I came home today and my 2 year old was pointing at the fish tank saying "fishy down". I looked over and one of the tiger barbs was on the bottom of the tank bloated and dead. I took him out and examined him and couldn't see anything really wrong. Is this common? We got him from Meijer last weekend. Everything seemed ok last night and the rest are acting ok. My levels aren't out of whack. nitrite 0, ammonia 0.5, nitrate 5.
EEK!! We have had our first casualty
- Thread starter stacic8679
- Start date
Hmmmmm.......
Is it common for Tiger Barbs to just up and die? No, I dont think so; they are know to be hardy fish. How long do you have them? If they are new, it could simply be stress from the move. Edit; It jsut copped that you said you had him a week. Hmmmm, could be stress, I guess. Most likey not though, as too much time has passed.
How many were in the shoal? If it were too small, say 2-4 it may have been picked on to the point of death. Same goes for what tank mates you have.
Are you over feeding? This could be an issue. With Tigers, look to see if they are swiming with their heads dowm, if so they are prob overfed. Are you giving them any greens? Tigers like a small bit of green in their diet, cucumber, for example. I dont think a lack of greens would have killed it, but that is a nice, and little know, tip for the ones you still have.
Prob no harm knowing what size your tank is.....
Is it common for Tiger Barbs to just up and die? No, I dont think so; they are know to be hardy fish. How long do you have them? If they are new, it could simply be stress from the move. Edit; It jsut copped that you said you had him a week. Hmmmm, could be stress, I guess. Most likey not though, as too much time has passed.
How many were in the shoal? If it were too small, say 2-4 it may have been picked on to the point of death. Same goes for what tank mates you have.
Are you over feeding? This could be an issue. With Tigers, look to see if they are swiming with their heads dowm, if so they are prob overfed. Are you giving them any greens? Tigers like a small bit of green in their diet, cucumber, for example. I dont think a lack of greens would have killed it, but that is a nice, and little know, tip for the ones you still have.
Prob no harm knowing what size your tank is.....
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funny you say that. I have noticed in the last few days that they are staying in one position with their heads pointing down. They do chase each other around but they pretty much chill around the filter with their heads down. I only feed them one time a day. I feed them flake and blood worms. Blood worms are mainly for the guarami but I think the tiger barbs eat them too. I did have an issue with one of the tiger barbs chasing another one around incessantly. I am not sure if this is the one that died. So should I feed them less than once a day? When I fed them tonight they acted like they hadn't been fed in a week.
What size are they?
There little feckers! They will eat themselves to death! Dont mind them! I would not even feed them every day, that goes for the rest of your fish too. I have 6 one inch(ish) tigers. They got 1 crushed flake of food today, I may give them a wee bit more in the morning. This is not cruel, remeber there bellys are only about the same size as there eye. I would only feed them every second day, and even then prob half of what you think is enough. Its better to have them looking for it then looking at it.
TBH, you really need more Tigers. I would say a group of 6 is the smallest I would go. Thats what, 15 inches, so your not overstocked. Not only will this spread agression out among the group, but it will also make to Guarami less likely to attack. I would prob get rid of the platty, I think they like to be with their own kind aswell.
There little feckers! They will eat themselves to death! Dont mind them! I would not even feed them every day, that goes for the rest of your fish too. I have 6 one inch(ish) tigers. They got 1 crushed flake of food today, I may give them a wee bit more in the morning. This is not cruel, remeber there bellys are only about the same size as there eye. I would only feed them every second day, and even then prob half of what you think is enough. Its better to have them looking for it then looking at it.
TBH, you really need more Tigers. I would say a group of 6 is the smallest I would go. Thats what, 15 inches, so your not overstocked. Not only will this spread agression out among the group, but it will also make to Guarami less likely to attack. I would prob get rid of the platty, I think they like to be with their own kind aswell.
Meijer is also a generally bad place to purchase fish from, a step up from walmart, but still not good. If there is ammonia in your tank is isn't done cycling. How long has it been set up? The stress of being moved to your tank and the ammonia may have just finished him off if he wasn't very healthy to begin with.
It's been set up for 5 weeks now. We made the mistake of jumping right into it so we had to do a fish in cycle. 2 weeks ago I thought it was done cycling because the nitrates were at like 5-10, ammonia was 0.25, and nitrites was 0.5. But now the ammonia is 0.5, nitrates and nitrites are both 0. So I don't know what's going on. I just keep doing the water changes to keep the ammonia down. Don't know if this matters but it was the girl that died. The other 3 are boys.
Well, if there is ammonia your tank is definitely not done cycling. I would monitor closely for a couple days and see if the ammonia goes down. Once there is 0.0 ammonia and nitrite it is done cycling. Don't add any new fish until everything has settled down. As for the fish death, I would consider it a casualty of your cycle and probably stressful situation from Meijers unless the others start dying as well.