Why did all my fish die . . .

Question

I purchased 5 tiger barbs and an algae eater. All have died except 1 of the tiger barbs. He is doing well and seems to be very healthy. He seemed to be the most agressive, nibbling away at the others, especially as they were dying. I now have to get more tiger barbs, but should I be fearful that he will attack those as well?

Answer 1

Do not get any more fish. The other fish probably died because of your tiger barbs agression twoards them.  

Answer 2

KILLER TIGER BARBS!!! BUY NO MORE! lolz

Answer 3

a contagious illness maybe? Fish have that you know, or maybe the PH levels in the water are not right?

Usually fish die, because they eat one another or they boil if you leave the tank near the window on a summer day, and because....well....they'r fish...

Answer 4

How big is your tank?

Did you cycle your tank?

Most likely the tiger barb you have left was aggressive towards the other fish because they were sick? Well, one of my fish picked on a couple of my fish when they were sick.  

Answer 5

Idk...maybe your tank has someone sick and infected everyone and it all died... :( sorry to hear that...

Answer 6

What size is your tank? How long has it been established? Has the cycle completely finished yet? What are your water parameters?

Multiple things can happen to cause fish to die in a tank - especially a new tank.

If you've got a new tank, most likely the culprit is the cycle process. Many fish cannot survive the deadly cycle, which is why a lot of fish experts now recommend fishless cycling. Ammonia and Nitrites are both deadly parts of the nitrogen cycle that cannot be avoided.

If your tank is established, you should look at your size. A shoal of tiger barbs needs at least 25G of water to avoid aggressive behavior. These guys are territorial and very active. Anything smaller than a 25G tank will be problematic with them. Anything bigger is almost always better. The more room you give them, the happier and healthier they will be.

As for the algae eater, what type of algae eater was it? An oto (one of the few true algae eating fish), or something larger? Plecos get pretty big. One of the smallest varieties (bristlenose pleco) can get to around 5-6" and would probably be ok in a 25G or larger tank, but that would be pushing it a bit - larger is better.

A common pleco gets far too big for many home aquariums - they grow to at least 18", and need more than 55G of water to live into adulthood.

Chinese Algae Eaters should be avoided at all costs. They grow to be huge fish, and they become carnivorous as they get older. They can and will kill the majority of your other aquarium fish as they get older.

Good luck, and post more info about the tank setup so that we can better determine what might have happened.

Answer 7

your fish probably died because the aggressive tiger barb ate all the food and starved the others, or injured and killed the other tiger barbs.  they could have died from stress also, like water temp. change, moving to new tanks, and others bothering and stealing food from it. Try getting another type of fish, a non- aggressive one, and chances are they wont bother each other or die.  diseases are ruled out in this case, since tiger barbs are immune to nearly all fish diseases.  Be sure not to get goldfishes or bettas, the goldfish will not eat and will be killed if it lives with other fish that are not goldfish.  Bettas will kill every fish in your tank, unless if some bigger fish kills it. Bettas are best kept alone.  And goldfish can only live with other goldfish.  You can get some guppies, and some other type of fish that suites you best. you might want to get a snail too,  they keep your tank clean longer. I hope this information was useful to you and i'd be glad to answer any other of your fish questions.