View Full Version : Aggresive Tiger Barbs
Hyperfocal22
03-21-2007, 9:33 PM
Hi all,
I need some advice regarding my Tiger Barbs. I currently have five in my 55 gal tank and they are giving hell to my Black Moore (soon to be transferred to an outside pond) and my two angels.
All sources agree they can be a problem with biting other fish, however when it comes to a solution I get conflicting reports. One opinion is buy a few more and they will be so absorbed in their own domestic quarrels they will leave the other fish alone, whilst the other opinion is if I get more it will only increase the problem, and should consider moving them to another tank, which I don't have at the moment.
Suggestions?
Mr. U
03-21-2007, 10:14 PM
Get rid of the Barbs. I had a yellow angel get messed up by Clown barbs. They left the angel floating horizontally after damaging her trailing fins. The barbs were lucky that I took them to a lfs, rather than dropping them into the garbage disposal and hitting Frappe! :)
sawyer1206
03-21-2007, 10:28 PM
Get rid of the Barbs. I had a yellow angel get messed up by Clown barbs. They left the angel floating horizontally after damaging her trailing fins. The barbs were lucky that I took them to a lfs, rather than dropping them into the garbage disposal and hitting Frappe! :)
Barbs are Semi aggressive fish that should not be kept with any slow moving fish or anything with large fins. I have a 29 gallon with nothing but barbs and I love to watch the little guys play tag. I do not suggest Barbs for a community tank.
BucJason
03-21-2007, 10:41 PM
Tiger Barbs with Angels is major mistake. One or the other needs to go. It's true if you have a larger school of Barbs they usually ignore the other fish, but they still may not be able to resist the ANgels long flowing fins. You could try it though...
sawyer1206
03-21-2007, 11:05 PM
I had a terrible experience with my Barb Tank I need to share. My 29 gallon has 3 Tiger Barbs, 3 Green Tiger Barbs and 3 Red Glass Barbs.
Well, one night I called home from work and asked my wife if she wouldn't mind picking up some feeders for me at the LFS since I would be running late. She said it was not a problem because she wanted to get some stuff for our other pets as well. Well anyway, I got home and my wife told me that she got the feeders and they were floating in my aquarium. And then she says "By the way I bought a new fish for the 29 gallon aquarium". I said "Really?" I am beside my self at this point because I thought I was supposed to approve all new fish purchases. My wife continues by saying "Yeah, I bought a real pretty Betta." I replied "Tell me you didn't put it in the tank yet?" And she says "yes I put him in there a couple hours ago."
Fearing the worst I ran my son's room where the aquarium is and I could not see the Betta anywhere. My wife follows my in the room and as soon as she approaches the aquarium I hear her say "OH MY GOD!!" She was looking at the Betta that is now lying on the floor in front of the aquarium with NO tail fin left at all. He was lying there dry and motionless, I thought he was dead but when I went to pick him up he wiggled. I quickly placed him in my daughter 10 gallon community aquarium where he currently lives today!
A true story!!!
ladybirdnnex
03-21-2007, 11:26 PM
:dive: I Love my barbs. I have 150 GAL tank and I have 5 green barbs and 4 albino barbs. They live with: 2 lg angles-6 silver dollars-5 mollies-2leaf fish-3 clown loaches and finally 7 female bettas.
Only trouble I HAD was the leaf fish eating my neons...I moved the neons. My Barbs are sweeties and I watch the tank all the time.Plus I spoil my fish with LOTS of frozen foods as well as a flakes,tubaflex worms and shrimp pellets...As well as Boston lettuce and green peas..They love it...
Jahosacat
03-24-2007, 4:44 PM
I was thrilled to see this thread as I am suspecting that my tiger barbs are doing in some sweet platties..... How 'bout if I add female bettas to my community tank? From what I've read, female bettas are supposed to be aggressive....
ROFL KATELYN X
03-24-2007, 9:34 PM
my tiger barbs do really well with platties. but angles are a nono. there gunna wanna munch on thier fins. =(
jm1212
03-24-2007, 9:39 PM
:dive: I Love my barbs. I have 150 GAL tank and I have 5 green barbs and 4 albino barbs. They live with: 2 lg angles-6 silver dollars-5 mollies-2leaf fish-3 clown loaches and finally 7 female bettas.
