Barbs Violently Fighting..

[Sefu]

2 Green Tiger barbs.

Lip Locking barbs, furiously pushing at each other, what is the meaning of this?

They meet on the left side of my tank, swim in circles, then BAM, they are at each other's lips and they are fighting.. this is very interesting... They push against each other, and the one who is able to push the most gets a nip at the stomach, this goes on for a while, and than they stop to chase around some other fish, and they are at again..

Swim in circles, lip lock, push, bit. Repeat..

I just notice this happening today, what could they be doing? it is rather entertaining to watch, but i hope they don't kill each other..

Explanation? Thanks!

[MB75]

Barbs are schooling fish. This means that they should be kept in groups of at least 6-8 individuals of the same species to make them comfortable. Then they will usually not tease so much the other fish but concentrate on their own. And as there are at least 6-8 of them, they can socialize all together, and there is a good chance to be both males and females so they can exhibit some spawning behaviour too, and not just the two fighting with each other in lack of others.

[Mudd]

i have 4 green barbs in my tank and ive seen all 4 of them do this at the same time ...they will create almost like a star pinwheel type shape al nipping at each other ... they will do it for a few minutes .. swim off around the tank and then come back and do it some more ... its rather natural i would say as none of them have any signs of injuries or anything ... it may be just how they play ... or it could be an aspect of showing domination .. or breeding ... i wouldnt really worry about it though if you dont see signs of trauma on the bodies ...

[Sefu]

I somehow forgot to include:

I currently have 10 Barbs

4 Albino
3 Regular
3 Green

2 of them are fighting, other ones just watch.. hehe :P

[Mari]

I had this problem with my barbs at the beginning. In the beginning I had 3 full grown barbs and two smaller ones. Two of the larger felt they needed to establish who the dominant one was and thus fought constantly. I did not know what I could do about it, and so this became a terrible situation in which one of the fish lost, and got picked on by the rest of the group...basically being eaten. I separated him, helped him recuperate, and gave him to a friend. I then bought another small one, so as to not have a dominance problem. I just thought I'd share my story...I hope this isn't the case with yours.

[Cichlid Man]

Originally Posted by Sefu @ Wed Jan 26, 2005 5:00 am 2 Green Tiger barbs. Lip Locking barbs, furiously pushing at each other, what is the meaning of this? They meet on the left side of my tank, swim in circles, then BAM, they are at each other's lips and they are fighting.. this is very interesting... They push against each other, and the one who is able to push the most gets a nip at the stomach, this goes on for a while, and than they stop to chase around some other fish, and they are at again.. Swim in circles, lip lock, push, bit. Repeat.. I just notice this happening today, what could they be doing? it is rather entertaining to watch, but i hope they don't kill each other.. Explanation? Thanks!

Don't worry about it, they'll soon sort themselves out, with so many barbs in with them they'll soon forget about each other.

[MB75]

Originally Posted by Sefu @ Wed Jan 26, 2005 5:11 pm I somehow forgot to include: I currently have 10 Barbs 4 Albino 3 Regular 3 Green 2 of them are fighting, other ones just watch.. hehe :P

Ok then they are probably just trying to find the pecking order...

[Sefu]

Can someone please explain the

"Pecking order"

Thanks for all your replies, you guys are the greatest...

[Cichlid Man]

"Pecking order" basically means the rank order which the fish naturaly organize themselves.
I.E. Usually the larger or more aggressive fish are dominant over the weaker and more recessive ones, and if there are two evenly matched fish E.G. your two green tiger barbs, they will fight until the dominant fish is established. Once a fish submisses, it it usually left alone by the other fish unless they are a threat to the dominant fishes fry, personal space etc.

[hugeshoes]

My Tiger Barbs do that too. I wouldn't worry too much about it, I haven't seen any damage come of it.