Silver dollars being terrorized

[DrDeath]

I thought Silver Dollars were supposed to be semi-aggressive fish. I have 2 (which I hate by the way - the kids picked them out), and they are being munched on by everything else in the tank. Mind you the dollars are bigger than all(tiger barbs) but one(leporinus). Their tails are getting rather ragged looking, and their noses are banged up from fighting.

Any suggestions for the dollars? I have a 10g not in use and thought of moving them there. Will that be too small for two of them?

Thanks y'all

DrD

[ChilDawg]

Yeah, that'll be too small for them, but as temporary housing might be all right...how big are they?

A side note...they'd do much better in a true shoal rather than in a group of two.

[DrDeath]

The 10g will be tight. I think the dollars are a good five inches each. They would look pretty in a school with black sand and a black background. The silver would stand out nice. (sigh) We'll probably have to get another tank :D

The kids wanted them because they looked like piranha:(

Thanks!

DrD

[ChilDawg]

No prob...and be thankful that they didn't get you to get them Pacu for the same visual similarities to Piranhas!

I look forward to seeing that contrasted tank to which you just spoke...hopefully there'll be pix when it's all set up! :)

[ConMan]

When I had silver dollars, they were very docile. How many tiger barbs do you have? If you have 6 or more they should focus their aggression towards each other. Chillidawg is right about the shoaling too. If you add a couple more, they may gain some "confidence"

Another note is that both the tiger barbs and silver dollars will destroy your plants if you have any. If you want to add suplimental food, a nice amazon sword will do.

[DrDeath]

I have 5 tiger barbs. I gave up on live plants a long time ago. Between the barbs and dollars plants didn't last a day. The leporinus enjoyed digging them up :)

DrD