Tiger Barbs

[AnimalFriend]

As part of our 8th grade curriculum, the science room has several tanks.

A 55 gallon community tank
A 15 gallon convict tank (egg-layers)
A 5.5 gallon guppy tank (livebearer)
A 10 gallon hospital/breeding tank

and a 10 gallon schooling tank

In the schooling tank, we have five small tiger barbs since our school mascot is the tiger. There is also a catfish. After the tank cycled, we put 5 zebra danios on the advice of the fish store. Well, in one week the tiger barbs got two zebra danios so we moved the remaining to the community tank. The catfish from the convict tank was visiting for the last three days because the convicts just hatched. Well, the tiger barbs got him today. We are feeding live brine shrimp in addition to flakes.

What can we do? Do tiger barbs just need to be by themselves?

Thanks

By the way, part of the responsibility of the students is to test and record every tank every day. Is there another set-up or activity anyone would recommend for the classroom? As the math teacher, I have been sucked into the world of fish by the science teacher. We are trying to raise money for a saltwater tank.

Thanks

 

[tdnp]

To my knowledge tiger barbs do best in largrish groups the bigger the group the less aggresive they will be to others( not between them-selves) but fish are a bit like kids you get nice ones and you also get horrible ones, I had two jewel chiclids the other week which are surpposed to be good community fish but one of them was a little ba$£*&d!!! taking bites out of everyone I give him to one of my mates and got another one who is nice and gets on well with everyone else

 

[jumpman]

What fish have you got in the 55 gal community tank?? If tiger barbs are in smaller tanks like the 10 gal you have them in they will harrass other fish more as they have more contact with them.

You could do with a few more (say make it up to 8-10) and keep them in the larger tank if there aren't any longer finned fish in there (bettas etc)

More space and more tigers!

 

[beltdrive]

Hold On!

I Got Slated For Having Five In 15Gal Tank! That's UK Gallon Not US.

You'ue Got Them In 10 Gallon Tank, Say No More


eefhgiuy!!!!

 

[Pufferpack]

I'm not an expert on Barbs, but for a schooling tank a 10 gal, IMO, is too small to get a good idea of school behavior with aTiger Barbs, you might want to look at switching them for some small neons instead, they are much less aggressive and you could keep a larger school (or shoal...what is the difference between the two ).
As for another activity, you could get the kids to observe how slight gradual changes in temp affect fish behavior ie. more aggressive in warmer water, or the effect of different foods on behavior (I've read that blackworms can induce spawning behavior in some fish), they could also observe the differences in parental behavior between the convicts and livebearers. You could also have some of them set up a darkened area to observe the habits of the catfish at night as opposed to in the daylight

 

[Tropicalfishfn]

That should work but don't put to many in cause that isn't that much room. If you put other fish in there with them make sure you get fast fish not sl
ow or small. Danios might work but thats not much room for them. but it could work.

 

[tdnp]

I think the difference is that one all the fish swim in the same direction doing the same thing and the other is the swim together but do there own thing within the group but I can't remember which way round

 

[Jamnog]

it was my immediate reaction to say that the barbs where being agressive because they where in a 10 gal tank i have been told an inch per gal by the majority of people on here tho ive been going with more like 2 inch per gal in the past. anyway by my reconing the fish if they get to around 2 inches a peice would be fine. let me look this one up but i think they prolly dont get much bigger it says here that they can get up to 3 " i would suggest putting them in a 15 gal tank but without the cat fish in terms of boi load but with water changes and proper filteration im shure they would be fine as jucaniles in the tank they are in just something to bear in mind that they will tend to be a little cranky while in the tank. i comend you on putting them in a shoel one other thing crossed my mind was that possibly the catfish might have attecked the danio or posibly the other danio if one of them looked weak. they are quite deceptive fish in my opinion.
ideas for the children on activities might be researchon the natural environments behavior and life cycle allthough im not shure how to go about the details. good luck with the fish and i hope they all do well for you and the kids.

 

[AnimalFriend]

Thank you to all for you input. I will pass in the information onto the science teacher. It will help us decide how to make the summer arrangments. Of course, we are functioning on donations and our own pockets to fund this hands-on science room. Definitely a bigger tank for next year.

The 55 gallon community has:

2 gourami
3 red tailed sharks
2 elephant nose
12 glow lights
3 zebra danio (tiger barb survivors)
2 guppies (visiting due to babies)
2 upside down catfish
6 glass catfish
and an eel

I think the tiger barbs are coming to my house for the summer. Only the 55 gallon can stay for the summer. I'll try to round up a larger tank and try adding some to see how they do. If they are still aggressive, we can feed an 8th grader to them in the fall to set the tone for the new school year. Just kidding!

Thanks again.

 

[Jamnog]

do the three red tailed sharks get along with one another?

 

[Pufferpack]

Watch out for the Elephant Noses...supposed to be very aggressive

 

[AnimalFriend]

The red tailed sharks get along fine. The community seems very happy. The elephant noses hide all day. One hides under a rock bridge, the other in a "log" decoration. The one in the log has not been seen in days, so we were worried he was stuck. We removed the log today and he seemed fine. The science teacher and I are taking everyone's thoughts into consideration as we get ready for summer.

Thanks again

 

[BIANCA]

i agree that tiger barbs and other "schooling" fish like to be in large groups, but I have 4 tiger barbs and they are fine to eachother, and havent ONCE nipped another fish's fins. I think the key is S P A C E. 10 gallons may be too small for them, especially once they are full grown, and they do grow fast

 

[Starry^]

Indeed

we have 4 green tiger barbs in our community tank - they do need space as they will pick on other fish more if they are in each others faces, and especially if the other fish have big dangley fins, ours are doing fine - they are more likely to be the ones getting picked on with our patroller blue gourami in the tank - she keeps everyone in line.
best to keep barbs in a larger group and they will tend to only pick on each other, BUT they must be in a bigger tank



Starry^

 

[AnimalFriend]

Thanks again to all!

We decided to put them in the community tank so they would have the space. So far, so good. They seem to be calmer. The red tailed sharks seem to patrol the tank.