Tiger Barb mating??

[erin14]

I have 4 Tiger Barbs ( i know, i know, don't flame, i had more but they died) and just recently i've been able to sex them. When i first got them they were small and i couldn't tell which were males and females so i just got whatever i could catch. anyway..now they've grown A LOT (lots of flakes, bloodworms, and tubifex later) and 3 have developed bright red noses and fins which tells me they're males. the other one just stayed kind of dull and got fat which would mean its a girl! lately, the 3 males have been chasing her around and sorta poking at her underside. theres one that always goes "vertical" with his head pointing to the gravel when she comes near him and kind of twitches and really spreads out his fins (as much as a tiger barb can of course) and then if she swims away he follows her. it would seem to me like hes showing off. so, my question is...is this typical tiger barb mating behavior or am i just getting to excited? or do you think i might get some babies or an attempt at some?

 

[Nolapete]

Sounds like typical barb mating behaviour. Add some bunches of stem plants like cabomba or anacharis or similar for them to attach eggs to. You can also use a spawning mop (just google it) for an artificial media.

 

[Andrew.]

Typical. My nine tiger barbs consist mostly, I think more than half or so, of females. The males always mess around with the biggest female. The females stick by the biggest female. The males chase them around all the time.

 

[Jesshika]

I know I have two striped tigers that are both males but do you sex the dark green ones the same way? I have one green one that looks like he has a red nose but no red fins?

 

[jm1212]

the other fish will probably eat the eggs (including the tiger barbs themselves), so if you want to keep the eggs, and eventually the fry, you may want to move them into another tank.