I just bought two Tiger Barbs today and all they do is swim in one place looking down. When they stop swimming the go straight to the top of the tank. Then they swim down again. I looked in my fish book and to me it seems that the have a swim bladder disorder. The water temp is 77 degrees. Other then that im not sure what will cause this to happen or how to fix it. Sometimes they just hang at the bottom of the tank looking down too not really moving. Can anyone help me please.
Swim bladder disorder
- Thread starter Lena
- Start date
theres not much you can do. if its caused by a bacterial infection you could treat for that. to me it sounds like maybe they werent acclimated to your tank properly? if they are thrown in there too fast it could cause that to happen. it could be from overfeeding too. dont know if you fed tham or not yet. most likely its one of the first 2. how did you put them in the tank?
Ok, swim bladder problems are scary, and tiger barbs are susceptible to swim bladder problems. But before you panic, I have to ask--are they swiming in one place at a 45 degree angle? Tiger barbs are one of the few species that actually are usually found at this angle. It is called headstanding, and it is what they do when they are resting. When my barbs are asleep they sort of float at a 45 degree angle, and when they are startled they rush up to the top of the tank and dart around hoping food will come. If it doesn't they may chase each other around for a bit, look for food, or go back to headstanding and rest some more. It is a bad sign if they appear not to be able to get out of the headstand, or they go to a 90 degree angle, or lay on their side, or swim with their heads up rather then down at a 45 degree angle. But headstanding is pretty normal for the little piggies.
hopefully its just normal behavior for the little guys. when i get new fish i pour the bag into a container and slowly (over an hour or so) pour my tank water into the container until there is more tank water in there than origional water. then i pour the container water out over a net to catch the fish and put them in the tank.