I just finished setting up my 55g. It's taken over a month to get everything set up and the water good and well. I first put in a few smaller, less expensive fish just to make sure I did everything right, four of which were tiger barbs. A couple days ago I finally put my big boys in the 55g. I've had my big boys for about three years now, they were in a 20g before the 55g.

Now my three tiger barbs. One tiger barb was slightly bigger than the other three and killed those three off. Now the last tiger barb is chasing around one of my angel fish ( my massive angel fish ) who is striped and colored similar to a tiger barb. He leaves the slightly smaller black angel fish alone for the most part. I'm not too worried about the tiger barb chasing the gouramis or the black angel fish because chases them for a little bit, then leaves them alone. But he is determined to chase this striped angel fish from dawn to dusk and they've only been in the same tank for three days now.

I know that tiger barbs are best in groups because they pick on each other, so my first thought was to get more tiger barbs so that they could mess with each other. But since this angel fish is colored so much like a tiger barb, I fear that adding more tiger barbs will only worsen the situation.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? What did you do to help it?

Ive not had experience like this before,but my suggestion is you can re setup the 20 and place the tiger barb in there,and then get him some more of his kind,and leave the angels to the larger tank.Or you can rehome the barb and be done with it.

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That was my first thought, to move him to the 20g, but yesterday I got some glass cats for the 20g, so that's outta the question. Do pet stores usually take back fish or am I gonna have to try to find someone else to take him?

Some will, some wont.It all depends on the store.I think Petco and Petsmart does where Walmart does not.If you have any issues taking him back,place him on craigslist.You may not get your full refund for him that way but a few dollars is worth the safety of the angel and the happiness of the barb.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

GET RID OF THE TIGER BARB ! I absolutely hate them they do nothing but nip, chase and kill not only fish of their own kind but every fish I've ever had with them . so get rid of it, but remember do it humanly its not their fault or is it. No I really think its their instinct, so give it back to its place of origin (lfs). Thats what I did.

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I will echo the advice to get rid of the tiger barb, or at least get him removed from the company of angelfish. Even if you add more, they will continue to harass the angelfish. I made the mistake of mixing these two particular breeds of fish without researching and within a weeks time my tiger barbs killed two angelfish. They really need to be kept with like minded species (other barbs, tetras, danios). Short fins and fast moving. Best of luck.

Yeah I have a couple of Tiger Barbs that managed to nip a pretty feisty Betta to death. They got along fine for quite a while and then one day BAM! I watched the situation closely in the beginning too so as to catch any issues that might arise and just when I figured things were okay it happened. I am now stuck trying to decide if I want to re-home the Barbs or if I want to commit my 29 gallon to species that will get along with them. Ugh.