Tiger Barb aggression

[George9]

I just added three more tiger barbs to my tank, one of them is bigger than the others and is chasing after the others trying to nip the fins. One of them has some physical damage on his bottom fin, its like split. I know the species is very aggressive to start with, but will the aggression get better as they establish a pecking order?

 

[HUKIT]

How many does that make? They should be in schools to reduce their aggression, I'd say at least seven to nine should help.

 

[George9]

That makes seven barbs

 

[HUKIT]

They will start to establish a pecking order but that doesn't mean you won't see a little nipping. Give them a couple days to start sorting things out.

 

[Bud]

They should work it all out. Mine have settled down at 9. Had 6 tigers and 3 albinos and that didn't work at all...didn't know they school best with their own type. Gave the albinos back and got 3 more tigers and they've been awesome.

 

[jcolon]

That makes seven barbs

You've got a good number of Barbs so give them a few days to establish their pecking order. With mine, I found the biggest one threw it's weight around
the most. Fins will be fully extended and you may see (if not already) them
going nose to nose. Just had that happen this week when a younger Albino tried to overthrow the largest Tiger-Barb.

 

[George9]

Thanks! I woke up one morning and they were all getting along! Thanks

 

[CompMage]

They will start to establish a pecking order but that doesn't mean you won't see a little nipping. Give them a couple days to start sorting things out.

I will second that. I've kept Tigers for years and they re-defined aggressive fish for me. But yea give them some time they will finish the "big fish game" as my wife likes to call it. 7 should be fine, but as always the more the better, I kept a group of 18 or so...

But even if they seem to be nicer this morning, keep an eye out because they really can hurt the smaller ones in the group.