Shark And Barb Fghting. Plz Help.

[Luniz]

I hava a pair of Odessa barbs(a male and a female). When I first got them The female used to chase the male around and made him hide under plants etc. But now the male is chasing the female and making her hide under plants. I saw some fin damage aswell yesterday. The male wont let the female move( she sits in the corner o hte tank and if she comes out the male chases her constantly. The rtbs I got isnt helping because its chasing the male and the female.

I read some where that rtbs could be kept with similar sized barbs. both barbs and the rtb are about 5 cms. What could I do to stop the chasing and fin nipping other than cramping the tank with decorations for them to hide.

Cheers in advance!

 

[Lateral Line]

The question is, how much space have you got to play with?

Those barbs should really be in larger groups. In that way, the natural chasing gets dilluted amongst the flock rather then being directed towards a single individual. Most barbs, (there are exceptions), are shoaling fish that should be kept in groups of 6 or more fish.

RTBS are very individualistic. SOme specimens are pretty ambivalent to the other occupants of the tank, others are very aggressive, and there is a complete range in between. Increasing the size of the barb shoal will help for the same reason above, the RTBS will not be targetting the same fish all the time.

Of course, this all is dependent on space and what else, if anything, is in the tank already.

 

[Garbage]

My guess is that the shark will eventually kill the barbs, the bigger rtbs get the more agressive they get. Ive got a RTBS and a Black Shark in a large cichlid tank, the rtbs routinely targets the smaller cichlids while the black shark ive noticed lately as he grows and grows and grows is starting to knock around the large cichlids. Just the nature of the beast, sharks are really cool fish but they are pretty agressive more often than not.