I added 14 small tiger barbs (10 green, 2 reg, 2 albino) to a 20 gallon tank 4 days ago. There are only 6 left (5 green, 1 reg). The one regular tiger barb thats left wont stop chasing and nipping the other barbs and has already killed at least 3 or 4 of the 8 that died. (3 got sucked to the filter head and died, and one died a couple hours after putting him in the tank.) I tried taking him out and putting him in another tank, but then the next strongest took over and started harassing the other fish. What can I do to calm these fish down? Should I buy more or will they just all kill each other, if so what other types of fish can I put in there?
Tiger Barbs Trouble!!
- Thread starter jah29
- Start date
Adding more could be a solution. But maybe since you added a few different types of barbs, they may not get along. Do they stick to themselves in each group or do they ALL school together? Im not really a barb expert, so maybe someone could let you know if theres a problem with the species mix.
Your problem is limited space. A 20g is very insufficient in space. Get a 55g so you can accommodate a large group. Consider 8 as the minimum number to spread out pecking order.
id check your water quality, i find fish die and then get stuck to the filter! i find that tiger barbs are naturally a bit aggressive with each other, but that it rarely results in the death of one. so before you blame the tiger barb check your params and do a water change.
a tank that small only small school fish what work like cardinals or smaller rasboras or something of that nature
tiger barbs like many fish set up a social pecking order and in groups the "aggression" is spread out, as far as one killing the others it is possible but unlikely, imo u have a different problem somewhere, and it is also unlikely a strong healthy fish was just sucked into the filter head. do some water tests and go from there barbs are usually very hardy fish