Difference between courting and aggression

[Nigelk8485]

I received five rosy barbs, I'm assuming three males and two females. The three males are this brilliant deep red and the two I assume are females are more of a golden/pink. The males have constantly been going at the females, shoving them around, nipping at them, underneath them, just relentless. I've never tried to breed fish so to me this looks like just aggression, but there are no signs of nipped fins or scales removed, and half the time the females just kind of swim along picking up pieces of food off the bottom while it's happening.

I did have the water in the tank a little warmer than they prefer which I read can induce breeding behaviors and since turning it down to a more acceptable range it seems to have calmed the fish down quite a bit. Does this sound like something I should worry about or just breeding behaviors?

I am on the look out for about 4-5 more female rosy barbs if anyone has any willing to sell. I've got a few ads up and will be checking out the pet stores around here if the weather allows for it tomorrow.

They're all about 2-2.5" long.


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[duanes]

Sounds like normal spawning behavior to me, especially if the water is warm.
Their normal range includes sub-tropical areas of China and are often found in cool streams.
I kept mine at temps at and below 70'F, and they spawned in those low temps.

 

[Nigelk8485]

Well that's a relief. I was starting to get mad at the fish and sad for the females thinking they were being bullied. Hopefully I am able to find more females quickly to spread out some of the love.


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[duanes]

At first the fry are very transparent, and almost microscopic, I would occasionally find them hanging near the surface swaying with algae.
Because a few would survive, my colony was self sustaining for a number of years.
Extra females is always a good idea, so the males don't wear them out. All carplike fish have a vigorous mating ritual and these are no exception, a gang of males will sometimes court hard enough to push females out of the water in shallow ares.

 

[Nigelk8485]

I'm really not wanting fry, so hopefully if they do successfully breed the eggs or fry will get eaten without me even knowing. So far the only place that has any type of rosy barb has the red glass rosy barb, and only three of them left which they weren't able to sex for me. I still have two other places to call though so hopefully something will turn up. The females have started to school with my rainbows which makes for some interesting little quarrels between the male barbs and rainbows.


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[Nigelk8485]

Well some good luck stuck and a pet store near me had just received rosy barbs, both males and females, that they had just finished quarantining before placing them into their display tanks this morning. Got four more females.


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