Question about tiger barbs

[Beta 93]

I've got 6 tiger barbs and 1 kissing gourami in my 20 gallon tank, the tiger barbs seen to chase each other every so often, they leave the gourami alone, is this normal?

also one of the smallest barbs hangs out at the top of the tanks, away from most of the other fish...is it a loner, it seems kinda stressed, lost most of its orange color, but its the only one. Water is fine, i even did a water change yesterday.

 

[sylvia]

I'd get some more barbs and, yes, this is normal. Besides the fact that a good sized school reduces aggression from tiger barbs, kissing gouramies are not the best targets for fin nippers. BTW, the kisser needs a larger tank as they get to 8" (30 gallons at least is preffered).

 

[bobwumba]

The smallest barb is probably getting niped and bullied by the other barbs and is frightened and stressed all the time. Your tank is fine just some bullying.

 

[Beta 93]

yeah, its i'm gonna move it to a larger tank, these barbs ignore the gourami completely though, just chase each other

 

[sylvia]

Yes, that's normal.

Adding more barbs would help the one being bullied which is why I suggested that.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The basic rule with tiger barbs is the bigger the shoal the better, the more tiger barbs they have in a shoal the more evenly spread their agression gets meaning no one fish gets more than its fair share of hassle; in shoals that are too small you tend to end up with one tiger that gets all the bullying and i think this is probably the case.

 

[canarsie11]

There will always be one barb in a group that gets bullied in my opinion. Tigers are cool in the way of the pecking order.

This fishy chain of command will always keep one at the bottom, even if you add more tigers, they will attempt to set pecking order again, then there will always be one that seems to get picked on more IMO

You may add more and that same tiger end up getting picked on just the same

 

[sylvia]

In theory, yes, but if you actualy were to add another 3-4 tigers, they should automatically be at the bottom of the hierarchy because they are new arrivals and this should give the bullied barb a chance to recover and regain his/her strength. Then it'll be able to hold its place. Every time a new fish is added, the hierarchy has to be re-shuffled. Though it's true that fish will always be at the bottom, it isn't always as simple as that 'one fish is picked on by everyone'. Oftentimes, usualy in fact, the hierarchy is arranged in such a way that the top fish bullies the next in line, the next in line bullies a couple more below it, each of those below bully another below them, one of those bullies two others but the other only bullies one and then that one bullies the lowest ranking which, however, bullies the two that don't bully anyone or whatever. You get the point. It's circular and usualy not as simple as top, next, next, next, lowest or whatever. Not just a single line. Obviously, however, this can only work if the group is large enough - and that's why you should add more tiger barbs to your current school. The thing is, the bullied barb has to recover before the new hierarchy is re-established if it has any hope. Re-aranging the tank when you add the new barbs can help with this.

 

[Beta 93]

will do, thanks guys

 

[Beta 93]

well, i add 3 more, and eveything seems much better, thanks you guys