Black Tetras very aggressive...

[Mad Professor]

well this is my sister's 10 gallon tank...
its divided for breeding too.. I'm expecting guppies...
well anyways I set this tank up last week..
and yesterday.. I took my sister to the store to buy some fish..
and we got..
4: tiger barbs
2:Glass Cats
2: Black tetras
well before I went to the store. I checked the water parameters.. and the ammonia was around 1.0ppm to 0.50ppm... nitrate was less than 5.0ppm...
I did a small water change...
before I went..
anyways..
I bought the fish brought them home.. and set them in the tank.. after 4 minutes the bag tore open, when I was repositioning the bag and the fish got out..
well I figure they were fine.. after 2 hours.. the tiger barbs were nipping each other.. for some reason.. I figure the tank was going through a cycle.. then the black tetras were attacking the tiger barbs...
Next morning, I woke up and check the tank and the glass cats were GONE!
apparently and I have pictures to prove that the black tetras ate the glass cats.. one of the Black tetras were still eating what was left of a glass cat body.. and I have raised black tetras before and I thought they were peaceful???
Can someone tell me why my sister's 10 gallon divided tank is hostile???

 

[electrikat]

Isn't a week a little soon to be adding that many fish?

 

[Mad Professor]

Alright, then let me rephrase that then,
You tell me how long I'm suppose to wait before I add fish to an aquarium?

 

[electrikat]

The common waiting time is until there is no ammonia present at testing. You either add a fish or a piece of shrimp to cycle the tank and when it is completely cycled then you add fish a couple at a time to give your bio filter a chance to catch up to the load. You had ammonia showing up on your test and yet you added 8 fish to your tank anyway. The stress of moving homes, and being put in a small place(part of a 10 gallon tank), with different species, and imperfect water conditions, plus black skirts and barbs are known fin nippers, it was bound to have some ill effects on the fish. Maybe the glass cats died from the shock and the tetras were just eating them cause they looked like dinner.

 

[Mad Professor]

Thanks.. for that information..
I just transfer some water from my 44 gallon and add it to my sister's tank and that was 20% of the tank... and I tested it on the first day which was last sunday and ammonia was at 0.25ppm and 10ppm nitrate..
last wednesday tank had 4ppm ammonia, and 60ppm nitrate...
no water changes till saturday.. and saturday test results were,
ammonia was around 1.0ppm to 0.50ppm... nitrate was less than 5.0ppm
I did a 20% water change.. and that brought it down to less than 0.25 on ammonia and less than 5.0pmm nitrate.. I figure that was good enough.. hey my 44 gallon is at the same specs and I have 8 neons and 2 female guppys and dozen fry in the tank.. so why not...
oh well my sister is going to be a little upset about losing the glass cats...
I'll keep you posted...

 

[electrikat]

It will help if you also transfer some of your filter media to her filter. The bacteria are in the gravel and filter media and on the glass. Not much of them are in the water.

 

[Andos99]

glass cats can be difficult to acclimate into the aquarium and need to be kept with at least 4-6 to be at their best. You shouldn't consider adding more until your tank is completely cycled, however they won't get along with tiger barbs anyways, at least in such a small tank.

 

[Jchillin]

If it's any consolation, barbs and tetras just don't like living together, especially when introduced at the same time. I cannot explain why they went after your sister's cat or if they did for that matter.

Chances are that the cats died and the tetras found an opportunity for competing the "circle of life".

I would suggest keeping one or the other.

 

[Mad Professor]

well thats weird..
during our search for the glass cats.. I went to 3 stores.. and all of them have black tetras and tiger barbs in the same tank and they didn't seem aggressive... so I figured that they were safe.. and they weren't divided..
oh well I can't help it.. there such small selection in orlando..
plus I had tiger barbs and black tetras before in my 44 gallon.. they seems to do very well.. but after 4 years they eventually die...
oh well if they survive into next week.. I know they can tolerate it.....