One Lonely Tiger Barb

[skiltrip]

Here's the situation...

37 Gallon tank, with 4 tiger barbs, and 2 rosy barbs.


There is one tiger barb that just isn't allowed to hang with their group. they nipped him pretty good. his tail is squared off (not completely gone by any means, but pretty nipped down), and his top fin is nipped down so no orange is left on it. the three of them general hang out swimming around, but the 4th one, just hides behind a plant most of the time. occasionally he comes back out and tries to "hang" with the others again,but they start rough housing, chasing him around, and he takes off again into hiding.

What can I do about this poor little guy? Would increasing the number of tiger barbs mix up the pecking order and maybe take attention away from him? Is there always going to be one outcast no matter what? I don't wanna see the guy suffer anymore. He wants to be friends, but they won't let him!

- kip

 

[wetwetwet]

I think you've answered your own question m8


Another 2/3 I think would take some of the attention away from him....

....but someone still has to be at the bottom of the pecking order

 

[skiltrip]

Does the one at the bottom of the pecking order necessarily have to take quite so much abuse? or could it be this barb in particular just isn't a good battler?

- kip

 

[wetwetwet]

survival of the fittest/hardest lol

 

[juliethegr8t]

Heya. I had tiger barbs for awhile back, before they all died when I was on vacation... anyways, I started with 3, and the same thing happened - though not as dramatic. One of them was getting mercilessly chased and nipped at, he was the small guy and everyone seemed to bully him. Anyway, I felt so bad for the little guy, so I added 3 more tigers, and things improved greatly! I've read that you should have a minimum of 6 in your school, especially with tiger barbs, since they can be aggressive towards each other and other fish. I think if you added some more you would definitely see a difference, they will probably still pick on the poor guy, but definitely not as much, since the pecking order will constantly have to be re-established with the new fishies. Good luck!