tiger barbs

[1MileCrash]

well i'm having trouble with tiger barbs now.

i have 3 at this point because one of them, i suspect it's a female, is overly aggressive. she constantly chases the other barbs around the tank to the point that i suspect she killed one of the other ones and has potentially caused the death of a 2nd one. i also believe that she is loaded with eggs because her belly is disdained and bulging and has grown in size over the past week or so...but with the lobster in the 10 gallon i don't have a place to put her by herself.

any suggestions or thoughts?

[kimmers318]

Barbs are like that, which is why it is recommended to keep larger schools of them, it spreads the aggression around, although it is possible that you have a female that is overly aggressive. What size tank do you have them in? I have 7 in a 20 gal long, which has a nice size footprint for them to zoom back and forth, but am still considering putting them into my 65 for even more room. They are like danios in the aspect that they are constantly on the move. When I first added the 6 green moss barbs to the lone tiger barb that I was given to "save" there was a lot of nipping going on, but they have since settled down. If you have the room you might want to try adding a few more and see if that helps.

[1MileCrash]

i started out with 6 of them in a 55 gallon but they have slowly died, and i have tried to compensate with new members to the school, but they have dwindled down to 3 now...and she remains as the sole surviver from the original school.

[Kuli_Loach]

She is the mean one then, take her to the LFS or place her in a tank as the only barb.

[Incredulous_Ed]

Buy 5 or 6 more barbs. The aggression amng them will be more spread out so not only one fish is the target of the largest's aggression.

[Dave66]

For long-term success with tiger barbs, you need to start out with AT LEAST eight specimens to diffuse the natural aggression of the species. A dozen or more would be even better. For it to work, all eight fish must be added together.

Dave

[1MileCrash]

thanks for the input everyone. i'm going to weigh my options that you have set out and see what i can work best with.