Should I quarintine our tiger barb?

[candice&jeff]

We have 2 tiger barbs in our tank. I know we should have more but our tank is fully stocked. We plan to get a 29 gallon soon and make a school of 9 or 11. Anyway, our larger barb has been bulling the smaller one, he is starting to look stressed and his tail fin has been nipped. I've been adding a little stress coat to the tank for the last two days, I only put about 20 drops each time. We do have a small 1 gallon tank that I could put him in until he recovers but I wanted to see what you all thought first. I know I would need to do daily water changes. Any advise is greatly appriciated.
Thanks!

[Northernguy]

I do think the bullying is going to continue until you make the school larger.They tend to bully less when there is more of them.
Clean water is your best med if the tail has not been bit into the meat.If its just the fins than clean water works wel.
The 1 gallon may stress out the fish even more,its too small.

[candice&jeff]

Ok, thanks. I thought it would be too small they are pretty stong swimmers. I'll do a large water change today. Do you think I it would help if I put more plants in the tank it would help?

[jaysee]

Do you have two males? two females? If you have two females, maybe getting a male might help. And if you have a male/female getting another female might help. 2 males...

Yes, adding more plants and hiding spots should help.

[Northernguy]

Yes more hiding spots will help.
Changing the tank around will also slow the aggression a bit.

[candice&jeff]

Thanks guys, I'll add some more plants tonight. I think we have a 1 male(he is the one getting bullied) and a female(she is the one doing the bulling).

Do you all think I could get away with getting another female in the tank? I'm pretty stocked. My stocking is in my signature. Or would it be better to get another male?

[jaysee]

First off males have red noses and females don't. Also, males have a lot more red in their tails than females.

Soooo, if you are getting a 29G, what is your plan for the 10G?
If you are planning to put tiger barbs in the 29G (I just moved mine from the 30 to the 29), then I would return the 2 tb you have and get a few more glofish or zebra danio (same fish). They need a few friends to feel secure.

Then, I would move the pictus to the 29 and return the pleco and get a few more pictus. They like to have friends too.

Then you can do a little more with the 10G.

I just saw it's a common pleco - they grow big fast, and are pooping machines. I don't even feed mine and everything in my tank is covered in it. It came with my 30G - I'm returning it now that it's recovered from the state I got it in. There are plecos that stay small if you want to put one in the 29G.

[candice&jeff]

First off males have red noses and females don't. Also, males have a lot more red in their tails than females.

Soooo, if you are getting a 29G, what is your plan for the 10G?
If you are planning to put tiger barbs in the 29G (I just moved mine from the 30 to the 29), then I would return the 2 tb you have and get a few more glofish or zebra danio (same fish). They need a few friends to feel secure.

Then, I would move the pictus to the 29 and return the pleco and get a few more pictus. They like to have friends too.

Then you can do a little more with the 10G.

I just saw it's a common pleco - they grow big fast, and are pooping machines. I don't even feed mine and everything in my tank is covered in it. It came with my 30G - I'm returning it now that it's recovered from the state I got it in. There are plecos that stay small if you want to put one in the 29G.

Thanks for the advise Jaysee, the only problem there is my dad is buying the 29 gallon for us :ssmile: , He wants our 10 gallon though. :scry: He said he won't take any of our fish he wants to do his own thing.

I know the pleco is gonna get huge, (I had know idea when I bought him, the guy at wal-mart said he would be fine to live in a 10 gallon!) were going to give him to a friend of ours once he gets too big, right now he is still comfortable in out 10 gallon. What types of plecos would be ok for a 29 gallon?

I've read that pictus like to school when their young but tend to get aggressive twards each other as they grow?

I guess I could see about traiding in my glofish for some more tiger barbs, I really don't want to get a tank full of danios or glofish my pictus thinks they're dinner. :ssuprised: The 2 we have now are the only survivers out of 4, our pictus has also eatin 2 tetras. :scry:

Thanks guys! Please tell me what you think!

[jaysee]

I think picti (plural of pictus?) get aggressive if there aren't enough of them, but am not sure.

Sounds like your catfish is helping to solve your problem. I used to have them as a kid and they would eventually eat every other fish in the tank, including tiger barbs. You could keep a small school of pictus in a 29G, but it'll be tight and you'll have a hard time keeping other fish. You could keep just one or two as well, but they will still eat ALL your other fish. It really limits your long term stocking options to large fish, of which you can only keep so many. Cory cats are community safe and don't grow that big, so you can keep several in a happy school. Plus, they help keep your tank clean.

I don't know much about plecos, but this site has lots of information in the articles on the left that you can read through.

One thing to look out for with the pleco is the amount of waste it produces. In a small tank like that, even when it's "not that big" it can overload your biofilter and begin poisoning your fish

[candice&jeff]

Thanks again Jaysee, I'll be sure and watchout for too much waist, I do vaccum the gavel every weekend.

[marksuttonjr]

bristle nose pleco
They only get to about 4" long.