I need help with my aquarium, urgently?

Question

I seriously need advise on my aqaruim. Please no rude or time wasting remarks, I am asking because I do not knoe and I want fish becuase I love having them. I got my aqaruim a while ago for my goldfish and wanted more fish, so I got new fish frommy local pet shop, I asked himif the can go in the same tank and he said yes, but now I have two small striped ones who keeps biting my other fish, I have browsed tghe net and can't find their spiecie, can anybody tell me what kind of fish it is and how do I stop them bullying my other fish, I have taken them out of the tank now as they have killed my one gold fish. Thanks

Answer 1

You don't provide enough information about the fish for us to even try and guess what they are. If you can a picture would be great but if you can't then at least describe them more.

Answer 2

They are most likely tiger barbs (they have vertical stripes), they are an agressive species and will nip and bite any other slow moving fish in the tank. You have learned an important lesson in fishkeeping, never listen to the fish store people. All they want to do is sell fish, so they will tell you anything to sell them. Do your own research first, before you buy a new fish, then you can teach the fish store people a few things (they probably won't remember them, but you can try).

The best thing for you to do would be to take the tiger barbs back to the store and get a couple more goldfish... and a filter. All fish need a filter for their tanks.

Tiger barbs are tropical fish and need a heater in their tank to keep it at about 76 degrees F. Goldfish are coldwater fish and need to be kept at no more than 65 degrees F (no heater). You cannot keep tropicals and coldwater fish together, the wrong temps will eventually compromise their immune systems and they will get sick and die. There is no in between, if you try that, they will both suffer.

There are many sites online that will show you pictures of many different kinds of fish and a short info paragraph of how they should be kept.

Good luck!

Answer 3

You should never keep goldfish with tropical species. Goldfish should only be with other goldfish. Not only do they suck at everything, they're too stupid to 'run away' when they're getting bullied. i have a 8 inch white Koi who is beat up by my 5 inch parrot chilchid every day, but instead of moving away, he goes on sucking at everything. He's in with the parrot chilchid because its winter and the pond is frozen. Still, its not a good idea. Goldfish need colder water and tropicals need warm water in the 'green' on a tank thermometer. AKA 75-80* depending on species.

The fish with stripes that you got are probably tiger barbs(orange with vertical stripes). They are notorious for biting fins and terrorizing fish to death. Please, if you love having fish, love knowing what they are. Dont buy them before you do some research or at least read the name tag. Its the least you can do for the life that you are buying to take care of. That life, as small as it may seem to you, is in your hands and you are the one responsible. If it dies, its not because someone else over fed it or the water was bad, its because you didn't do something right. Not to sound mean but people are always buying fish before thinking. People dont buy dogs without knowing what they are, so why should they do that with fish?

Get two separate tanks. The goldfish will need at least 65gal at adulthood, so be prepared for that or a pond.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Goldfish do not do well with other fish. They are slow-moving, and often have decorative fins that other fish love to tear up.

Some more information about your set up would help people answer your question. What is the size of your tank? If it is too small, and there is not enough space for the fish, some species will get aggressive about territory. Is the water heated? The small striped species most likely need to be in heated water - where as goldfish should be in cold, unheated water. Do you have lots of hiding places (caves, plants, etc.)? This will help minimize bullying.

I suggest going back to the pet store and asking about the species you just purchased - and setting up their own tank.

Answer 5

Hi. Im Ellis from Los Angeles California. Some fish are teritorial by nature. You might find by putting a mirror in the tank, or facing in the tank , and attaching it to the outside sometimes keeps fish occupied. Another option is to put a divider or a clear container inside the tank to separate them. Or have seperate bowl or tank. we have a clown fish which has adopted the anemones in our tank. He actually feeds them the flakes that we feed the fish. But he also chases the other fish away, especially at feeding time. We had a damselfish that would kill other fish. We had to remove him.. Of course there is much to be found by reseaching on a search engine. Good luck .

Answer 6

ok go to aquariumfish.net and see if you can find a picture of your fish there. A pet store will tell you anything either out of ignorance or a desire to sell the fish to you. If your fish is extreemly agressive you may have a cichlid. I would suggest you either find a new home for your gold fish or your new fish ie. a new tank, a different home. Gold fish will survive at tropical temps but dont do extreemly well.

Answer 7

There is no way to tell what type of fish you bought by your brief description. The store should have had the name thre when you bought them. Some fish are more agressive than others, and they will eat the fins off of other fish. They must be seperated into a seperate tank, thats the only way to keep them from being destructive.

Answer 8

Your best bet would be to head back to your pet shop and talk to the fish specialist. Like the others are telling you, you can't keep tropicals with cold water fish(gold fish).
There is no way to really know what you are experiencing without having more info to identify the species of your fish.
Good luck!

Answer 9

what size tank did you have these fish in? it sounds like that may have been a zebra danio, which can be a bit nippy and easily found in pet shops, not heard of them killing other fish though?

other small stripeys include a tiger barb, which is highly aggressive to other fish if not kept in a group of 6 or more. they can nip other fish to the point of death...

have a look at the pictures below and let us know.

as others have said, goldfish do best in large over-filtered oxygenated species tanks (that means, goldfish only). they do not do well with tankmates for a variety of reasons (ammonia overload, nippy on either the goldfish or the tankmates part, differing water requirements, goldfish eating smaller fish, suckerfish eating goldfish slime coats...etc...etc...)

Answer 10

Just from the sound of what your describing my first guess would be Tiger Barbs. They are some what of bullys when it comes to other fish. You cannot stop them from "bullying" the others. My best advice would be get another tank for them or take them back to the petstore. Good Luck!

Answer 11

They sound like tiger barbs and I've heard that if you keep them in groups of six to eight they will generally keep their bullying to their own group and keep the bullying of other fish to a minimum. They are not good fish to have in tanks with tankmates who have long flowing fins, like bettas, angelfish and guppies.