Tiger barbs

dwayne · Apr 26, 2004

We got 4 tiger barbs over the weekend. They are in our well established (4+ years) 29 gallon tank along with 2 cardinal tetras (I think that's what they are... smallish like neons, gray body and a red glowing stripe), a pleco and a rainbow shark.

My question is this. The barbs have been acting very spazzy, (or as my almost 2 year old son says, "fishies funny")... they almost remind me of zebra danios the way they are zipping around the tank chasing each other (not bothering the neons or the rainbow, and since the pleco always hides I don't think they've met him yet)...

Is this normal? They've been in there since Saturday morning, and I did acclimate them to my water slowly over the period of an hour and a half or so...

Thanks!
~Tara

RioXingu · Apr 26, 2004

It sounds like normal tiger barb behavior to me.
In your small school of barbs, some individuals will be more aggressive than others, with no let up in the chasing.
Sometimes keeping a much larger school alleviates these "problems".
I'm surprised your rainbow shark isn't the most dominant fish in your tank.
When I had one of these fish in a 55 gallon, he claimed 80% of the tank as "his", and herded all the other fish to the other end.
Ain't fish interesting?

Bill in WI

snakeskinner · Apr 26, 2004

they are extremely active fish, good choice for a 2yr old to watch. If there seems to be one that chases another one relentlessly, you may want to add a couple more. You can use albino or green tiger barbs as well in the mix, they don't care. The greens tend to mix better than the albino's but they're both good choices. size doesn't matter to them so don't worry about getting one bigger or smaller. enjoy, KYle

dwayne · Apr 26, 2004

RioXingu - He used to be the dominant one... I suspect he's behind the disappearance of the rest of my cardinal tetras (started off w/ 10, never found any bodies)... but I've never seen him being mean or chasing any of the fish at all (the neons all disappeared at night, so maybe once the lights go off...)

Snakeskinner - My son loves the barbs! The reason I didn't get 6 or 8 of them, was because of the disappearance of the aforementioned cardinal tetras (and an entire school of neons). My son was quite saddened by them going away!! A part of me knows that the rainbow shark ate them, but another tiny part of me thought that maybe it was something in the water that made them disappear into thin air (water?!)

I'm going to give my tank a couple of weeks to acclimate to the new additions, and maybe go get another 2 or 4 of them!

Thanks guys!!

travelinman1969 · Apr 26, 2004

Might want to take a peek behind your tank. Usually if there are fish being eatin you'll see body parts. They may have been getting chased and jumped out. I've had that happen a few times.

IndianaSam · Apr 26, 2004

Seems like a bad idea to keep Tiger barbs with Cardinals.

Maybe you should trade the Cards in for credit or for more Tigers. I just think that they're going to be harrassed too much.

johnnyxxl · Apr 27, 2004

I love my tank of tiger barbs they are very active, my cat watches the tank, the fish taunt her. My company enjoys seeing it I wish I could put it someplace more prominant.

dwayne · Apr 27, 2004

travelinman... I looked everywhere when those neons and cardinals disappeared, there were no body parts or bones anywhere to be found.

Indiana... I lost the other cardinals before I got the barbs, currently there are 2 cardinals in the tank, and I havent' seen the barbs bother them at all, they are too busy chasing each other around!

johnny... I love my barbs, they're so entertaining! I can't wait to get a few more next weekend or the weekend after!

~Tara


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Tiger barbs

dwayne

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dwayne

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travelinman1969

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johnnyxxl

fishy friend of many

dwayne

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