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#Post#: 1049--------------------------------------------------
Are young Tiger Barbs more aggressive than the adults?
By: Stu4648 Date: October 3, 2014, 2:29 am
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Brace yourself for a long buildup:
Maybe it is just a coincidence but I have noticed that my
younger Tiger Barbs are always far more aggressive than the
adults. They are not particularly aggressive with each other or
the other fish in the tank but they really have it in for my
shrimp. I know most people do not recommend keeping Red Cherry
Shrimp with Tigers but I guess I got lulled into a false sense
of security with how chilled out my original Tigers were. The
original Tigers would have been pretty much fully grown when the
shrimp were added about a year ago. I knew it was kind of a risk
but the tank is pretty heavily planted and there are plenty of
cracks and crevices in the bogwood for shrimp to hide so I
figured at worst they would have a fighting chance. I need not
have worried, the shrimp flourished and the original 8 adults
soon became 50+. The original Tigers were not interested in them
at all, occasionally one of them would feign an attempt at
chasing a shrimp if it happened to zip by them but it was half
hearted at best.
I then introduced 4 Blue Tigers and again they had no interest
in the shrimp. The new Tigers would have been mostly sub adults
when they were added, not as big as the originals but not too
far off. The smallest one however was a right little (insert
your own expletive) and would nip fins any chance he could. He
did not bother the shrimp but the other Tigers did not
particularly welcome his attention to their fins. I assumed he
was younger than the others because I noticed in the LFS when I
bought them there were two distinct sizes of fish shoaling
together. This is what first put the notion of younger specimens
being a bit more aggressive in my head.
Fast forward to about a month ago and as a result of several of
the Blue Tigers dying and one of my beloved originals (choked by
a Java Fern root of all things) I decided to replenish my Tiger
numbers and got 4 new juveniles. These little guys are off the
chain, they are constantly on the go looking for food or wanting
a scrap. Normally play fighting amongst themselves as Tigers do
but every now and then they well aggressively pursue a shrimp.
They have definitely got a fair few young shrimp, although the
adult Tigers have probably been claiming quite a few of the
young shrimp no doubt too. However, unlike the adult Tigers the
young Tigers will equally have a pop at any adult shrimp crazy
enough to try and stand its ground. One of them has managed to
kill at least one adult shrimp although I am not entirely sure
if the shrimp may have been on its last legs beforehand because
the adult shrimp are pretty darn quick normally.
Anyway, to (finally) cut a long story short; Has anyone else
experienced such a contrast of behaviour between juvenile and
adult Tiger Barbs or was I just lucky getting two sets of
chilled out Tigers before getting the normal rowdy bunch?
At least my Amano Shrimp should be ok, one of them actually
tried to take an algae wafer off one of my plecos the other day
and that shrimp is still alive so they must be pretty tough, if
a bit suicidal.
#Post#: 1179--------------------------------------------------
Re: Are young Tiger Barbs more aggressive than the adults?
By: Stu4648 Date: October 6, 2014, 1:23 am
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Just as a further indication of how nuts the new juvenile barbs
are they have taken to stuffing micro pellets into their mouth
like little hamsters. I actually thought they had some weird
mouth infection but it was actually just the pellet pushing out
against their fully extended mouth causing the skin to change a
different colour. Luckily the pellets softened enough that after
a while they could actually eat them.
#Post#: 1197--------------------------------------------------
Re: Are young Tiger Barbs more aggressive than the adults?
By: PaulMartin61 Date: October 6, 2014, 5:42 pm
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In the years I had tigers, of various ages, I can't say the
young one's were anymore 'crazy' than the adults.
Perhaps it's the music :-\ , your playing? ;D
Paul
#Post#: 1206--------------------------------------------------
Re: Are young Tiger Barbs more aggressive than the adults?
By: Stu4648 Date: October 7, 2014, 1:48 am
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Hopefully they might calm down a bit at some stage and just
become semi nuts.
#Post#: 1282--------------------------------------------------
Re: Are young Tiger Barbs more aggressive than the adults?
By: Thecrazyfishlady Date: October 9, 2014, 1:57 pm
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Juvenile fish can be the funniest little things. At the
pet-store I tend to notice they are not as "Shy" as the older
adults. Their activity may be due to simply being young. It's a
eat eat eat or die world. Young are constantly scavenging for
everything they can find in the growing stage of their lives.
#Post#: 1310--------------------------------------------------
Re: Are young Tiger Barbs more aggressive than the adults?
By: Stu4648 Date: October 10, 2014, 7:32 am
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That pretty much describes them perfectly. The shrimp have
adapted to them now though, they take cover whenever the little
guys are on patrol and pop out again when it is just the adult
barbs in the vicinity.
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