Gold barbs

[parsons483]

A few days ago I bought three gold barbs but they have been mostly swimming up and down one corner of the tank to the point they have a big hole in the sand

Why are they doing that? Within the next few weeks I’m going to get another three

 

[Barliman]

I wonder if they're reacting to their own reflections? I've see puffers do that. As an experiment, you could put some black paper on the side and back to see if that stops the behavior.

 

[V227]

I think Barliman is on the right track. Your new barbs are "glass surfing", chasing their own reflections. Barbs are a schooling fish. The situation is likely to diminish when you increase the size of the school.

 

[parsons483]

I wonder if they're reacting to their own reflections? I've see puffers do that. As an experiment, you could put some black paper on the side and back to see if that stops the behavior.

I never thought of that. I just tried it and it made them worse now they pace all the way up and down, hopefully they just need to forget what they thought they could see lol

 

[parsons483]

I think Barliman is on the right track. Your new barbs are "glass surfing", chasing their own reflections. Barbs are a schooling fish. The situation is likely to diminish when you increase the size of the school.

Ok so hopefully when I get more they should calm down more

 

[V227]

It is so irritating to watch fish do this, especially when you're expecting to observe natural swimming behaviors. Glass surfing is a common behavior for newly introduced fish and not only includes Barbs, but many other different species, aggressive cichlids, Bettas ect. Over time this behavior mellows.