Fin-nipping tiger barbs

Fiskars the Whiskers · Post by **Fiskars the Whiskers** » 11 Jun 2004, 18:44

I have a 55 gallon tank in which there are six tiger barbs, among many cories, other catfish, tetras, and loaches. I got six tigers to spread out aggression, but I recently noticed that my pleco's tail is pretty nipped-looking and some of my cories' dorsal fins are a little nipped, too. I'll have to recalculate the amount of inches of fish in the tank, but if I have the space would getting more tiger barbs be a good idea? I don't know if adding more would just add more fin-nipping striped little monsters to the tank or if they would spend more time interacting with the other six and less time examining the other fish. Any thoughts?

Post by **Silurus** » 11 Jun 2004, 19:39

If you're at the limit of your inches to volume ratio, I say trade your tiger barbs in for something more peaceful.
There's no guarantee that the new tiger barbs would also play nice. Better safe than sorry, I say.

Fiskars the Whiskers · Post by **Fiskars the Whiskers** » 11 Jun 2004, 22:04

Good point. I will look into seeing if I can trade my fish in. The thought makes me sad because I really like my tiger barbs but I don't want to see any other fish be hurt. Because I don't know much about other kinds of fish, are there any suggestions of good fish for a community tank? I know that's kind of a broad question, but that's how little I know of other fish.

Edit: Well, I talked to the people at the lfs and they said I can trade my tiger barbs in for danios, which is great because I've wanted danios but had the tigers. So tonight before I move my tank to the new apartment, I'll take the tigers back to the store. So sad! But hopefully someone nice will buy them and give them a good home.

dag · Post by **dag** » 11 Jun 2004, 22:52

Yes those tiger barbs can be a pain in the butt . I have one only , who I adopted from a bad beginning and he gave me some grief at first by nipping the hell out of my cories . I had no choice but to move him into my cichlid tank . After only two days he was close to death as a result of two of my africans beating the shibby out of him . So , with little other choice I moved him back into my bigger , non aggressive tank and kept close watch . What happened was nothing short of amazing . He decided to be a clown loach !! Yes , its true he IS a clown loach now . He stays with that school and , although he does prod them at times , there is no damage done . The cories are fine and he doesn't pull any of the tough guy stuff anymore . Strangely enough I have a school consisting of 3 tinfoils and one bala shark but the tiger barb prefers the loaches . Everyone has been happy for 6 months . Whoever says fish can't think is wrong baby !!
cheers dag

Fiskars the Whiskers · Post by **Fiskars the Whiskers** » 11 Jun 2004, 22:57

Wow!!! I wish my six tigers would turn into six clown loaches, but just stay tiger barb size!!!

I want clown loaches but I don't have room for them. They are cute as heck, though! I get my loach kicks with my khuli loach(es). I used to have two, but I haven't seen the male in a really long time. I hope he's alive and happy in the gravel somewhere. If I don't see him when I move tonight I'll buy another because they are great fish!

jurassic_pork · Post by **jurassic_pork** » 12 Jun 2004, 10:08

I had trouble with a school of six tiger barbs also,And was advised if i had room to add more to cut down agression,IME this did nothing to cut back on the agression at all i just ended up with more fin nipping barbs which drove me and catfish mad.
I ended up trading them in for panaque maccus,I really loved the cute tiger barbs and their antics but learnt the hard way that these really are not the community species which i had read about so much in beginner books.
The danio's will make a much better choice in the community tank and are quite easy to breed if you ever fancied giving it a go.

Thanks,Mark

Fiskars the Whiskers · Post by **Fiskars the Whiskers** » 12 Jun 2004, 22:14

Well, last night I freaked the tiger barbs out for 45 minutes in my attempts to catch them. I took them to the lfs and I knew that the owner lady was leaving right around six because she had company coming and I showed up at about five minutes to six. She took the barbs and just blopped them right into a tank!!! I was horrified!!! They just kinda froze and then hid. It was all I could do to not start crying right then and there. I asked her if she did that to all of her fish and she said that no, she just wanted to get them in there in a hurry. Poor little guys. If I had known she was going to do that I would have offered to stay there and acclimate them myself. I was (and still kinda am) sad about that. I hope they go to a good home. They have zebra danios down there now, the lady said, but I didn't have time to check them out. So hopefully the danios are in good shape.

In other news I moved my 55 gallon tank last night and oh, my god. The guy that showed up to help had just had a few beers so he was extremely talkative. I will say that he was really good at catching the fish to go into the buckets I had got. So three hours later the fish are finally in their tank. I checked on them this morning and they look fine and dandy. PLUS! This is really exciting. I hadn't seen either of my loaches in weeks and last night as we went through the old gravel I didn't see any loach bodies so I figured they had died and been eaten, but when we got the tub of water and plants to the new place my boyfriend noticed a loach! Then we emptied almost all of the water out of the tub and then right when we were leaving there was my other loach! In almost no water, just casually hanging out and looking only a little stressed! Those goofy loaches had hid in the decorations really well. So everyone is happy now.