Tiger Barb Fight

hi all. Had a new experience with my barbs tonight and just want to make sure I don't need to do something. I have a 36 gallon with 5 tiger barbs, 3 green tiger barbs, 2 albino tiger barbs and 3 black ruby barbs along with some other similar tempered fish. They've always nipped and chased eachother with no damage but this evening there was a new instance. The largest green and the largest albino went head to head like a couple sheep or goats would do when trying to establish dominance. They would spin circles with their noses touching and sometimes push into the side. Basically looked like a sumo-wrestling match. Anytime another barb would try to intervene it would be chased off quickly and they'd go back at it. This went on for about 5 minutes from when I noticed them. I decided to break it up to make sure no damage was done. I fed them and was suprised it didn't even get their attention. I finally stuck my hand in the tank and chased them apart. I went back about 20 minutes later doing my weekly water changes and they're still apart. Was this a display of dominance? Mating ritual? I think they're both males though being very slender. I think this is a normal tiger barb thing but just wanted to make sure. Kyle

yeah, they are a very active group. I also have 4 serpae tetras and 3 giant danio's that swarm around with the barbs. I have a 4" gold gourami in there as well but he usually searches the whole tank for new fish so he can harass them. There are also a couple small cories, an otto, a 6" pleco and a 3" pleco and a 3" banjo catfish. I would like to put some other barbs in there, maybe odessa, gold or rosy barbs but I'm already overstocked so I'm gonna wait and maybe someday I'll have a larger tank to move the gourami and pleco's into and have more room for the barbs. The barbs are definitely my most active tank as well as brave. We have a couple more colorful tanks but they're not as fun to watch because the fish hide when you approach the tank. My community tank has become a swarm of different colors but it's just not as pretty. Maybe because of the lighting. cya, kYle

usually the smaller tiger barbs are the ones chasing but these were definitely the larger of the bunch. A few of the regular tiger barbs are plump like they might be females but these two are slender and tall. They are all young still. These two are only about 1.5" long so they've got some growing to do. The regular tiger barbs eat so much during feeding they look like they'll pop. thanks for the replies. Kyle