Gold barbs attacking new panda cory's - What to do?!

[Camaro2000]

Hi all, we are really new to tropical fish keeping - about 3 weeks in! We have a 60L tank with 3 mollies and 3 gold barbs who were all doing really well and getting on with each other. We wanted to add at least one bottom feeder, so yesterday we added 2 otto's and 3 panda cory's. (This was on the advice of the guy at Maidenhead Aquatics who has helped us set up the tank.) Now the otto are settling in beautifully but the gold barbs have ganged up on the new panda corys and will NOT leave them alone. I'm assuming it's a dominance/territory thing but will it eventually settle down or is it likely the gold barbs will simply harrass the cory's until they die? Can we do anything? Thanks!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Do you guys have another tank you could move them into?

Barbs are known to be nippy/aggressive, but I’ve never heard of them attacking Corys.

 

[Camaro2000]

No, we only have the one tank. I've rearranged the decorations in the front of the tank, and things have calmed down a little while they are all exploring, but it feels like a fragile peace! All 3 barbs were chasing the corys non-stop, following them around and biting at their fins and tails. Every time a cory came to settle on the bottom, the barbs were there chasing it off. I'm really new to understanding fish behaviour but it looked like bullying to me - as though the barbs have decided that the bottom layer of the tank is theirs!

 

[Slaphppy7]

Probably need to add more barbs, to spread their attention to their own kind...IF the tank is stable, and cycled.

 

[Naughts]

I don't think this will resolve. The barbs need a mixed sex group of 8-10 fish but this is not possible in a 60 litre tank. Do you know the GH of your water? Mollies need very hard water but the cories need softer water. The barbs have a wide range for water hardness but I would suggest these are the group that should be rehomed in favour of a shoal of small peaceful fish more suited to the 60 litre.

This was my experience:

Bully barbs

I have a 125 litre tank with ten tiger barbs and nine false Julii corydoras which have been together for 6 or 7 weeks. The corys have a bit of fin damage and are possibly a bit more sedentary lately. Yesterday I saw a tiger nip a Cory and today I saw 2 tigers chasing and nipping a Cory. This is...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Camaro2000]

I don't think this will resolve. The barbs need a mixed sex group of 8-10 fish but this is not possible in a 60 litre tank. Do you know the GH of your water? Mollies need very hard water but the cories need softer water. The barbs have a wide range for water hardness but I would suggest these are the group that should be rehomed in favour of a shoal of small peaceful fish more suited to the 60 litre.

This was my experience:

Bully barbs

I have a 125 litre tank with ten tiger barbs and nine false Julii corydoras which have been together for 6 or 7 weeks. The corys have a bit of fin damage and are possibly a bit more sedentary lately. Yesterday I saw a tiger nip a Cory and today I saw 2 tigers chasing and nipping a Cory. This is...

www.fishforums.net

Thank you, I did have a feeling it wasn't going to be an easy answer. Our water is quite hard (I can't remember the exact number). The corys now seem to be hiding most of the time - can't say I blame them - so I think we may have to rehome the barbs. Otherwise I can see us losing the corys and possibly the same for anything else we put in there with the bullies

 

[Naughts]

You might consider xray tetra instead of the barbs as they can tolerate hard water.

Pristella maxillaris – X-ray Tetra — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

I wouldn't recommend purchasing any more otos as these are soft water fish, as are most cories.

 

[Camaro2000]

Just an update, today we moved all of the decorations around so everything was completely different, and it seems to have done the trick. Everyone is getting along fine, no nipping or chasing, and the corys have stopped hiding! So I'm assuming it was a territorial thing and hopefully the peace will last. Thanks for all your advice!

 

[Slaphppy7]

We all need a change of scenery every once in a while...

 

[WiccaFish]

Thank you, I did have a feeling it wasn't going to be an easy answer. Our water is quite hard (I can't remember the exact number). The corys now seem to be hiding most of the time - can't say I blame them - so I think we may have to rehome the barbs. Otherwise I can see us losing the corys and possibly the same for anything else we put in there with the bullies

I have 5 beautiful fancy tiger barbs that I also have to rehome. They were great with my other fish until they reached maturity and now they rule the tank. All my other fish just hide now. Sucks because tigers are gorgeous fish. Good luck!

 

[mbsqw1d]

Yep, I found my 12 Odessa barbs were attacking my peppered cories so ended up putting them in a separate tank.

 

[WiccaFish]

Wish I could add another tank for the barbs but I think my husband would leave me.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Wish I could add another tank for the barbs but I think my husband would leave me.

I ended up buying another tank just to rehone the odessa ?

 

[Naughts]

I bought another tank for the corydoras. I was able to get a couple of new shoals for the upper levels.

The tigers died one by one (possibly bullied each other to death?). Their tank is now filled with gentle little nano fish and shrimp .