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I've had my 15g running for about 3 years now with 3 tiger barbs and 2 neon barbs. Recently I've added 2 common plecos, and then the following week I added 3 electric yellows. They all coexisted fine for a couple of days, then on Monday (i put them in on Sat) I found one of my tiger barbs dead on the bottom of the tank. Yesterday I got home and found another of my tigers dead on the bottom of the tank. There was no physical damage on either of them.
Would be electric yellows have scared them to death?
I did feed them some dried baby shrimp on Sun evening and they were a little big for them to eat properly, but they managed to. Would this have done it?
Any ideas?

just a guess, maybe your yellows chased them until they had little fishy heart attacks?

Well to start of with there's 2 definite problems wrong with your tank. Not only is a 15 gallon tank to small for 3 electric yellow cichlids its also to small for 2 common plecos.These fish get much to large for a tank that size. My best advice would be to take these fish back to where you got them and get something different. If your going to keep the tiger barbs you really need to add a few more to the tank( at least 6 tiger barbs for a shoal),but that being said I believe your tank may even be to small for them.

Last edited by Cichlid Keeper at 02-Feb-2005 21:13

To follow that thorough chastising…
I had 6 barbs in the tank for about two and a half years, and they seemed to do quite well. They were all full size and swam about randomly. I didn’t know about the plecos. I just needed a bottom feeder and this is what the lady at the LFS said to get, and to make sure I got a pair of them (she knew my tank specs). I wasn’t aware they got so big.
As for the tank in general, I am moving them all into a 33g long tank in 3 months, so I’m sure nothing will outgrow this tank in that time.
I still don’t know why they died though. That is my problem…

Hi,
This is isn't intended to negative towards to you. The 33 gal is not going to be big enough for all those fish either.

I did feed them some dried baby shrimp on Sun evening and they were a little big for them to eat properly, but they managed to. Would this have done

Recently I've added 2 common plecos, and then the following week I added 3 electric yellows

They all coexisted fine for a couple of days, then on Monday (i put them in on Sat) I found one of my tiger barbs dead on the bottom of the tank.

Do you have test kits. Did you test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. With the addition of the fish and if the shrimp was over feed this could of caused a spike of ammonia and nitrite that probably kill your fish. Poor water is a major cause of ill-health, disease and death. That bioload of that tank was and is way to heavy. I would not reccomended keeping those fish in that tank for another 3 months

I am moving them all into a 33g long tank in 3 months, so I’m sure nothing will outgrow this tank in that time.

The thing is that they may not outgrow that tank in this time, but due to the heavy bioload from those fish in that size of tank their health can be in jeopardy and they can really suspectable to disease from a weaken immunity from poor environment.

I still don’t know why they died though. That is my problem…

The problem is that they need a bigger tank or return some fish. Hope this helps and doesn't sound to harsh. openwater.

Hi Xiolo,

I'd have to agree with openwater. I've personally had a common pleco and let me tell u they are really prolific and mine grew from 2-3inches to 10inches in less than a yr!! I had to give mine away to my lfs.

Your barbs probably died because of an amonia spike. After introducing more fish. Sometimes the fish might look fine but in the long run it kills.
Just like eating fatty foods it won't do much at first but in the long run it is leathal. Ammonia is like fatty foods but worse to fish

Gee


Gee

!!I think I just learned somthing new!!

hey X, Don't you just love the way all these fish experts climb right down on you. Actually they are just trying to help you with your problem by giving you thier best advice. Some of the people on here are very self-educated on the subject through reseach and experience. Some are just writing something they've heard in the past. As for my opinion: You do indeed have your 15usg way overstocked, you added too many fish too quick and probably did cause an ammonia spike. Plus you may have over fed them. When you add fish you are supposed to reduce your feeding and let the bacteria catch up. As for your 33 usg, it should house 3 yellow's just fine for quite a while. Just watch them and if they are too much, be prepared to either upgrade or give them back to the lfs. With the "common pleco" one is always enough for all most any tank. Usually one will find himself eventually giving a big guy away only to get another small one for his tank. As for the tigers, you should never keep less than 6 of them together no matter what size tank. They school and are much happier in small groups of 6 or so. Good Luck---Mike

Last edited by militarysnake at 03-Feb-2005 08:06

Thank you all for you help and advice. It is really appreciated. I found a friend that is willing to take my cichlids and one of my plecos. He has a 90 gallon cichlid tank with some other electric yellows in it. I will let my tank calm down a bit and then add a few more barbs so they can have their little school of 6 again.
I do have a kit, and have been testing the water daily since I added the new fish and didn't notice a dramatic increase in neither my nitrates nor my ammonia. But I see what you mean about overstocking, and killing in the long run.
Thanks again.

didn't notice a dramatic increase in neither my nitrates nor my ammonia

just curious, but what was the increase. openwater.....

Xiolo,
You may even want to consider doing weekly water changes of at least 20%(using water thats the same temperature as what's in your tank) in your tank in order to keep the quality of the water good as not to stress out your fish before you can move them.