Help with Fresh water aquarium 28 Gal

Question
Hi,   I have a 30 gal aquarium and I kept two ramirazi 1.5", two tinfoil barb", four Redeye Tetra 1", four Red Zebra Dinos, two angel 1.5" and 6 guppies about 1.5". The all guppies died with in two days and their fins were nipped badly. Rest of the Tank mates seems to be doing just fine. But I really curious to know who would have done it. I love guppies and I got the most beautiful of all but really dishearted to see them dead. Please help....

Answer
Hi!
I am sorry to hear about your guppies! They're certainly very beautiful, and must have been terrible! :[

Before I answer your question, I want to ensure that your tank is completely cycled and you know the potential size of all your fish. Cycling the tank is very important and if not cycled, other than the hardiest of the fish breeds, most of your fish will die in 4-6 weeks throughout the cycling process. Guppies are one of the more sensitive fish to harmful bacteria, and if you newly setup your tank, (about 1-3 weeks) even if there were no other fish nipping their fins, they would all die. What might have happened to your guppies is that they died from excessive amount of ammonia, and your fish nipped off their fins afterwards. Somehow if you fish is very weak or dead, other fish don't leave them alone, they nip and chase after it while floating. And since the guppies have very delicate fins, the chances that that might have happened is not low.

And as angel, I am pretty sure talking about the angelfish (since they are the most common angelic fish). They grow very big-6in long and 8in high. For a small school of them, the ideal sized tank size would be 55 gallons or more. Although one of the less aggressive kind, they are still cichlids, and they are much more aggressive than any community fish. If bought when young/small (which I am glad you did), they might be able to be in a community tank, but they will be still territorial. Tinfoil barbs are also very large fish. They can grow to a foot long, no one would like to see a 12 inches fish in their 23 gallon tank.

Finally, here are some possible fish that might have nipped the guppies. Your tinfoil barb has a possibility, since they are still barbs, and they do well in a school, but you only have two of them. Your Redeye Danio probably was not the one because they are peaceful fish, and even if they can a bit nippy on an occasion, it is not nearly enough to kill a fish (I am speaking in general). I am not an expert in tetras, so I would not be able to tell you any specific info about your Redeyes. But I know there are two types of tetras: peaceful and semi-aggressive. According to my research, they are supposed to be peaceful, but i cannot say for sure because I have never had them. Your angels have fairly large chance of being nippers. Even though they are small, because they cichlids they can harass some of the smaller fish. And it might not have been just one type of fish chasing them. Multiple types of fish could have been, or who knows.

Akhilesh, it is terrible how all your guppies died, but if thought out carefully, it might not have been just the other fish's harassment, it might have been the excess amount of ammonia, as I mentioned earlier. No one know what really happened. So what i would do, would be to test your water for ammonia and nitrite, and if the bacteria level is too high, there is your answer. Even if you cycled the tank already, if you put too many fish at once, it will go through its 2nd cycling. If all your bacteria level is fine, try removing the angelfish and tinfoil barb, since they are not very suitable for your tank.

Let me know if you have ay questions! Cycling, fish compatibility, what you should do, I will answer them for you :]

Good luck!
Barb