Why Cant We All Just Get Along

[Carey27]

I was looking for a plan to stock my 30 gallon tank a while back. I originally had a mix of tiger barbs, clowns, balas, plecos & a green/yellow dwarf puffer. After getting some help and adivce on the forums i returned the balas, clowns and a common pleco since they would eventually out grow my tank. When looking for feedback on Tiger Barb tankmates i was advised to bring my total barbs to 7 (apparemtly when theres 7 or more they tend to focus their aggression on each other) prior to adding other fish.

So for the past 2 months I maintained a healthy tank with 7 Tiger Barbs, The puffer and a butterfly pleco (all coexisting nicely). I recieved some recomendations on additional tank mates and chose to go with blue rams. So yesterday I added the rams and the tiger barbs immediately defended their territory. I removed the pack of barbs from the tank to give the rams some time to adjust and settle in and was looking for some advice on how to make this addition of fish as smooth as possible.

Tank is planted with hidding spots but no "caves" I was also thing about moving the drift wood around thing that the barbs might not reecognize the tank and then be less defensive.

Any advice?

 

[DarkEntity]

I was looking for a plan to stock my 30 gallon tank a while back. I originally had a mix of tiger barbs, clowns, balas, plecos & a green/yellow dwarf puffer. After getting some help and adivce on the forums i returned the balas, clowns and a common pleco since they would eventually out grow my tank. When looking for feedback on Tiger Barb tankmates i was advised to bring my total barbs to 7 (apparemtly when theres 7 or more they tend to focus their aggression on each other) prior to adding other fish.

So for the past 2 months I maintained a healthy tank with 7 Tiger Barbs, The puffer and a butterfly pleco (all coexisting nicely). I recieved some recomendations on additional tank mates and chose to go with blue rams. So yesterday I added the rams and the tiger barbs immediately defended their territory. I removed the pack of barbs from the tank to give the rams some time to adjust and settle in and was looking for some advice on how to make this addition of fish as smooth as possible.

Tank is planted with hidding spots but no "caves" I was also thing about moving the drift wood around thing that the barbs might not reecognize the tank and then be less defensive.

Any advice?

Erm, why in gods name are you keeping a Puffer with community fish? what type of Puffer is it btw? Most nae if not all Puffers are very unsuitable for a community aquarium.

To even stand a chance of the Tiger Barbs not killing the peacefull Rams id say you will need to move stuff around. Try make the tank unrecognisable to them.

 

[Carey27]

The puffer is a yellow and green FW dwarf puffer and was keep with gourmai at the pet store. After being warned about them on the boards i monitored him and the barbs very closely the first 2 weeks. I will move around the ornaments and possible add new ones.

Assuming all goes well, How long before i can move everything back to the original setup?

 

[Fella]

What's a yellow and green FW puffer?

As in, that's a common name, there are lots of yellow and green puffers, and some are labelled as freshwater, but aren't truly. Plus, all puffers have individual specific requirements, you can't generalise with them.

 

[Carey27]

Dark thanks for the advice. I moved the oraments/driftwood around and tiger barbs are completely distracted and not defending the "new" territory.

As for the puffer, ill do some research and get you guys the name.

 

[Carey27]

12 hours in and moving everything around seems to be working like a charm. fingers crossed....

 

[Fella]

Dark thanks for the advice. I moved the oraments/driftwood around and tiger barbs are completely distracted and not defending the "new" territory.

As for the puffer, ill do some research and get you guys the name.

http/www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/div4.htm


Take your pick from those photos.

 

[Carey27]

About 30 hours in with the new setup and everyones getting along great (i'll post one more update just in case someone else has a problem in the future).

Fella, i didnt see my puffer on there. Ill try to get a pic up and either PM you or add to this topic. As much as i want to keep him the tank if you guys say hes gona go crazy one day then i guess ill have to move him...

 

[Carey27]

Over 3 days in and everything looks good. Im planning on cleaning the tank and moving the driftwood back to the original location