I have a small aquarium and I will like to know why is that the fishes eat themselves?

Question

Yes I've had these grey with black stripes fishes and most of them ate themselves up? I'm like WTF? I gave the food and everything. I was sad, but now I have new ones. Are fishes that violent? Do i need to put a divider once I see something suspicious?

Answer 1

No fish will ever eat itself - so if that's what you're trying to say, I'm going to call shenanigans on you and say you're full of it.

Sounds like you're describing tiger barbs, which are a semi-aggressive tropical fish. They do tend to attack other fish, especially if they feel the other fish is entering their territories or if the other fish is smaller/slower.

If you continue to see aggression, especially barb on barb aggression, have your water parameters checked, as poor water quality can lead to increased aggression. Take a sample of your tank water to your local pet store and have them test for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. PH should be around 7.0, ammonia and nitrite at 0ppm, and nitrates at less than 40ppm (though less than 20ppm is best). If any of your parameters are higher, you'll need to do research to figure out how to make the water better (usually water changes will help with ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates though).

Answer 2

Try a larger fish tank the fish may not like small areas that's what I guessed about my fish. My fish would just sit in the tank and never moved when i say the fish didn't move i mean it the fish didn't even flinch. May be it's other fish in the tank that are not suppose to be with that type of fish. Or you could get one of those two sided fish tanks.

Answer 3

Please , find out the breed of your fish and ask the question again, it could be that your fish dont mix well together. There are fish from all over the world who live in the same type water and temperature but the continent is different..... Make sure your fish are from the same part of the world so they live well together just like in the wild.

Answer 4

If you have too many fish in a tank, the stress may cause them to fight. Here is a compatibility chart to see which fish get along http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/fwcompatibility_chart.cfm . And here is a good site to scan through to see the different types of fish http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pcatid=830 .
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Answer 5

Only certain fishes eat themselves, you should get a book or ask a local pet store what species to not mix.

Answer 6

because their hungry