tinfoil barbs

[Percy The Plec]

Hya. Hoping someone can help. We have 2 tinfoil barbs. They are about 5 inches long and live in a 48 inch tank. Lately they seem hell bent on beating the snot out of eachother .

They seem to show no aggression toward the other fish in the tank(5 tetras,2 plecs,2 sucking loaches).

They haven't always been aggressive to eachother, its a fairly new thing.

Any thoughts?

 

[freddyk]

They're fairly aggressive fish toward each other, and it seems to get worse when they're kept in smaller numbers. They are very tight schoaling fish, and really should be kept this way. A group of at least 4 is reasonable, at least 6 is ideal.

Your fish are still young, and you got them as babies - you're bound to see some behavioral changes along the way.

 

[Lateral Line]

With naturally shoaling species, the shoal size is an important issue. 2 fish is not really a shoal. Of the more boistrous barbs, lack of a sufficient number can make them quite aggressive, hence the typical advice is normally to get more so that you have at least 6.

That said, TinFoil Barbs are notorious tank busters. They get very large, easily 300mm/12" and need a roomy tank.

you're bound to see some behavioral changes along the way.

That is also very true. They may get over it and settle down, but bear in mind the above.

 

[rrdrummer5]

by tank busters do you mean they could actually break the tank?

 

[Lateral Line]

by tank busters do you mean they could actually break the tank?

Tankbuster is a slang term in the fish trade/hobby. It means fish which get to big for their tanks.

It is a semi-relative term of course. In this thread we talk about TinFoils, these would be extreme "tankbusters" in a 48x15x12, but not so in a 72x24x24.

There are other fish which you sadly see for sale in small sizes which are really only suitable for public aquaria. One that appears from time to time in this forum is Myxocyprinus asiaticus - look really cute as a 100mm juvie but a serious headache when it is a 1m+ solid block of muscle with an attitude.

It would not suprise me if some of the classic "tankbusters" were quite capable of smashing their tanks, but generally the term just means, "gets big, often quickly".

 

[freddyk]

Feed the tinfoils lightly and they'll grow slower. Four of them would be fine in a 48"x18" tank until they're about 8 inches or so - but your own judgement should let you know when it's time to find or provide a more suitable home for them. Don't worry, they won't actually bust out your glass.

 

[rrdrummer5]

lol ok. Ihave one tinfoil that is around 6" and it only took him about 6 months to get that big from being about an 1" when i got him. I was thinking about trading him in and getting 4 more that were babies so that they would school but hes probably my hottest fish next to my clown loaches. But anyways, they grow very quick.