Tiger Barb bullies its shoal to death!

jo3olous

jo3olous

Large Fish
#1
Aug 6, 2008
909
1
0
Philadelphia, PA
#1
Hey everyone, So I started out with 5 tiger barbs a few days after I had gotten my new tank (end of july). They were very young, only about 3/4 inch big. Apperantly there was a bully in the group and he isolated each of them one by one chasing them around on a daily basis! The smallest 2 died and I was down to 3. In hopes of calming him down, I added 4 more barbs, a big larger than the original group. Of course with the new group of barbs there was a newfound leader and he chases everyone to the point of insanity. Surprisingly I woke up one day (a week ago), and The largest barb had died from the new group, along with the smallest barb from the 1st group I purchased. I am now down to 4 barbs, the bully of course looks in great shape, very colorful. One of my barbs appear bloated (pregnant? or overeating?) Another one is so stressed out from being chased around (colorloss in fins, and turning bronze), and the Original bully from the first group seems to be getting very slim and has been hanging out in the upper corners of the tank for 3 days. Is the little guy in the corner dying? He looks fine as color goes, just looks like he hasnt been eating. The other 2 look okay when they are idle but when they get chased around they swim on an angle, probably due to being fin nipped. I also have a red tailed shark in here that has been doing great, none of the barbs bother him and he's been active at night, hiding in the day. "What to do with the bully?"
I will post pix later today when I get home
 

M

MatthewLaw

Large Fish
#2
Jun 29, 2008
490
0
0
PA
#2
hmm interesting situation. I have 6 TB and the largest has asserted his dominance. 95% of the time all 6 TB swim together as a school. Once in a while, the largest TB chases a smaller TB. I also have 5 rainbow sharks and for the most part they stay away from each other. During feeding time they are ravenous and when I have put new plants in the tank, the TBs have nipped at my finger!!

Maybe move the largest TB into a separate tank and let the other recooperate?

When you feed, do you feed at both ends of the tank?? I feed on both ends since the big fish bully the smaller fish and get to the flakes first on the first side i feed. by the time the big fish realizes i have fed on the other side, the smaller fish have already discoverd and eaten that food. my rainbow sharks are not aggressive at all with the TB and usually eat when the TBs dont get to.
 

jo3olous

jo3olous

Large Fish
#4
Aug 6, 2008
909
1
0
Philadelphia, PA
#4
MatthewLaw said:
hmm interesting situation. I have 6 TB and
When you feed, do you feed at both ends of the tank?? I feed on both ends since the big fish bully the smaller fish and get to the flakes first on the first side i feed. by the time the big fish realizes i have fed on the other side, the smaller fish have already discoverd and eaten that food. my rainbow sharks are not aggressive at all with the TB and usually eat when the TBs dont get to.
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Yes, I trade off between flakes and shrimp pellets, and I usually put flakes on both ends of tank, or break up a few pellets and scatter them. The bully does race to the food first but when it's spread out the others manage to get their share. Surprisingly, when I added the 4 new barbs before deaths, They stuck together in a pack a lot, but gradually they split off and everyone seemed to find a hiding spot away from the new bully. Since there are only 4 left they are often not together.

I was thinking of adding more fake plants to increase hiding area, and maybe it will make them happier. I am not sure if adding more barbs again will solve the problem. I'm also not sure of my water levels, I'm going to buy a testing kit this week to see what's up. All I know is that my temperature is a constant 75 degree f.
 

M

MatthewLaw

Large Fish
#6
Jun 29, 2008
490
0
0
PA
#6
i agree that adding more TBs may not be the answer. You may be trading one bully for another. Have you considered quarantining the big bully?

When did you start your tank? The tank may not be cycled and besides being bullied the fish may be uncomrtable/unhappy from experiencing high amonia, nitrite, nitrate levels. have you done any water changes since you first filled up the tank??
 

M

MatthewLaw

Large Fish
#8
Jun 29, 2008
490
0
0
PA
#8
tank cycle

i would still recommend testing your tanks levels but hopefully it should be done cycling (soon).

add more plants/hiding spots may help. although i can tell you from experience that the largest TB will enter the plants to continue his chase.
 

jo3olous

jo3olous

Large Fish
#9
Aug 6, 2008
909
1
0
Philadelphia, PA
#9
I thought the size difference would be the issue, but the barb only seems to chase the other big barb in my tank, and when the others that had died were bigger than him. He actually seems to leave the little one alone
 

jo3olous

jo3olous

Large Fish
#11
Aug 6, 2008
909
1
0
Philadelphia, PA
#11
MatthewLaw said:
I guess they're still 'deciding' who is the leader of the pack?? would you consider adding in a partition to keep the bully away from the others?
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I will if the one being stressed out now dies, for now i'd rather not...

Update*** So I bought some testing strips (API) for like 12.00, not sure if theyre very accurate but it read my nitrates at 0 (NO2 and NO3), my pH was about a 7.5, KH hardness 180, GH hardness 120-180....

If these numbers are bad for my barbs, how do I adjust???
 

Pure

Pure

Elite Fish
#12
Nov 1, 2005
3,216
7
0
Jacksonville, FL
#12
Yeah I'd say they aren't acurate. Sorry someone should have told you about the test strips. They are rubish. A non planted, fully cycled tank usually reads some sort of nitrates. I wouldn't bet the races on that zero reading.
 

brian1973

brian1973

Superstar Fish
#13
Jan 20, 2008
2,001
3
38
Corpus Christi, Texas
#13
Pure said:
Yeah I'd say they aren't acurate. Sorry someone should have told you about the test strips. They are rubish. A non planted, fully cycled tank usually reads some sort of nitrates. I wouldn't bet the races on that zero reading.
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Pure is spot on here..the sad thing is for another 10bucks you could have bought the API Master kit which will last alot longer and as long as you follow the instructions to the letter will give you accurate reading.
 

sombunya

sombunya

Large Fish
#16
Jul 25, 2008
304
0
0
67
So. Cal. USA
#16
I had one Bluegill that was the biggest bully in the tank. He took over one end of my 40, five fish on the other end. Anyone went near his end and he chased them harshly. I put him in a 20 with a few Sculpin that mostly hide from him. The others are back to normal, swimming around the tank and chasing each other around. No one fish dominates half the tank like before.

Many fake plants to provide hiding places is good. My Sculpin are glad to have them.

Water testing kit is MANDATORY! The 20 gallon tank is still cycling so I do a 5 gallon water change every night. Nitrites never rise above .25 ppm, and I still feed them somewhat lightly.
Get the kit. Money well spent.
 

jo3olous

jo3olous

Large Fish
#18
Aug 6, 2008
909
1
0
Philadelphia, PA
#18
FishGeek said:
My barbs did this when I had them. I added more and changed the tank around and broke up the line of sight more and it seemed to calm them all down.
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I added a few more fake plants and a little rock with plants and they seemed a lot happier afterwards. They were actually out grouping rather than getting chased around. We'll see how this works out. I'm gonna have to add more hiding places, my tanks pretty bare but I still left the front of the tank clear for room to swim around
 

s_anthony

s_anthony

Large Fish
#19
Aug 13, 2006
264
0
0
Pittsburgh, PA
#19
I've never had any issues with my barbs in the 3 years I've had them. I still have one of my originals from my first batch of barbs in with my current school. The folks at my LFS think Im nuts when I say my barbs aren't agressive - I've had bettas, guppies, and all kinds of other fish in with them and there have been no wars. Lucky for sure :)
 

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