Tiger Barb question

[enrgizerbunny]

I have a 55g tank with 15 small tiger barbs in it right now. I'm cycling and my ammonia is 0, nitrites 0, haven't checked nitrates today.

Most of my fish look happy and healthy. Some of them have deep colors and beautiful red fins. I have a few though, who don't look so happy. They have a green tint to them and their stripe are not as dark black as the other, larger fish. I feel like they may be starving because I haven't been providing a lot of food due to toxin prevention. One small one in particular looks very green. Others that are slightly larger have nice dark stripes and are very energetic near the top, but two or 3 of them have been hanging around the bottom, or separate from the shoal in general.

Any ideas?

 

[BL1ND1ND3X]

I think some of your tiger barbs are the green variety.
Search green tiger barbs in google and see if that looks like them.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

No these aren't green barbs. The green tiger barbs are REALLY green. These guys are just regular barbs that have a green sheen to them. I've added stress coat, checked my ammonia/nitrite levels both were 0. Nitrates were 5.0 ppm two days ago.

 

[BL1ND1ND3X]

Ok hmm
Did they have solid stripes when you got them and then they faded?

 

[enrgizerbunny]

All of them started out with a green sheen to them, like it was on their slime coat. Over time most the fish have very little green to them and look more dark, have blacker stripes and redder fins. There is one in particular that barely had red in the fins, and the stripes are faint, body is mostly silver with a blue/green sheen over the stripes. It seems to me it could easily be something that happens with age or the blue is juvenile camouflage, but I'm not sure.

Oh, happy new year to central standard time in about 4 minutes.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Ok hmm
Did they have solid stripes when you got them and then they faded?

They all still have stripe. The blue/greener the fish looks, the fainter the stripes. The bigger ones with lots of red have dark, black stripes, the little ones have a blue/green sheen over their stripes.

 

[BL1ND1ND3X]

Happy new years to you too!
I don't know much about tiger barbs but it sounds like to me that they are growing their stripes.
When they are young they develop their dark color and stripes as they grow.
If you still have concern about their health, I'm not sure what else it could be besides stress but hopefully their just developing their color and they become healthy tigers as they grow!
I really hope I helped a little.