Who's responsible for missing tails?

Hi! So we've been slowly stocking our 40 gallon breeder. When our cycle was complete, we added four male platys and a bristlenose pleco. A week later we started slowly introducing small groups of cherry barbs. Two weeks later, we had 11 cherry barbs, 1 male and 10 female. A week later, we added 10 ember tetra. This weekend, we took three of our platys to the fish store and came back with a male pearl gourami. Everyone's seemed fine all along the way. This afternoon though, I realized two of our cherry barb are missing the lower half of their tails. Who should I try to pull out? I figure it's either the gourami or that our last platy's gotten bored. I know that tetras can be fin nippers, but the size of the chunk missing doesn't really fit the size of our juvenile embers. Thanks!

 

Hi!

I would suspect the pearl gourami. Ember tetra are innocuous, in my experience. And while it's not out of the realm of possibility to have a nipping platy, it's not that common.

 

I was afraid that might be the case. The only reason I wonder about the platy is he's clearly been thrown off by the other three leaving. But having just gotten the gourami, he seemed the most likely suspect! We'll isolate him until we can talk to our LFS.

 

Okay, I definitely think it was the gourami. Within ten minutes of getting him into the net breeder, all the other fish resumed their normal behavior. We'd noticed both the barbs and tetras had been staying in permanent tight schools, and the platy stayed hidden in one corner, but we assumed they were just reacting to a new fish. Now they're back to being all over the tank.

 

That would be very unusual for the pearl to be the culprit as they're one of the most docile of all gourami species. Are you sure the tails weren't like that when you got them? It could've been the male barb if he's the only one in the tank. I thought it was best to keep multiple or even more males than females in a school. It really could be any one of those fish, including the platys as they can get a little feisty.

 

Our LFS thought he was most likely the one, but out of fear not aggression. All of their pearls have been tank reared together, and it's possible he's scared of all the little darting fish. They suggested leaving him in the net a few days to see if it helps him feel more secure and then try again. We will, of course, be counting tails in the meantime just to be sure.

 

I wouldn't leave him in a net for that long. That would just stress him out even more. If you really do suspect him, I'd put him in a spare tank if possible.

 

My money is on the lone male platy or cherry barb actually.

 

I do have a ten gallon set up, but it isn't anywhere that he could see the other fish if that is what he needs.

I am curious about the cherry barb ratio though. We started with at least 7 that were too young to tell for sure what sex they were, but I'm fairly confident now that all but the one are female. He certainly spends a significant amount of time chasing them, but he seems to have a very specific goal in mind. I assumed that giving him lots of potential targets reduced the stress for the females.

I felt the platy was really high on the suspect list since he seems to have gone a bit bonkers now that the other platys are gone. We gave away the others because of massive aggression, but it seemed very species specific and the one we kept was always the lowest on the pecking order. But like I said, both the barb and tetras really seem to have relaxed since we separated the gourami. Am I reading too much into that?

 

Dynamics of the tank change anytime fish are added or removed. Doesn't necessarily mean it's a good or bad thing.

Male cherry barbs are red and females are a light brown. Pretty sure I read you should have more males if you are keeping a mixed batch. tyguy7760 would know as he's kept them.

 

When I kept cherry barbs I kept all males. I've never actually kept females but I've been told that you should keep them in 1:1 ratios as the females can be aggressive towards the males (opposite of what you would expect).

As far as the culprit of the nipped tails my guess would be the male platy. I've had several aggressive male platy's since I've been keeping fish. They aren't the docile little things people make them out to be. In groups they do better but in my experience when I've kept males in groups they keep each other calm. However, when their numbers start dwindling and you are left with 1 or 2, many times in my tanks the last remaining males would become very aggressive.

I even had one red platy that would beat up on my tbar cichlid all the time. I had to rehome him because he had cornered the tbar into the back upper corner of the tank and wouldn't let him out.

 

Thanks for everyone's input! Our LFS is getting new stock this week, and we'll look into adding a couple more male cherry barbs.

I'm not sure what to do about the platy. When we had four males, we could find any number or combination that kept them from fighting. Really, really nasty fighting. The one we kept was always the one getting harassed so we assumed he was the more docile. I wonder if he feels like his time's finally come to rule the roost or something. Would adding a couple females help? Or just add more chances for a major problem?

 

I'm not sure. They seem to do better in groups in my experience but adding females is going to mean lots of babies. A similar thing happened to me the first time I kept platies. We had 3 males. A beautiful blue one, a yellow MM, and the red one I spoke of earlier. They got a long perfectly. But then one day the blue one jumped out of the tank and I didn't find him for a few days. Well when that happened the yellow one took over and became a big bully to the other red one. Constantly chasing him everywhere. So I rehomed the yellow thinking that would take care of it. Well then the red one started bullying my tbar cichlid.

I personally have had success with 3 males in a tank.

 

I have to say that anything I've ever heard suggest 1 male:2 females for cherry barbs, and based on personal experience I must concur. I have 2 males and 8 females, and the males are without a doubt the aggressors. they are always chasing and tackling the ladies, they each have a side of the tank they defend jealousy against each other, they compete when a female is dropping eggs, they scrap... I found them both yesterday missing some scales. The girls occasionally have a scale or two missing, but very rarely. They school together quite happily and comfortably.

This is the first I've heard anyone suggest more males than females...

Oh, right, and I wanted to add: when I got my second batch of cherries, there were three of them with bitten, partially missing tails. At the LFS, they were being kept in a tank with Gouramis. Three-spots, not dwarfs mind you... But it seemed relevant to point out.

 

At this point, the tank seems to have calmed down. No more nipped tails and no signs of aggression from anyone. I'd like to make it through a least a week before adding more fish particularly since the gourami is so big. After that, we'll look into finding at least one more male cherry barb. We've done the platy fry thing before and my experience was that as long as we didn't pull them out of the tank straight away, most didn't make it. (And that was with a Platy only tank.) And our LFS has told us that any fry we get from any species can be brought to them for store credit. However, I am somewhat reluctant to add more of a fish that's had so many aggression issues. We've been keeping them since early in the year in a species only tank before that and it seemed each week brought new fights.