Newbie's Tiger Barb has a split fin.

Thanks in advance; I have so much to learn!

One of my green tiger barbs, lets call her Sparkle, has a fin that seems to
be split into 3 or 4 separate pieces. It is one of the two on the very
bottom, the ones that are either red or black depending on the fish. I
noticed that she was spending all her time hiding bottom rear back next to
where the temp strip is on the outside, but she's been coming out to eat, if
only a little after the others get started. This morning I noticed the
damaged fin. I don't know how long it has been this way because she's been
hiding in a hard to see spot.

Will this heal? Anthing I can do to help her? She doesn't seem to be in
pain but she just stays in one spot most of the time.

About 2 weeks ago my PH got high, but it is under control now (I am more
thorough i testing after a water change) and all other parameters are good.
Tank is a 37g tall with some live plants.

My fish a
6 tiger barbs (3 green, 2 wild, 1 albino)
1 red-finned black shark
4 little cory cats
2 blue flame tetras (aka colombian tetras?)

I just added the tetras and 2 cories 2 days ago. I moved around the
decorations, but the shark still got a bit riled; could he/she have hurt
Sparkle?

Regards,
--
Dave Peck

P.S. I don't really know if she is a girl, but with a name like Sparkle, I
am hoping. Is there an easy way to tell?

On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 13:45:51 GMT, Dave Peck wrote:
My fish a
6 tiger barbs (3 green, 2 wild, 1 albino)
1 red-finned black shark
4 little cory cats
2 blue flame tetras (aka colombian tetras?)

I just added the tetras and 2 cories 2 days ago. I moved around the
decorations, but the shark still got a bit riled; could he/she have hurt
Sparkle?

Hi Dave.

More likely the other tigers picked on Sparkle; they do have a
tendency to do that until the pecking order is established, or
when they feel like it! Mine did that until there were just
three left, and nobody messes with them.

I suggest you either add more so they are in a bigger group, that
way the same fish is less likely to get all of the abuse, or
perhaps get used to it - it's typical barb behaviour.

As for the hurt fin, it depends how bad it is as to how much to
worry. When I've had minor injuries but the fish is still swimming
around as usual, I ignore it and it heals. When the fish is hiding,
I put it in a breeding net box for some isolation until it heals.
(Actually I usually put a pair in; single ones seem to give up and
die, pairs seem to recover as long as they are the two gentlest
ones.) If the wound gets as far as the fin just being sticks,
or a patch of pink or red skin, I would say your barb has had it;
mine never recovered from that.

Barbs - nice to look at, and buggers to keep.


--
Flash Wilson
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"I'm an advocate of sex before marriage.
Otherwise I wouldn't have had any at all."

I confirm this report from Flash. This just happened to me, and I simply
increased the tiger count...they now seem active but no one is being picked
at. The fin injured fish lived for weeks, but eventually died from abuse.


More likely the other tigers picked on Sparkle; they do have a
tendency to do that until the pecking order is established, or
when they feel like it! Mine did that until there were just
three left, and nobody messes with them.

"luminos" wrote in message
...
I confirm this report from Flash. This just happened to me, and I simply
increased the tiger count...they now seem active but no one is being
picked
at. The fin injured fish lived for weeks, but eventually died from abuse.


More likely the other tigers picked on Sparkle; they do have a
tendency to do that until the pecking order is established, or
when they feel like it! Mine did that until there were just
three left, and nobody messes with them.


Thanks, all.

Sparkle seems okay. I have one mean Barb but the others get along great.
The mean one chases all the other Barbs but leaves the other fish alone. I
had 9 barbs for a while and they did get along better, and I thoought about
adding three more, but I can only find small ones at LFSs. I suppose I
could go to Petsmart and see what they have, cause they usually have bigger
ones. Then again, 37 g tall tank, 6 barbs, 4 cories, 1 black shark....
aren't I getting close to capacity?
--
Dave Peck

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 02:26:53 GMT, Dave Peck wrote:
Sparkle seems okay. I have one mean Barb but the others get along great.
The mean one chases all the other Barbs but leaves the other fish alone. I
had 9 barbs for a while and they did get along better, and I thoought about
adding three more, but I can only find small ones at LFSs. I suppose I
could go to Petsmart and see what they have, cause they usually have bigger
ones. Then again, 37 g tall tank, 6 barbs, 4 cories, 1 black shark....
aren't I getting close to capacity?

What sizes are they?

I usually go by the rule of an inch of fish length to an
inch of tank length, if territory won't be an issue. Worked
for my first tank (barbs!) as long as you have an ok filter.

I don't know how big black sharks get (I mean, they might be
a fish that when it gets bigger you will either put in a
larger tank or swap at your LFS, or they might not outgrow
the tank - I just don't know about them, or how big yours
is, or whether you plan for it to stay in that tank when it
gets bigger!)

I think I'd risk a few more barbs for the sake of harmony.
They don't get too big, and adding small ones is probably
fine - I've done that to keep up numbers in the past, and
it went well.

My 2d - up to you of course!

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