Gold Barb acting funny

[Needeles]

Hello, I have 2 Gold Barbs in my tank along with some other fish. All the fish seem to be pretty happy now that I took care of some problems I have been having. I am now worried about my Gold Barbs though. I have one that is bigger then the other and is almost fat like were as the other is smaller and more slender. Now the larger one used to seem that it was the one in charge but this has seemed to change overnight. The smaller one is now kind of chasing the larger one around. It keeps sticking it head into the underside of the larger fish. It is almost like when a dog meets another dog and snifes it butt. What could be going on. The larger fish now seems alittle more stressed because it seems to keep trying to get away from the smaller one. It will swim up and down in the back corner of the tank and then move to the other back corner of the tank and do the same thing. Now when the smaller one stops chasing for a moment then the larger one almost seems like it want more. If will swim back over to the smaller one then the chasing will begin again. Is there something wrong with my Barbs. Please let me know. Thanks

I just wanted to add that after I fed the fish the larger barb calmed down alittle. The smaller one kind of like lost interest. The larger one is still acting funny and seems to keep trying to get the smaller one to chase it.

 

[Signus]

They're in grave danger. You better light a few candles and dim the lighting. Might I suggest the Jazz station on the radio?



Actually, we call those actions spawning.

 

[rrkss]

What you are describing is typical gold barb breeding behavior. The smaller one is your male and the larger plump one is the female. The male is trying to force the eggs out of the female. I bet he is thrusting his head into the female around decorations and plants.

One more thing 2 gold barbs is not enough. You need to get at least 6 since they are schooling fish. Not only will this dither the breeding behavior but also make the fish less tense and calmer.

 

[Needeles]

Hello and thanks for the reply. Yes it does seem to happen where the decor is. My other question then would be what do I do now? Do I need to take the fish out and put then in a different tank or will they be ok in the main tank. If it does lay eggs will the other fish eat them or will they be fine? How many eggs will it lay and how many will normally live? Also the reason I only have 2 is I don't want to overstock the tank. If I add say 2-3 more will this be ok or would it overstock my tank. All the fish are pretty small at the moment (2 inches or less) and I only have a 20g tank. I do plan to get a larger tank but it will not happen for at least another few months. Any helpful info about this would be great as I have no idea what I should or shouldn't do in a situation like this. You can look at my tank specs and it tells what other fish are in the tank. Thanks

Also I just wanted to note that there is a small area on the larger/female just infront of the bottm back fin that seems to buldge. Is this where the eggs will come from?

 

[rrkss]

The gold barbs will stay under 2 inches normally. Get 6 to keep them happy. The eggs will probably be eaten. In my heavily planted tank I have yet to see a baby gold barb since my other fish love caviar. That swimming up and down at the glass behavior you described is normal. My entire school of barbs do it also.

The bala shark and the kissing gouramis have to go. They grow enormous and will quickly outgrow your tank.