Tiger barb odd behavior

[D&M]

This has nothing to do with the drama I had recently, same tank, not
related. (so I think)

I've had one tiger barb that has persistantly swum (I'll make that a word
for this post, my rules, hehe) verticle to the jager water heater for over
the last two weeks. At first I thought it was some maiting ritual with his
own reflection, but it's going over two weeks now.

I at first kept a close eye out for dropsy, but it hasn't swollen up, comes
out to feed and everything, but breaks from the school and sticks verticle
to the heater. Every now and then a grn tiger will join him for a few
minutes doing the verticle swim (which appears quite difficult to do), but
then breaks away to rejoin the school.

I've raised these guys since they were 1/2" in size, I'm just curious what
this behavior is all about.

Cheers

[Bob]

I have a tiger barb that seems to do the same thing. After eating, it will
start to swim nose down, and appear to be in distress. Give it an hour or
so, and it is back to normal. Likewise, when it started to do this, I was
expecting death within a matter of days, and this has been over a year now.
Don't know what the deal is with it though.

"D&M" > wrote in message
...
> This has nothing to do with the drama I had recently, same tank, not
> related. (so I think)
>
> I've had one tiger barb that has persistantly swum (I'll make that a word
> for this post, my rules, hehe) verticle to the jager water heater for over
> the last two weeks. At first I thought it was some maiting ritual with his
> own reflection, but it's going over two weeks now.
>
> I at first kept a close eye out for dropsy, but it hasn't swollen up,
comes
> out to feed and everything, but breaks from the school and sticks verticle
> to the heater. Every now and then a grn tiger will join him for a few
> minutes doing the verticle swim (which appears quite difficult to do), but
> then breaks away to rejoin the school.
>
> I've raised these guys since they were 1/2" in size, I'm just curious what
> this behavior is all about.
>
> Cheers
>
>

[WD]

"Tedd" > wrote in message
...
> be it just wants a little 'quiet time'. there are a few times mine have
done
> the same thing off and on. one will break away from the pack and just
hover
> in a corner somewhere. in one case it lasted for about a month with one
> particular barb. occasionally one of the others would swim over by him and
> mimic his behavior and/or nip at him, wait a sec, then swim off. maybe
just
> checking on him, *shrug*. other times he would come blasting out of his
> corner with no warning to nip/peck (play) with one of the others then just
> as abruptly run back and assume his original position.


My barbs exhibit the same behavior. I would surmise it's somewhat normal.

[Tedd]

"D&M" > wrote in message
...
> This has nothing to do with the drama I had recently, same tank, not
> related. (so I think)
>
> I've had one tiger barb that has persistantly swum (I'll make that a word
> for this post, my rules, hehe) verticle to the jager water heater for over
> the last two weeks.

<snip>

i've responded to questions about this type of behavior a few times now,
every time the answer seems to become a little different, guess that says
there is no 'absolute' answer and my answer is by no means the authority.
in most cases it has to do with the fish not feeling well, or it could just
be it just wants a little 'quiet time'. there are a few times mine have done
the same thing off and on. one will break away from the pack and just hover
in a corner somewhere. in one case it lasted for about a month with one
particular barb. occasionally one of the others would swim over by him and
mimic his behavior and/or nip at him, wait a sec, then swim off. maybe just
checking on him, *shrug*. other times he would come blasting out of his
corner with no warning to nip/peck (play) with one of the others then just
as abruptly run back and assume his original position.
this is all stuff i'm sure you have probably observed yourself having raised
them. when i was first starting i asked the same question and someone
respond that when theirs did that they usually found them dead within a few
days. i havent found this to be the case even though it has proven true on a
few occasions, mostly when i was still just first starting out.
an interesting thing i did a couple months back, i'd read in here at one
point that fish cant see red light (any truth to this?). i got a couple red
light bulbs and put them in a desk light and set it next to the tank, turned
it on before i shut the tank lights off for the night. when i shut the tank
light off there was an almost immediate reaction. all the barbs swam
directly to different areas and assumed that vertical position and stayed.
to me this would suggest it's either a defensive posturing (cause the room
is pitch dark) or a resting position, or a combination of both. *shrug*.

this probably is not of much help to you, but for what it's worth.

BTW, i'm jealous having read your post in my other string, wish my barbs
would just swim into my hand and let me pet them. ;)

tedd.

[Buckaroo]

My tiger barbs swim this way a lot. The nose down in a group thing seems
very common. They do this at length when
particularly excited (I approach to feed them).


"WD" > wrote in message
news:4f%Pa.46970$H17.14088@sccrnsc02...
>
>
>
>
> "Tedd" > wrote in message
> ...
> > be it just wants a little 'quiet time'. there are a few times mine have
> done
> > the same thing off and on. one will break away from the pack and just
> hover
> > in a corner somewhere. in one case it lasted for about a month with one
> > particular barb. occasionally one of the others would swim over by him
and
> > mimic his behavior and/or nip at him, wait a sec, then swim off. maybe
> just
> > checking on him, *shrug*. other times he would come blasting out of his
> > corner with no warning to nip/peck (play) with one of the others then
just
> > as abruptly run back and assume his original position.
>
>
> My barbs exhibit the same behavior. I would surmise it's somewhat normal.
>
>