Shark and barbs?????

[coolkidthatlike]

hi, sorry this is kind of a repost, but here goes. well i have six tiger barbs in a 10 gallon tank. recently i bought a red fin shark from wal mart (my first mistake, heh heh.) and put him in with the barbs. At first i thought that he was just hiding a lot, but then i noticed one time when he came out of the cave decoration, he was swimming wierd, and the barbs were picking on him. the next day he died. At first i just thought that barbs were too aggresive (even in a school) to keep with any other kinds of fish. After thinking about it again, however, i wondered if he could have just been sick from walmart, this is why he was always hiding. And the reason the barbs were mean to him was because fish usually pick on the sick guy. My question is if i could try to buy another red fin shark, and see how he does. I really like them, and i have read that they are compatable with tigers. should i try again, or just give up and accept the fact that i am forced to keep an all barb tank. Please help!

 

[targaboy78]

Hi coolkidthatlikesfish,

should i try again, or just give up and accept the fact that i am forced to keep an all barb tank.

If it were my tank, I'd me more concerned about overpopulation than trying to squeeze a Red Fin Shark into a 10gal with 6 Tiger Barbs. It may be a 'territorial' issue. 6 Tiger Barbs is a good number and in theory they should keep to themselves.

However, it is not my tank, so I'll just say that you may have more luck if you rearrange the decorations directly prior to introducing the Red Fin Shark, then leave the lights out directly afterwords. The Barbs may get pre-occupied surveying their new surroundings and leave the shark alone.

HTH

 

[coolkidthatlike]

well, actually i am not worried about overpopulating, because i am going to buy a litle shark, and save my money for a 20 gallon. So i will have a 20 gal before the shark gets too big for the 10 gallon. so do you think i could try to get a new shark?

 

[Zic]

Go for it!

When I first got a tank in December, my brother bought me a guppy , four shrimp and a dwarf frog from Walmart. The guppy and shrimp died within a month and the frog just died last week. Walmart is a great store overall, just not a good place for you to buy fish. I get supplies there, but buy my fish from a LFS.

 

[wabyrd]

I would hold off on getting a new shark until you have the 20 gallon. Even then, the 20 might be a little small for the shark. Especially if you get more than one. I would love to have a couple of Bala's myself, but I think it's best to stay away from them unless you have a 75 gal or better.

But that's just my thougths...It's your tank...

 

[coolkidthatlike]

well, actually, with the red fin shark you are only supposed to have one, because they will get aggresive toward each other. And also if he gets too big for the 20 gal, i can sell him back (although that might be hard). Yeah i agree zic, walmart is a great place for supplies, and just about EVERYTHING else........ exept for fish . i know that my lfs does carry this shark, so i will go for it! thanks for the help. I did get all of my goldfish a couple months ago from a walmart (when i was just starting out with fish). and they are still alive, and doin good. i also bought some of the barbs from there. But i also have had bad expirienced from there too!

 

[coolkidthatlike]

you will all be happy to hear that i got the shark and not from walmart. I think that the other one i had was sick from the get go, because he was always hiding and not moving around too much. The barbs i think were just picking on the weak guy. Well the new shark is doing great (after 2 days). he is moving around, and the barbs arent giving him any trouble! I am sure happy i tried again, because i really like him. thanks for all the help