Strange Denison Barb behavior…

I received 2 new to me Denison Barbs yesterday… they are bigger in size shoalers than most I have experience with… which have been mostly Tetras… I had 4 in a tank already ( lost one a long time ago, those guys have been here well over a year )… since I moved the Tin Foils out of this tank, the Denison’s are the dominant ( well there is a mid sized kisser Gourami in the tank, that is peaceful )
The 2 new fish are large, looked active and healthy in the bag… but both are displaying submissive posture on one end of the tank… I’m not seeing any aggressive behavior… the main school, is going about it’s business, but even comes over and sits with the new comers for a while, and then swim off, almost looks like they are trying to encourage the new ones to join them…
I’m not sure of the sexual interactions on schooling fish, that are not group spawners… I have been seeing some dancing, prior to the addition of the new fish… so I’m not sure if there is something in the water, or implied, by the dominant male, or the school, but again I’ve not witnessed any aggression… there must be complex social interactions in schooling fish, that are pair breeders, rather than group spawners???

I had added a “gold form” Denison to the tank 6 months or more ago, and it took a week or better to integrate… at the time, I assumed that was because it didn’t look like the others, but it didn’t display any submissive behavior… one of the new ones is nose down in a corner, the other newcomer looks like it’s undecided weather to join the pack, or remain with it’s bag mate in the corner… my 1st thought, was maybe they were acclimated to warmer temperatures… as they are often kept in warmer waters, than they prefer, but in the box??? I guess I’ve never checked arrival temperatures of fish as they arrive, from the box

It took 2 days, but the “Borg” have started to assimilate the new fish… they haven’t really “joined” the group yet, but aren’t hanging in the corner anymore, and now occasionally swimming with the group… the new ones aren’t as brightly colored yet, so I can still easily tell which ones they are… the one really had me worried, head standing in the corner for 2 days…

Well the new adult Denison’s continue to make headway on joining the rest of the group… one has fully joined, but the other, while no longer showing submissive behavior, still tends to be a loner… suspect it’s a male, and I’m sure I had at least one mature male in the old group ( as I often witnessed spawning dance ) it is spending some time with the group, but often goes out on it’s own… but I’m no longer worried about it, like I was when it 1st came in, and just sat nose down in a corner at the top of the tank

Ok… I’m not sure that Denison’s are a true shoaling / schooling fish… I think I have a harem… the new one is not in the corner in submissive posture any more, and I saw them chasing around yesterday, and thought “oh good, they are playing, and it’s becoming part of the group” but this morning the colorful tips of it’s tail are gone, so one while one of the new ones were welcomed to the group… one was not… I’m going to move that one into the new barb tank, to heal up… I like Denison’s, so maybe after that one heals back up, I’ll try adding a few to that tank, so it can have some buddies??? I think it’s a harem, not a shoal, or school…

There are subtle differences… the one doing the chasing is the top fish in this picture it seems to have more yellow, less black, and white edges to it’s tail… I believe it’s the male, and the one getting thrashed, is another male, and not welcome in the harem… I wish I would have noticed this sooner…

The colors on your barbs are awfully drab. This is the way they look when I get them. But I wait a while and their colors aleays pop.




edited for typos

Fish look awesome… just curious what is the temperature of that tank??? Mine is about 71 degrees right now