shark and tiger barb

[rtbs!!!]

My red tailed black shark keeps chasing my tiger barb round and round. is this normal? Will it harm the tiger? The shark never gets it. It just keeps chasing it.

 

[c_paan]

It could stress the barb. If it gets stressed you could get an otbreak of ich in your tank. Do you only have one barb? This could also stress it, they are a schooling fish and shoulf be in groups of 3 or more.

 

[rtbs!!!]

yeah i know they like to be in bigger groups. I am going to get some tomorrow. I think it might be getting stressed. what can i do to prevent it getting too stressed?

 

[c_paan]

add some sort of caves, drift wood, plants fake or real, to help add hiding places.

 

[rtbs!!!]

Yeah, i've got a piece of driftwood and 2 plants and 1 shrub. He's doing alright, but i would like to see him happier.

 

[phOOey]

ive got the exact same problem, luckily for me im moving my rts to a bigger tank but to help for the moment i added a cave which my rts clamed for himself and as long as the tiger barbs dont go near it he seems to be pretty calm. I think after a while ur tiger barb will learn to avoid ur rts, but getting some more will also help because ur rts will spread his aggression out on the other tiger barbs and not just concentrate on one tiger barb.

 

[phOOey]

ive got the exact same problem, luckily for me im moving my rts to a bigger tank but to help for the moment i added a cave which my rts clamed for himself and as long as the tiger barbs dont go near it he seems to be pretty calm. I think after a while ur tiger barb will learn to avoid ur rts, but getting some more will also help because ur rts will spread his aggression out on the other tiger barbs and not just concentrate on one tiger barb.


good luck

 

[rtbs!!!]

Thanks barb. I am getting a larger tank soon so hopefully they'll be more hiding places and the barbs (when I get a couple more) will be able to avoid the shark more. A cave could be a short-term solution though. Thanks again.

 

[Quagaar]

My sister has her RTS in a 150 gallons with Green Tigerbarbs and regular tiger barbs (and a bristlenose plec) and the RTS still chases the barbs. Tiger barbs are used to being chased, its part of their own heirarchy with other barbs, so I doubt much whether the RTS will stress them out much. Get the bigger tank though. RTS needs loads of space, but with more space, he'll still extend his territory. You'll probably find that the most frequent chasing is at meal times, you can try and feed them at seperate ends of the tanks, but once the barbs are finished theirs, they will go after the sharks dinner and then they will get chansed again

 

[offish]

Lets face it guys RTS's are generally grumpy and happy only when chasing someone from thier patch!! If there's no one on thier patch they'll go to someone else's and chase them!!

All the rts's I have ever had behave in the same way.

Unfortunately it's likely to get worse the bigger he gets, just make sure you dont add any other sharks! One thing you can do is add more decor around where you believe is his territory, if he can't see his tank mate he wont chase them!

 

[J'sRamAir]

In my experience with rainbow sharks, they just like to chase other fish...but mostly their own kind. I'm going to have to agree with the last two responses. He'll probably chase other fish no matter how large the tank. But like everyone has said, a larger tank is better for the fish, adding hiding places is good as well as adding more fish so the rts will divide his aggression toward them.