Epic Tiger Barb Battles!

[boog3ee]

I have a school of 12 TBs in my 320 liter tank, they will be moved to a smaller tank on their own soon since the big tank will house some discus, my problem is that especially since i added a certain plant to the tank; a beautiful bushy reddish plant with very fine leaves (dont know what its called) i could notice that one of the more colorful and large barbs have become quite territorial about that plant and often tries to drive the other barbs away from it sometimes resulting in epic battles that go on for minutes on end! The fighters get so engrossed in the fight that dont break it up until i personally intervene, and sometimes even that doesnt work!
How harmful could these battles be? could they seriously hurt each other? and what should i do?

 

[twodoctors]

I have a school of 12 TBs in my 320 liter tank, they will be moved to a smaller tank on their own soon since the big tank will house some discus, my problem is that especially since i added a certain plant to the tank; a beautiful bushy reddish plant with very fine leaves (dont know what its called) i could notice that one of the more colorful and large barbs have become quite territorial about that plant and often tries to drive the other barbs away from it sometimes resulting in epic battles that go on for minutes on end! The fighters get so engrossed in the fight that dont break it up until i personally intervene, and sometimes even that doesnt work!
How harmful could these battles be? could they seriously hurt each other? and what should i do?

Let them be. You can't watch them 24/7. They are just trying to establish their pecking order. Even after that the lower ones would still occasionally challenge the boss. That's the way they are. They might even try to nip you when you are doing things to the tank! Doesn't hurt, just the shock of being bitten by your smaller fish really.

Adrian

 

[KittyKat]

Sounds like the dominant male wants to spawn (in that plant).