Cherry Barb Behavior

[brittgs]

I have 6 cherry barbs (3 males, 3 females) in a 29 gal tank along with cory cats and harlequin rasbora).  Everyone seems to get along fine. Except for feedings, the cherry barbs tend to hang in the lower third of the tank.  However, every time I do a water change the behavior changes.  They seem to swim frantically at all levels of the tank.  It takes a couple of hours for them to settle down.  Am I stressing them when doing the water change?  Any suggestions or is this normal during a water change?
 
Brittgs

 

[Lateral Line]

Is the water you are adding "different" from the tank at large. By that I mean is it Chlorinated, hot, cold..... I would not expect the behaviour you describe under normal circumstances.
 
As an aside, whenever I have kept Cherry Barbs, I've found that males will squabble with each other, even in fairly large tanks. After the first time, I always kept a single male and one or two females.

 

[brittgs]

I always treat the water with a dechlorinator before I add it to the tank but have not checked the temp. It may be colder than the tank water and I have been chilling my poor fish. Thanks for the advice.

 

[brittgs]

Just to update, when I did my water change this week I was very careful about the temperature of the new water. The barbs and all the other fish seemed fine. No frantic behavior, just a little more active since I was fussing around the tank but they settled right down once all the new water was in. I am sure I was chilling my fish without realizing it. Thanks for the advice and my fish would thank you too if they could