potter

Hi,

I have purchased 6 new Tiger Barbs and they are in a tank (cycled with media from my bigger tank). Its been more than a week now and every time I watch them they are just nipping and nipping each other? Like lots? The worst one is the smallest Tiger Barb. He is a really mean TB. He bullies the others non-stop. I have fake plants and cave for them but the bully..omg...its kinda hard to look at him bullying the others. Will it stop after a rank is in order or this is it? Looking at them makes me feel stressed!

aquarist48

Hello! Tiger Barbs are notorious fin nippers. I don't know of anything that you can do to try and stop it. Maybe some other members will have some suggestions. Best of luck!

platy ben

I have literally 20 minutes ago released my 5 new green tiger barbs into my 45G, i havent seen any of this behaviour yet, they are just swimming around together happily, i beleive if they have something to be afraid of they may stay more as friends, i have 2 pairs of dwarf cichlids in the tank with them (german blue rams and cokatoo cichlids) which are keeping them on there toes for now so they arent interestedi n eachother at them oment, however mine are still young and this behaviour oculd develop once they have settled down.
Hope this helps

capekate

When I had tiger barbs in my 29g tank they fought constantly. Very aggressive mean little fish to each other and anything else in the tank. At one point my meanest TB actually attacked and killed another TB. I will never never keep these bullies in a community tank again.
THo I do admit freely they are gorgeous looking fish, I love the orange and black stripes. But that 'tude I can do with out in my tanks.
You can move things around... but in the end, it is their personality you are dealing with and you can not change that. Once you are able to ID the gender of them, you may have more insight on why they are being so aggressive.It may be the female to male ratio.

potter

Thanks....they are gorgeous and they are in Tiger Barbs only tank right now so no one else to keep them in check or on their toes. They are active and I thought they'd enjoy the tank to themselves but no.....they can't share even only with other TBs. I would like to see them play, swim around or just simply enjoy themselves there but no....maybe if the bully actually kills another fish, I would rehome them to someone with lots more TBs so that they can even their aggression out. I thought 6 is a good number to begin with. Argh..I almost feel like pulling my hair out. The bully (smallest one) spends his time chasing all the other 5 TBs around and occasionally one will tell him off but not enough. I wish he'd stop it!!!

marksuttonjr

My 8 barbs are in a 35 gal. along with about a dozzen gold fish. I haven't seen anything in that tank fight yet. They did however fight with a male betta that I used to have in my 100 gal tank when the barbs were in it.

Chrisson

My friend has a tiger barb only tank and they always happily school together showing no threat to eachother.

capekate

Hi Potter,
these little guys are very smart! Every try netting them yet? lol... ohh boy!
Sometimes you get a real ruthless male on your hands that seems to want to attack all the other TBs. That was the case of mine. I actually took this bad fish out and put him in with my JDs at one time and it even chased them! Ohh he was sooo bad.
Im surprised that some folks have had peaceful tiger barb tanks.. as they are naturally aggressive fish. Maybe they had all females in their tanks?
But more times than not, we always hear of the problems of the aggression from these guys, its not unusual.
Best of luck... I hope somehow it works out for you, a TB tank must look real nice. Any way you can get that TB that is the most aggressive out of the tank and back to the LFS?

marksuttonjr

I believe that only 3 of mine are female. I pulled the largest out tonight, and put her in a betta condo in my 100 gal comunity tank. In a week or so I will return her to the TB/goldfish tank, and hopefully she will spawn. I might have the goldfish out of that tank and in a 50 by the time I put her back in. We'll just have to see what happens as far as me getting my new tanks going.

mrrv

we have a tiger barb only tank with 12 kids (less than an inch), mostly female. they tend to get worked up at times but its mostly playful i think! the tank overall is pretty peaceful, they seem happy.

gmen4life

yeah i had a buly tiger barb he ate ones tail to a nub he chose one to pick on for some reason

potter

My Tiger Barbs...only left one now that is the smallest bully. Not sure if its a male/female but this little fish ate my other Tiger Barbs' tail fin to the nube in one night and they died stressed out I think sigh. Now he is all alone and he is happy so weird. He is happily eating and swimming around playing in the plants sigh. I am giving up on Tiger Barbs since the ones I get aren't really friendly . I am thinking of getting some dwarf puffers next but maybe just one and give the Tiger Barb to someone else who has a huge school and bigger barbs coz obviously he is a bully.