Barb fish over eating?

[ryans63]

I recently had a friend give me his very nice 55 gallon freshwater aquarium and i bought a barb fish, the other fish in the tank are angle fish, rainbow "shark" bala "shark" and everytime i feed them flakes etc the barb just goes to town and eats everything, i had a fish die a week ago and i had the water tested at two different places and they said it was good, i am worried though that it might have died from starvation because the flakes don't even get to the gravel cause the barb just eats like crazy, is this a concern? how do i tell if a fish is not getting much to eat? how do i make sure the others get some, i sit there and watch and they eat a little but everytime i go and look in the top they all come up to feed and seeminly want food. I am not a fish kinda guy but i love all pets and take care of them best i can. also i was told you can't put any thing metal at all in the tank, is this true?

[FUBAR]

What type of barb?

I know that Tiger Barbs, when there's only one in the tank, tend to be really agressive. They're also fin nippers. So watch the Angel.

Barbs, from my experience (and what I've read on here) are best kept in schools. They're also less agressive towards other fish when in schools, and seem to just want to play with eachother.

[Michael]

I agree with FUBAR

One thing you can do is put food at each end of the tank giving the other fish a chance to get the food. Also, get some sinking foods, the Barbs will have a tendency to eat from the surface first and go to the bottom later, this should give the others more opportunities to eat.

[severum mama]

WELCOME to AA!

It sounds like the fish in your tank, other than the barb, were there when your friend gave it to you. Your friend may not have known that both the rainbow shark and the bala shark will eventually outgrow your tank. Angels are great for a 55 gallon though. How many angels do you have? Like FUBAR said, barbs can be fin nippers depending on what species you have, and they are probably not the best choice with angels for that reason. Basically, what I would do is either return the barb and find other homes for the sharks (your [acronym:399c2087fd="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:399c2087fd] may take them from you) and build your tank around the angels; or, find other homes for the angels and sharks and build your tank around a school of barbs. Either way you will have a lot of options for what you could keep. [acronym:399c2087fd="Just My Opinion"]JMO[/acronym:399c2087fd].

[workfortheman]

Best way I know if a fish is getting food is to watch it very closely when it's feeding time.

I wouldn't put anything metal in my tanks, for fear that it might rust or leach minerals into the water column!