Only trouble I HAD was the leaf fish eating my neons...I moved the neons. My Barbs are sweeties and I watch the tank all the time.Plus I spoil my fish with LOTS of frozen foods as well as a flakes,tubaflex worms and shrimp pellets...As well as Boston lettuce and green peas..They love it...thats not going to last long. your leaf fish will get big enough to gobble up the mollies. the clowns and tiger barbs will nip the angels fins to shreads, and the female bettas are probably going to help them. plus, tiger barbs should be kept in schools of at least 12 to distribute aggression within the school and that does not count other fish in the tank, and for that you would need more.
Forevernight
03-25-2007, 7:37 AM
I had a terrible experience with my Barb Tank I need to share. My 29 gallon has 3 Tiger Barbs, 3 Green Tiger Barbs and 3 Red Glass Barbs.
Well, one night I called home from work and asked my wife if she wouldn't mind picking up some feeders for me at the LFS since I would be running late. She said it was not a problem because she wanted to get some stuff for our other pets as well. Well anyway, I got home and my wife told me that she got the feeders and they were floating in my aquarium. And then she says "By the way I bought a new fish for the 29 gallon aquarium". I said "Really?" I am beside my self at this point because I thought I was supposed to approve all new fish purchases. My wife continues by saying "Yeah, I bought a real pretty Betta." I replied "Tell me you didn't put it in the tank yet?" And she says "yes I put him in there a couple hours ago."
Fearing the worst I ran my son's room where the aquarium is and I could not see the Betta anywhere. My wife follows my in the room and as soon as she approaches the aquarium I hear her say "OH MY GOD!!" She was looking at the Betta that is now lying on the floor in front of the aquarium with NO tail fin left at all. He was lying there dry and motionless, I thought he was dead but when I went to pick him up he wiggled. I quickly placed him in my daughter 10 gallon community aquarium where he currently lives today!
A true story!!!
Once when i was cleaning my old 10 g, I put all my fish in this really big rubbermaid tub with water. Anyway whenever i walked by it the fish would get jittery. Well this went on while i was cleaning their tank. In the meatime my cat had come in the room and i didnt pay much attention. When i went to put the fish back in the tank i noticed a platy was missing. I knew it had to be on the floor, it must have jump out. I couldnt find it anywhere, then i noticed my cat reaching under my night stand trying to get something. I looked and it was a dry platy with carpet fibers all over it and its dorsal fin almost gone. oh well, i picked it up and it was alive! i dumped it into the tank and it seemed groggy at first but, its alive to this day. hes my only surviving fish from my original 5 g setup. hes now in a 55g! That was a year ago.
fishman1979
03-25-2007, 12:10 PM
Barbs are Semi aggressive fish that should not be kept with any slow moving fish or anything with large fins. I have a 29 gallon with nothing but barbs and I love to watch the little guys play tag. I do not suggest Barbs for a community tank.
agreed, this is the same thing that i have. there are 2 tiger, a green, 2 rosey, 1 long fin rosey, 3 spanner t, 2 gold
BucJason
03-25-2007, 3:17 PM
Not all Barbs are semi-agressive.
Rosy barbs are an exception, they shouldn't be considered anything other than peaceful. I've never witnessed any aggression from them whatsoever, except amongst themselves.
sawyer1206
03-25-2007, 5:43 PM
Once when i was cleaning my old 10 g, I put all my fish in this really big rubbermaid tub with water. Anyway whenever i walked by it the fish would get jittery. Well this went on while i was cleaning their tank. In the meatime my cat had come in the room and i didnt pay much attention. When i went to put the fish back in the tank i noticed a platy was missing. I knew it had to be on the floor, it must have jump out. I couldnt find it anywhere, then i noticed my cat reaching under my night stand trying to get something. I looked and it was a dry platy with carpet fibers all over it and its dorsal fin almost gone. oh well, i picked it up and it was alive! i dumped it into the tank and it seemed groggy at first but, its alive to this day. hes my only surviving fish from my original 5 g setup. hes now in a 55g! That was a year ago.
And people say fish are delicate.....Baahh!!!! Just kidding!!!
The second I put some Neons in a tank with Tiger barbs, the barbs started nipping the Neons. I had to get another tank to Jail the barbs. The store took em back fortunatly.
Q
JJfishtank
03-26-2007, 11:23 AM
Anyone had holland ram fish? I like this fish, they are very very beautiful.
If you had this fish, can post pics?
