Bully Barb

[mick1408]

I added 5 Pentazona Barbs to my new tank last week, I had started off with 5 Harlequins and these are great. I have noticed that that 1 of the Barbs seems to be bullying the others what can i do??

Mick

 

[stang1]

What size tank are they in?
I'm really surprised as Pentazonas are a peaceful fish. I have 6 in our tank and they are fine together, they end up shoaling with our Ticto Barbs. You could try adding 2-3 more and see if that helps.

 

[mick1408]

What size tank are they in?
I'm really surprised as Pentazonas are a peaceful fish. I have 6 in our tank and they are fine together, they end up shoaling with our Ticto Barbs. You could try adding 2-3 more and see if that helps.

Thanks for that Stang. Don't really want to add any more if can help it, as i've already earmarked other fish for my 125l tank is there anything elese i could try to stop her, i think it's a her, first.

Mick

 

[WILDER]

Time out in issolation send her to bed lol.

 

[stang1]

Males tend to be smaller than the females and are a lot more colourful. They have a beautiful red tinge to them so you can hopefully identify which sex they are.
Not sure what to suggest, the tank they are in now has loads of bogwood so plenty of places to hide and the tank they used to be in was heavily planted, maybe that's why they were fine.
I know you don't want to add more but a couple more wouldn't hurt as they only get to about 2".
The only other thing would be to put "her" in a breeding trap for a few hours. We had to do that with our Dwarf Gourami when he was bullying and it calmed him down. It's not something I like doing but if it's only for a few hours then it should be fine.

 

[vinylman]

That's very unusual. I have eight Pentazona Barbs which I keep with Pencilfish and Cardinal Tetras. The Pentazona Barbs keep to themselves, but don't even show aggression to their own kind. Having said that, there are no rules of course; there will always be 'rogue' fish of any species. Do you mean the Barb is bullying the other Barbs, or bullying the harlequins?.

 

[mick1408]

That's very unusual. I have eight Pentazona Barbs which I keep with Pencilfish and Cardinal Tetras. The Pentazona Barbs keep to themselves, but don't even show aggression to their own kind. Having said that, there are no rules of course; there will always be 'rogue' fish of any species. Do you mean the Barb is bullying the other Barbs, or bullying the harlequins?.

It only seems to bother the other Barbs. It doesn't go near the Harlequins