hey how u doing i'm shocked i got some feeders the other day and put them in my tank my tiger barbs went after them and ate about 2 of them. I have a 55 gallon tank with a needle nose and a gar, and african ghost knife and that is what the feeders where for. i know that is an od combo but everyone gets alone, i got everyone when they where little and they grew up together and now i guees the tigers think there one of the fish eaters. let me know what u guys think peace
tiger barbs eating feeder fish
- Thread starter dpmac10
- Start date
ok, now...... almost any fish i have seen is an opportunistic eater, even guppies and other fish will eat fry if possible, so the barbs doing it is normal i would assume.
i think you could use a little help on the fish id's if your interested.... "a needle nose and a gar".... not sure if that's one fish or two, but i am assuming one because it is the same common name, "needle nose gar", i think they are also known as needlefish and have found very little references for them, so maybe someone else can help you with that. i *think* it is a south american fish.. requiring softer waters... also, i believe they are a schooling fish, so if you have a large enuf tank, you should have more than one.
i also have a little confusion with "african ghost knife", it is an "african knife" or a "black ghost knife", they are 2 different fish from 2 different places..... you should figure out which it is if possible... african knifes are sort of brown and bland looking and active during the daylight hours. a black ghost knife is black with some white marking on the tail and a stripe along the top of it usually. it is also a nocturnal fish. there are also other types of knife's so if neither of these descriptions fit it might be something else. i am guessing it is probably a black ghost knife tho, which puts it in basically the same water parameters as the needlenose needs. the black ghost knife i know is south american. so actually i would think they *would* work ok together as one is a daylight top dweller and the other is a night, bottom feeder. you should only have 1 BGK per tank unless it is an extremely large tank as they are weakly electric and navigate by a kind of "sonar". they also love things like pipes to hide in, i have the clear plastic one they sell, but i would suspect pvc is better and cheaper.
any other specific questions, just post them.
how big is your feeder fish?
as far as i know, tiger barbs don't go all-out to attack any fish. they only nip.
however i've seen a tiger barb kill my guppy but that's another story. even that, was only 2 hits and nothing more.
as far as i know, tiger barbs don't go all-out to attack any fish. they only nip.
however i've seen a tiger barb kill my guppy but that's another story. even that, was only 2 hits and nothing more.
I would not put it pass those Tiger Barbs to go after feeder fish. They are a bit aggressive and nippy, at least mine are.
You got a cool fish there,my barbs kill my feeders too,there is more than 10 so nipping is somewhat resticted to themselves
well like i said i have a needle nose gar that is about 10 to 12 inches and i also have a gar that is what they called it when i got in. i have been trying to figure out more bout it but can't find anything, it is silver with a black dot on the middle of its tail and a short snout. Then i also have a black ghost knife and a african ghost knife. Well the feeder fish they eat are about about inch or so they call them rosy reds they just don't nip at the fins they actually eat them the whole thing don't fet in there mouth so the head or tail which over is on the end the don't eat hangs out untill they get down to it.
actually,all fishes will eat fish that is smaller their mouths,tiger barbs especially,they killed my 2 angels,they are still biting even when the angel is near death,you will be suprised they attacked in packs.