Strange Denison Barb behavior…

[Magnum Man]

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???

 

[Magnum Man]

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