Gold Barbs Acting Odd

[Rhoen1]

Hi I made an account just to ask for help. My gold bards have been seeming highly aggressive, and there have been lots of nipping incidents, and now two dead fish. I'm trying to figure out what's going on, and I could use help.

My Tank- a 36 bowfront, with a 50 gallon HOB filter, which is kept at 76°. Stocked with 4 blind cave tetras, 6 (now 5) gold Barbs, and 3 (now 2) albino Cory cats, plus shrimp and snails.

The one Cory died about a month ago, but as I'd only had him a few days, and there was no clear cause, I simply didn't replace him, incase something was wrong in the tank. Today, I found the smallest, most bullied gold barb decapitated.

Is it possible that it may be the gender of my barbs? The seller told me they were gendered pairs, but only two are large and round. The other four (now 3) are small and thin. The larger (female?) Ones bully them, and are very food aggressive.

What should I do? What do you think is happening?

Edit: I tried rearranging the tank less than two days ago. They were less aggressive, but clearly that has passed.

 

[aseradyn]

You mentioned that they're "food aggressive", which leads me to a wild-*** guess: animals in general - including us humans - can get pretty grumpy when we're hungry. You might try feeding them more, or more often, and see if that helps cut down on bullying.

Providing more shelter can help reduce bullying, too, breaking up line of sight and giving the little guys somewhere to get out of the way.

 

[Rhoen1]

Hi thanks for the reply. I feed every two days, and the food never gets finished. I have a rock hut, a bunch of fake plants, and some shells, which have been rearranged so they can't see straight from one end to the other. They still killed the poor other barb.

It was suggested maybe I don't have enough of them, but I don't get why they would kill one of their own then?

 

[Barliman]

That seems odd to me that they don't finish their food when being fed only every other day. What food do you give them?