Marinemom
03-26-2007, 3:07 PM
It doesn't seem to matter how big the aquarium is. Tiger barbs and angels do not work even if it seem it does at first. In the long run it is a disaster waiting to happen. However, I do agree that the more tiger barbs you have in any given situation in an aquarium the better off they are as well as the other fish. They will just bother each other instead of all of ther other fish in the tank.
Marinemom
Star_Rider
03-26-2007, 3:14 PM
Anyone had holland ram fish? I like this fish, they are very very beautiful.
If you had this fish, can post pics?
pictures of this appear to be the blue ram..possibly tank raised in Holland|?
as far as I know there are two species of rams(dwarves) blues and bolivians.(there are a coupe color morphs of the blues but they are still blue rams Papiliochromis/mikrogeophagus)
Garbage
03-27-2007, 2:15 AM
Take out the angel and replace him with Red Devil or an adult RTBS. Barbs should no longer be a problem:devil:
Marinemom
03-27-2007, 12:36 PM
Take out the angel and replace him with Red Devil or an adult RTBS. Barbs should no longer be a problem:devil:
If this is sarcasm it is certainly not needed. The original poster has a problem with aggression in the tank. Adding more aggression is not going to help.
Marinemom
DaisyTattoo
03-27-2007, 12:41 PM
I agree that the barbs really should be in a species only tank. You could put a cleaning crew with them, such as cories, but I would leave it at that. In fact, I am looking into setting up a 55G as a barb tank.
Garbage
03-27-2007, 3:52 PM
If this is sarcasm it is certainly not needed. The original poster has a problem with aggression in the tank. Adding more aggression is not going to help.
Marinemom
It was an attempt at humor yes, please try not to take such things so seriously, it hasa profound way of sucking all the fun out of participating in an online community such as this.
Marinemom
03-27-2007, 4:01 PM
OMG. Not funny. But that'ds o.k. if you do not want my input or any of the many years of experience thart I have in doing this. I am sure I am not the only one who thought this was not funny. Most people just want an honest answer.
Marinemom
Garbage
03-27-2007, 4:17 PM
OMG. Not funny. But that'ds o.k. if you do not want my input or any of the many years of experience thart I have in doing this. I am sure I am not the only one who thought this was not funny. Most people just want an honest answer.
Marinemom
I thought it was fairly obvious that the comment was made in jest. If taken any other way I apologise, certainly I dont advocate purposly putting fish in danger. When I pose a question on these boards Id love your input for future reference as well as any others who would give theirs, a little humor here and their dosent offend me either, maybe Im just thicker skinned than most folks so if I offended you Im sorry.
I agree that the barbs really should be in a species only tank. You could put a cleaning crew with them, such as cories, but I would leave it at that. In fact, I am looking into setting up a 55G as a barb tank.
Not neccesary a species only tank, more likely a semi-agressive tank. In general barbs are ok with sharks, loaches, short-finned danios. Nothing long finned or slow-moving is the rule here, i think.
Marinemom
03-28-2007, 12:18 AM
Well, sometimes I take offense at the callousness of some but maybe it was jusrt a misunderstanding. Sometimes I tend to be a bit touchy. I'm sorry for that. The pain in my legs that is ongoing tends to get the better of me sometimes. I just want to help thoser who really need it.
Marinemom
Marinemom
03-28-2007, 12:25 AM
I thought it was fairly obvious that the comment was made in jest. If taken any other way I apologise, certainly I dont advocate purposly putting fish in danger. When I pose a question on these boards Id love your input for future reference as well as any others who would give theirs, a little humor here and their dosent offend me either, maybe Im just thicker skinned than most folks so if I offended you Im sorry.
I tend to be a bit touchy sometimes when it comes to what seems callousness to me. For that I apoligize since the pain in my legs seems to get the better of me sometimes. I don't think it is right to be this way but I just want to help those who need an honest and straightforward answer.
Marinemom
Hyperfocal22
03-28-2007, 3:28 AM
Thanks for all the input so far. As it will be a month or 6 weeks before I will be in a position to move my Angels to their own tank, I have tried another solution to the problem.
All I did was try some heavy planting to the back right of the tank, with a variety of tall and bushy water plants. The though was the Angels would hide out amongst the plants from the Tiger Barbs.
Well it turned out the reverse happened; the Tiger Barbs have taken up residence in the densely planted area and only tend to come out into the main community area of the tank at feeding time. So a possible short term solution has been found.
I have no desire to return my Barbs to the LFS as I don't know what will become of them and at the end of the day they are my responsibility. Bit like taking your dog to the pound because it chews your slippers or chases the cat.