Sexing Tiger Barbs (Help!)

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klav07

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Title says it all, but basically I recently purchased 5 Tiger Barbs.
I forgot to ask what sex they were, but lurking around here I found out that
that information would probably be incorrect anyhow. (I'm pretty new to fish keeping)
So! I've come to you! Can you guys help me sex my 5 barbs?
(Sorry for posting another one of these, just didn't want to
necropost or threadjack somebody)


I don't really have any good pictures, this is about the best one I have but
heres my flickr if you need to see more: Klav07's Flickr Album
6469553199_e8e263c7d9_z.jpg


If that picture doesn't cut it, I have a youtube video that I think should really help:
At about 44seconds you can get a clear side shot of all 5.

Also, I made this video to compare them from the day I bought it to currently.
They started to get really big around the belly so I was thinking maybe they were
pregnant. But I thought the majority of them were male ): so I'm lost, haha.

Thanks in advance!
 
Males tend to be slender, and have a red line down the dorsal fin, and a red nose. Females are more plump, and the red marks are much less defined.

If the tiger barbs are extremely plump, think "am I over feeding?" or "Does my fish have an internal parasite?" before "My tiger barb is gonna lay eggs!"

Tiger barbs are very prone to over eating. Give them a set amount of food, and if they gobble it up in 3 seconds like they were starving, that's normal. Do not give them more. They'll never stop. My tigers even go after the catfish food after their food is gone.
 
After watching the video, they do look overfed. don't feed them for a day or two, and cut back on what you do give them. I promise they're not going to starve. give it a couple days and f theyre still that fat, feed them some deshelled, unsalted peas. That'll help them with digestion, as they may be constipated. And if that doesn't help, you may have some sort of parasite on your hands.

Try feeding them some tropical pellet foods rather than flakes if you feed flakes, as that'll keep them from gulping up so much air when they eat.
 
Males tend to be slender, and have a red line down the dorsal fin, and a red nose. Females are more plump, and the red marks are much less defined.

If the tiger barbs are extremely plump, think "am I over feeding?" or "Does my fish have an internal parasite?" before "My tiger barb is gonna lay eggs!"

Tiger barbs are very prone to over eating. Give them a set amount of food, and if they gobble it up in 3 seconds like they were starving, that's normal. Do not give them more. They'll never stop. My tigers even go after the catfish food after their food is gone.


After watching the video, they do look overfed. don't feed them for a day or two, and cut back on what you do give them. I promise they're not going to starve. give it a couple days and f theyre still that fat, feed them some deshelled, unsalted peas. That'll help them with digestion, as they may be constipated. And if that doesn't help, you may have some sort of parasite on your hands.

Try feeding them some tropical pellet foods rather than flakes if you feed flakes, as that'll keep them from gulping up so much air when they eat.

+1 to all that. I have 14 of the little buggers and I call them my school of piranha! I sprinkle just a pinch of flakes on the surface twice a day, and they act like they haven't been fed in a week. I also give them deshelled peas about twice a week (along with all my other fish) to keep them from getting constipated, which they tend to do with processed food. It also helps to give them a variety of foods.

Easiest way for me to tell the boys from the girls is the red nose. Girls mostly don't have them. Boys mostly do.

Feel free to get more of them. They're happiest in bigger numbers.
 
Alright, thanks alot guys. And yeah, I cut their food for 2 days to see if they'd sort of slim down, and they have a bit.
So I guess they were just bloated. And I still have difficulties sexing the fish ): the noses (if not red) are a darker
orange than the body so they all seem to be males. And I can't get a good overhead view of the fish because of my turtle's ATBA

Also I wanted to get more of these guys, I'm just waiting for them to go on sale again. Just wanted to see if I had a few pairs
to try my luck at breeding, though it seems like more trouble than its worth (expenses and time wise).

Thanks!
 
Give them a couple more months to mature. It looked to me like you had a female or two in there with the rest being males, so don't give up yet. The older they get the more apparent their sexes become.
 

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