Male Rosy Barb Attacked

[Gentoo]

Thursday I bought 3 Rosy Barbs - 1 male and 2 females. Friday morning I found the remains of the male. Went back to the fish shop today (Saturday) and asked for a replacement. Several hours later and this new replacement male has lost most of his tail and was hovering near the top of the tank - I've put him in a floating fry tank to stop further attacks but it doesn't look good. Both female Rosy Barbs are in perfect condition. Is there something I don't know about keeping groups of Rosy Barbs? Other tankmates are Tiger and Green Tiger Barbs and a rare but fairly gentle species of Botia. I'm a catfish sort of gal so any advice from Barb lovers would be much appreciated! ;o)

 

[AshleyT]

Tiger barbs tend to be very nippy

 

[dbanner]

How many tigers/green tigers have you got? As Ashley said tigers are known to be fin nippers. It's better to have them in big groups to ease aggression, like upwards of 10.

 

[Cazgar]

Tigers can be aggressive & need to be kept in large groups to avoid them nipping others

 

[Gentoo]

Thank you all for your responses. I think the Tiger Barbs are innocent as the female Rosy Barbs are fine, but you have confirmed my suspicions that a group of two females to one male Rosy Barb is not a large enough group, despite being with other species of barbs. The good news is, the male I rescued and who has been convalescing in a fry tank in my larger aquaria is eating and doing well. When his severely depleted tail has healed a bit more I will release him into this larger tank where there are no small nippy barbs and hopefully he'll live a long and happy bachelor's life.