Rosy Barbs Flicking

[LauraFrog]

I finally managed to cycle my 20 gal, it gave me no end of grief. The readings have been stable now for over a week with a small school of baby rainbowfish in it, so I decided it was time to start stocking in earnest (the rainbows will be returned to the creek when there's a decent load of fish in the tank.) Today I brought home two longfin rosy barbs. I know they are schooling fish and need a larger group, but the LFS only had males. I've decided on a school of 5, 2 male and 3 female, so I bought the males today and I'll get the females when they get some in (probably 7-10 days).

The tank is outside and is lit by sunlight only. It's on an eastern veranda and I added the fish (after about an hour acclimation time with a few additions of tank water into the bag) at dusk. I turned on the overhead fluoro so I could watch them for a few hours to see them settle in okay.

Well they're active and healthy, haven't fed them yet, but they look fine except that they're flicking. They just stop for a few seconds and raise and lower their fins very fast, then dart off again. They aren't making mad dashes round the tank or rubbing on the substrate (pea gravel) or objects in the tank like I would expect them to do if they had parasites but i can treat with pyrantel anyway if necessary. The other fish in the tank (the rainbows) are all fine and are not showing this behavior.

I just don't know if it's normal or not because I've never kept barbs before. I've read that males will display to each other but I haven't seen a description of the display, is that what they're doing? I thought that would be much reduced with no females present and they weren't doing it at the LFS where there was a school of about 12 males.

Tank is heated to 22 degrees (cool tropical) with no salt or anything else in it. The water readings are stable.

 

[ollyhtafc]

White cloud minnows do the same and that's males displaying to each other. I dont think you have anything to worry about if they're not rubbing on gravel, ornaments etc.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi Laura

Please don't release the rainbowfish back into the wild. It's against the law to do so. Put them into a pond or give them to someone else. If they pick up a disease like TB in the tank it can be transmitted back into the wild and damage wild fish populations.

Rosy barbs don't normally flick unless they are irritated by something, skin parasites like whitespot or costia. When displaying they usually swim side by side with their fins flared out and occasionally flick their fins up and down. The red colour will also intensify when they display.

 

[LauraFrog]

Well that's sort of what they're doing so I think they're okay then.

I didn't think about something like fish TB, that wouldn't show in quarantine. I thought I'd be right quarantining them before re-releasing them... I'll put them in a little stagnant pool then, it's not really a pond but it's cut off from everything else and spring-fed so they can live there. I'd keep them but they're tiny so I had to use an awful lot of them. Once they're full grown they won't fit in the tank.

 

[Colin_T]

take some to school and see if they want them for scientific research or to keep in a tank in the biology room. Your class could do a course on icthyology and spend a day counting scales and fin rays

 

[LauraFrog]

That's actually the science teacher's plan, but he wants colourful ones and these aren't yet, they're seriously about 1.5cm long. Fry basically.

And you can guess who's coordinating the cycling and planting etc. of his tanks. Couldn't be happier. He's not paying me a cent but this is a definite win-win situation. He gets an experienced aquarist doing all the work for him, and a scapegoat to blame if something goes wrong "Laura said everything would be OK if we did that!" And I get cheap fish and plants. He's ordering direct from wholesalers - nothing to stop me attaching a few BTW - I want this and that - notes to the order and paying him back when I get them!