are my tetras killing my tiger barbs?

Rainbow Brite

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Hello, I have a 14-gallon fish tank, in it, I had 6 white tetras and 6 tiger barbs and a pleco.

One day I came back from work I found a barb dead and the pleco finishing it off, and a few days later another barb died, so I did a 50% water change and increased aeration. The parameters were all ok.

After a week I went away for 5 days and put a "vacation feeder" in the tank the night before I leave. When I came back I found my pleco dead along with 2 more tiger barbs and all was left of them was the skeletons!!!

I had come home for a few hours before I left for another 6-day trip, and when I came back I found that one small tiger barb was swimming on top in a weird way, and when I focused it turned out that its tail was nipped half away! So I took it out and put it in a small transfer tank I have, leaving one barb who looks like its getting on well with the tetras. And I did a 50% water change. Then today I looked in again and one of the tetras has turned pale and a bit blue (I attached a picture), I took it out and put it in a pale alone, and put it in a small container to take the picture, I think it's dying though. I don't know what's going on!
 

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What is the temp of the tank? Does it have a filter? How long has it been up and is it cycled?

IMO vacation feeder blocks are terrible. If I'm only leaving for a week or less I don't do anything for the fish other than a large water change before I leave. For more fragile and demanding fish I have 2 electric feeders.

What are your water parameters now? With that many fish dying off I can't imagine they are ok.

White skirt tetras can be aggressive when kept in small numbers. I'm surprised to hear it was them killing off the tiger barbs though, as tigers are known to be nippy.

Lastly, the original stocking could very well of been the main problem. A 14gal tank isn't very big at all. One school or a small schooling fish (less than 2in long) would be okay but larger species really need a larger tank. Same for the pleco. Do you remember the species it was? I really wouldn't put any pleco in anything smaller than a 14gal. They are huge waste producers and many species reach over a foot long.
 
The water is cycled, and I keep the temperature at an average of 28°C. I haven't checked the parameters today though
 
As for stocking, when I get the parameters straight, Im planning to get the little tiger barb with the nipped tail back to the tank when it gets better. So that would be 2 barbs and 6 tetras, would it be safe? Good? Could I add fish of either?
 
I do not think the barbs will be safe. If it really is the tetras attacking the barbs then they will probably do it again. Also, there isn't enough room for the barbs to live happily. IMO the minimum tank size for both species is a 20gal and the barbs get pretty large. They both need a group of 6+. This is just not possible for a 14gal tank as it will be over stocked.

Either rehome the barbs or get a larger tank. For keeping a school of both species I think a 29gal would be the smallest I'd go.
 
I will go a step further even. Tiger Barbs must be in a group of at least 10, preferably more, and this means nothing less than a 30 gallon [29 gallon] tank with just the group of Tiger Barb. Anythiing less and you will have trouble. You can verify this here:
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/puntigrus-tetrazona/

Second, the "Skirt" or "Widow" tetras are along similar lines, though they can be better tankmates. But they are not really small fish, and need space to swim and grow, and a decent number. Minimum 6-8 in a 20 gallon (70 liter) tank is minimum. They must never be combined with slow or sedate species as this does encourage fin nipping.

Having said all that, it is still possible that some other issue is causing the deaths. You have not given any data for the water, either parameters (GH, pH) or ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. The temp at 28C is high for both these species and that can factor in to problems as the fish are having to work harder in warmer water than cooler.

Byron.
 

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