one of my Barbs was horribly aggressive until he managed to nip, bite, stress & harass the other Barbs in his tank to death, now he's as docile as ever with the Black Neon Tetras he lives alone with.)

If your tank is crowded / small for what you have, this will increase the aggression in any fishes prone to bullying. How many gallons is yours?

Shawnie

id take out your poor lil corys and let them have the 5 gallon if its cycled...they would love that

Devon

Wow there were a lot of posts between my reading & responding...! Shawnie is completely right, 30 gallons isn't enough room for all those fishies. :/

What to put in a 5 gallon... my answer of course is always going to be "BETTA!!"

xanthangum2000

well in the meantime we took three of the four out and put them in the 5-gallon tank, just to see if the most interesting barb would chill out, as devon's did. He may have, but the three have become very pale. I guess we'll take the three back to the store if they'll take 'em. Or the four.

Ghostfish

Barbs are the chihuahuas of the fish world. They are fearless and will go after anything no matter how much of a size difference there is. I bought a bristlenosed pleco once and a green tiger barb got stuck in the net with the bristlenose. The pet store just gave him to me. That one fish caused chaos in my tank. All that being said, he really didn't cause a lot of physical harm. He would nip fins every once in a awhile. Mostly he just harassed everything else. I would imagine thats the norm for these little guys.