Lazy Tiger Barbs

[oranda]

Hi There!
 This past year I plunged back into the tropical end of the fish hobby, after many years of staying in the coldwater. I really wanted little, active fish again, and I knew just what I wanted: tiger barbs. My last tropical tank had a wonderful little group of tigers and I loved them. They were constantly on the move and active all the time.
 
 So, many months ago I got a new group, and...they just want to sit in a pile in one corner or another 75% of the time. Nobody seems sick, they just don't want to swim.
 
 They are in a 55 gallon tank. Water condition is perfect. The group has 11 members: 5 albino and 6 normal. They oddly tend to segregrate from each other except when eating. The only other members of the tank are a bristle nose pleco and a dwarf gourami. 
 
 I've tried adding more plants for cover, subtracting plants to add swimming space, dimming the lights, lowering the water speed on the filter, raising the temperature, lowering the temperature. I've even tried changing the tank landscaping weekly in case they were just bored. I'm running out of thoughts.
 
 The only real difference I can think of from my past tank is that it had a much more diverse community: it had multiple blue gouramis, pictus cats, platys, and a giant pleco. Part of me wonders if they just don't have enough to interest them and maybe I should start adding some other members? But then some people keep tiger only tanks, and it doesn't seem to be an issue.
 
 The pleco keeps to himself and I haven't noticed the gourami bullying any of them. I suppose it's not impossible that he could be keeping them down, but my understanding is that the dwarf variety is rather peaceful?
 
 Any ideas? Has anyone else had non-active tigers before?

 

[Lanzuis]

I have had an instance - a while ago - with barbs where suddenly all of my barbs stopped and were 'headstanding' - this period went on for about 1-2 weeks and suddenly they got back into the habit of swimming around a lot - I am not quite certain about why they are doing this but I have had a similar issue and I am also not sure how I resolved it!

 
Try doing a water change (if you haven't already done one). I am pretty new to fish keeping so I am not that adept - but from my experiences this is what I have learned.
 
Anyway, I guess I wasn't much help - Good luck in fixing the problem!

 
Oh, one more thing - Gouramis and barbs don't go well together - I kinda learnt the hard way. I also doubt the Gourami would bully the barbs, in any case it would work the other way around with the barbs bullying the gourami.

 

[oranda]

Lanzuis, thank you for your reply.
 I do change the water quite frequently, and the water perameters are good. They are not head standing, but just all huddling in a corner most of the time.
 
 I do realize that some people have problems keeping the two species together, but they've never given chase to the gourami. They seem to leave each other alone. But then it is a decent sized group, so they have each other to play with without bothering anyone else.
 I actually kept blue gouramis and tigers together for years in a previous community tank with no issues.  I recall my big blue male chasing them more often than they would bother him.

 

[oranda]

Just an update that may help someone in the future:
 
I was surprised last night to see my tigers having little battles and games of tag all over the tank. In other words: they were finally acting like tiger barbs again!
 
The only change I can think of is that I randomly bought a new food over the weekend. I've changed the food from time to time, but aparently something must have been missing out of their diet with all of the other foods that this one has. It was Aqueon brand, for anyone who is curious. It's not one I've ever considered a real high quality brand, but hey, it seems that they have finally perked up, so I'm not going to question it.