spekbelly

Hey Everyone! I just added a Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami with my 5 Tiger Barbs and ever since I added the Gourami he hides and when he finally dose come out of his hiding spots the tiger barbs will chase him around the tank and when it is feeding time the Gourami gets very little food because the barbs harras him so much. will this behavior from my tiger barbs calm down or what? any suggestions please?

ATKINSON

Welcome to Fishlore!! Unfortunatly your gourami will be continuously harassed as tiger barbs are bullys. Some owners make a bigger school of them so that they bicker amoung themselves. I think its 6 minimum. They are also notoriously fin nippers. Maybe wait until other tiger barb owners come and answer your questions.

Shawnie

tigers arent nice fish and tend to nip just about everything...the only way ive seen them tolerate others, is if their school is 6-10 where they are busy with eachother as atkinson said ...

acestriker

I had a dwarf gourami in my tank with 4 tiger barbs and after I decided to switch from feeding them every day to every other day I think they decided the dwarf was lunch.... they started to eat him.... he died so i got my gold gourami and they kick the tiger barbs butts... haha So he got is revenge even if he isn't here to witness it.

peacemaker92

I agree with everyone else. I've had tiger barbs before and they literally kept bugging my Silver sharks I had with them. So it wasn't a really nice sight after that. So I'd recommend adding more tiger barbs until you get a nice school of 6+ or just return them and have more Gouramies? Keep us updated!

So sorry to hear about your Dwaft! Never heard of tiger barbs 'eating' another fish a bit bigger than them.

Diggly

I think the main problem is territory, they were there first, try moving around plants and any caves, rocks etc see if that helps or add another barb. I have 4 and they never bother the other fish, I am increasing the number to 8 at the end of the month but as all the fish I have were added together I think there were no established territories which cut down on bullying (that and my barbs spend to much time following me around to harrass anything else lol)