# Rosy Barbs Going At It



## Ellador

Hello, all! I woke up today to find my two female rosy barbs fighting(?)-- they were circling each other in tight little circles and nipping. I would normally have dismissed it as mating, but they are both female, and my two male rosy barbs seemed indifferent. They have stopped now, but I'm still wondering what they were doing...

Here is the link to my specs: My Aquarium - 29 gallon Freshwater fish tank

Thanks, everyone!
​


----------



## Romad

Hi Ellador,

Sounds like aggression due to numbers. They do much better in schools of 6 or more. Did you check out the fish profiles at the top of the home page? Second link from the left.

I had the same issues with my green tiger barbs before I got the correct number of them (bad info from a fish store that sold me 4). I have 7 now and haven't seen the issue since. Do you have room for 3 or 4 more in your tank?

Oh, and welcome to the forum


----------



## Ellador

Hi, Romad-- thank you for your advice. I suppose I could add a few more-- my tank is close to its capacity now, but I'm getting a bigger one as soon as I can afford it. 

I thought that with schooling fish, odd numbers are better-- is that true, or is just having more of them better-- despite even or odd numbers? I haven't been following that rule either, though-- odd numbers, I mean... so I would be happy to learn odds or evens don't matter. ; ) It's kind of ridiculous how difficult it was for me to keep them to an odd number-- I did try for a while, especially when I was a novice fish keeper, but I would always lose 1-- 1, never 2. The first schooling fish I kept were danios, and it felt strange to go to the fish store to buy 1 danio-- so I would come home with 3 or 5. Without fail, I would lose 1 within the month, bringing the school back to an even number. I did have 7 Rosy Barbs originally-- the other 3 were lost in a tragic back-siphoning incident. When I added the 3 cherry barbs, it was in the back of my mind that surely I would lose 1-- but instead, about 4 months later, 1 was born. That was a complete surprise to me, as I wasn't trying to breed them. He was the first fish born in my tank, and I honestly don't know how he managed to survive past being a fry without being eaten. He was so small the first time I saw him, and now he's almost as big as the other cherry barbs.

Thank you for welcoming me to this forum-- I'm glad to be here. I have another question, actually-- at the fish store I frequent, I was told the standard rule of fish inches:aquarium size is just a rule of thumb, and not always applicable. The employee I was speaking with-- it's a small, locally owned business, so she knows my fish-- told me that because my tank is a 29-tall, inhabited by fish whose regions are bottom-to-middle (my loaches and shark) and middle-to-top (my German ram and barbs), I have a little more flexibility than with the inches rule. What do you, and others, think about this? Oh-- I did check out the fish profiles, and it says Rosy Barbs are bottom-to-middle strata. This surprised me-- mine visit the bottom often to pick at rocks, but prefer middle-to-top when they're just... umm... hanging out and doing their thing. ; )

Thanks again...


----------



## Romad

Hmmm.. not sure about the odd number ratio. I know that with livebearers it matters to have fewer males to females so that the females don't get harrased by the males. I never thought about odd or even numbers otherwise and haven't noticed one way or the other in my community tank.

And here's a link to get a rough idea of what will work in your tank as far as how many fish and compatability. Key in the size of your tank at the top, select the fish you have or want to have and then scroll down to see where you're at.

AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor


----------



## Ellador

Thank you again, Romad-- that link you supplied was very helpful, and also very troubling. I need to get a larger tank soon-- that wasn't surprising-- but apparently none of my fish are compatible with each other! The ones that are the least compatible have been co-existing happily for a while now, so I'm glad they don't know they're not supposed to like each other... ; )


----------



## Ellador

I suppose I knew I had another problem when I joined yesterday-- I wasn't sure until a little while ago. I posted this issue in the Tropical Fish Diseases section... here is the link: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/tropical-fish-diseases/ich-again-58246/

*sigh*


----------



## Romad

For some reason I can't see your pictures. Ich looks like the fish are sprinkled with salt. Sometimes you'll see it on just a few fish and not others.

I've never tried the heat/salt method because I have a few fish that are salt sensitive. I've only had one outbreak in my tank when I had a power outage and the tank temp dropped about 10 degrees. 

I used Kordon's Rid Ich+ based on the advice of some other members here who's opinions I trust. I would not use anything until you know for certain what you are dealing with. Here's a great link that Aunt Kymmie shared with us on Ich. The Skeptical Aquarist


----------



## Ellador

I didn't attach the pictures correctly-- oops. I posted again, with the pictures: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/tropical-fish-diseases/ich-again-58246/


----------

