Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Cycling an aquarioum takes time, but timely water changes can ease the stress on fish. You might develop a plan using the graphs in this link. Puffernet >>>Nitrogen Cycle
gussie, this is 100% incorrect if they are kept aproproiatly...
tiger barbs are more agressive, active and territorial, they are also very social, so they must be kept in a larger group (preferably 5 or more and preferably odd numbers), a larger tank than youd think and with fish that can handle their activity...
when kept in larger groups their behaviour tends to be distrubuted between the other barbs in the group, they chase eachother rather than the other fish in the tank...
its also much more natural for them, and the lack of stress about being in too small a group (a saftey issue) increases agressive behaviour (just like a human getting easily angered when stressed...)
by giving them a bigger space than suggested (tiger barbs can reach 3" full grown so should have a minimum of 3 gallons PER BARB!) you give them space to "do thier thing" chase and "play" and burn off energy, again it alos encorages natural behaviours, whihc reduces stress which reduces agression.
by makng that bigger space closer to thier natural habitat (hiding places, plants, compatible fsh species, ect) you again reduce the stress and reduce the agression.
and then by housing them with larger fish, or fish that are faster moving (or not stressed by fast moving fish) or with other semi agressive species who can hold their own you reduce the risk of agression even further.
avoid tank mates with long flowing fins, these are like dangling a carrot...but beyond that tiges can live with almost any species...
growing up i had a peacefull community tanks with neon tetra and other small peacefull fish, and i had a school of 9 tiger barbs...everyone told my my barbs would eat the other fish, but i made sure the tank was large enough, kept them in a large group and they never even considered bothering the other fish. right now i have a 55 gallon tank with a group of skunk botia, a clown pleco, and 4 blood parrot cichlids...in this tank resides 9 tiget barbs...the botia are easily small enough for the barbs to eat, and my largers blood parrot (a species of cichlid that is typically quite 'gentle" and they cant open and close their mouths to bite if they wernt) is too slow to avoid them and has long finnage....they havent botherd him at all...
why? because they are comofrtable in their environment and correctly kept...
so instead of just assuming they are "horrible" because you havent been able to sucessfully keep them, and havent been educates as to WHY you havent had luck with them...you should probably reconsider and instead go more along the lines of there not a fish you personally have had luck with...
they are actually wonderfull and beautiful "little" fish, i have blushers, greens and albinos right now...and am planning on adding a few more once i move.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
