tiger barbs

I have a tank at work with two tiger barbs and they are not doing so hot. There color has faded and they stay at the top of the tank hinding behind the heater. The temp it around 76-78 and the water tested fine. Is there anyone who can tell me anything?

 

I have a few of those... do they do this all the time? Recently?

Are there other places to hide? Do they fight?

 

well they were just put in the tank and there aren't that many places to hide and they do not fight.

 

Ah.. ok that's pretty normal then.
BUt you only have two?
Those are pretty aggressive fish that seem to do better in schools.. if there are just two, one will become dominant and beat on the other one a lot in my experience.

I have 3 now and the smallest is always getting picked on and has bit up fins.

I used to have 5 before a heat wave and that seemed to work better.

What other fish do you have? As I said, they are aggressive and you don't want to mix them with a lot of other fish out there.

 

How are the Tiger Barbs now Heather?

 

i agree, they really need to be in a school. (i hear that their favorite subject is lunch) they are kinda like the damsels of saltwater, rather mean.

 

I had 3 big tiger barbs and they were actually doing very well. They mainly picked on each other with very few exceptions. I got rid of them because they started picking on my blue ram (which I will not get rid of)!! As long as you have 3 or more tiger barbs they should act normal and only pick on each other! Good luck!

 

Tiger barbs do best in groups of 6 or more. That way they harrass other fish less and have "friends" to play with. Do add a couple more if you can!