Injured tiger barb

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Caitladoo

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Hello, I have a 50 gallon tank, that I have had for at least 2 years. We received 2 tiger barbs as a gift a year ago. We had other fish in the tank at the time but now only have the 2 tiger barbs in addition to our Corey catfish and a tiger Botia. We haven’t had a problem until today when I came home and one tiger barb appears to have a chunk ripped out of his throat. We immediately removed him from the tank and added Melafix to his hospital tank. I am aware that they need to be in larger groups but we were trying to decide what we would like to stock the tank with in the future. I would like some tips on how to treat him as I don’t believe he will probably make it in addition to stocking options moving forward because it is obvious we will need more tiger barbs but I didn’t want only barbs in my tank. Thanks in advance!
 

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Hi and :hi:.
Tiger Botia are typically not good community citizens - they can be downright terrors, and not just to their own species. They are also best kept in groups and 50G may not be enough for a reasonable sized group depending on the species.

I'm not suggesting the other barb isn't the culprit but you have the potential for a lot of aggro with that combination.
 
I agree. Either the other Tiger Barb, or the loach, could be the culprit if it was a physical aggression. I won't guess on treatments, so others will have to help with that.

To your future stocking question, can you give us the hardness (GH, general or total hardness) and pH of your source water (tap or well, whichever)? You can get this from your municipal water authority if you are on city water, check their website.

While waiting for those, I will say that both barbs and loaches must be in groups; they are shoaling fish, and problems are almost certain to occur from aggression, or just stress to the fish being "alone" contrary to its nature. The loach should have at least five, but I need to know the species before recommending them in your tank. There are at least three or four seen under the common name and they are quite different in many respects--except they all need to be in a group.

The Tiger Barb in a group of 12-15 would be OK in your 50 gallon tank, but this species is feisty to say the least and this would limit options for tankmates. But it is one option, and might be OK with a group of the loaches, but this depends which species it turns out to be. Cories should work with Tiger Barb, but cories also need a larger group. I don't recommend loaches and cories together, regardless of species, but some loaches can be downright nasty to other fish in "their" space as loaches are territorial.
 
Thank you for your quick responses. We got the tiger botia from a local fish store who claimed that it would be perfect in our tank. We are learning as we go I suppose and need to do more research before implulsive buys. We would prefer to start the tank over but lack placement for the fish we currently have so we have been trying to ride it out.
Our water source is well water with a GH that runs between 0-30 and a pH running between 6.5-7. nitrate and nitrite are both 0. (This was taken from a current water sample)
 
Have you asked the fish store if they will take it back for rehoming, either with or without credit? I have never had Tiger Loach but most loach species live way longer than dogs or cats, we could be talking 25 years. That's a long time to ride out ...
 
Is the GH number ppm (parts per million) or mg/l (milligrams per liter)? I am assuming it is not degrees, as a spread of 0 to 30 in degrees would be everything from very soft to liquid rock. So if ppm or mg/l (which are the same in effect), this is very soft water. A pH at or lower than 7.0 would be expected with very soft water, and the pH will lower due to natural processes in the aquarium. That's fine, just keep it in mind. Soft water fish, but no fish requiring moderately hard or harder water (such as all livebearers). Tetras, rasbora, loaches, most catfish are options as far as parameters are concerned.

As seangee suggested, if you can re-home the lone TB and the lonely loach to the store, even "free," it would help you move forward. The problem with shoaling fish that have been on their own is the probability of increased aggression, sometimes very significant. It is the fish's only way to deal with such stress. Even adding other fish of the same species to the tank now can be deadly. Once fish are impacted by such stress, there is no reversal.

Whatever you do, please do not get any fish until you have thought through the sort of aquarium you want in the end. Tanks with more than one species are termed "community," and many fish species cannot be combined with many other species. There is a lot to consider for a workable community tank. Knowing what you want in the end will determine what you need to do now.

As you have learned, advice from employees of fish stores is hit and miss. Most have no training at all, and as someone who has studied ichthyology in depth for many years, I know there is a lot to all this if we want healthy fish, and that must be our goal.
 

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