Green Tiger Barbs swimming nose down after being fed peas.

Dawes

I introduced 5 Green Tiger Barbs into my Tank, and they were doing fine until I decided to give them some frozen Baby Peas.
(I boiled and de-shelled them).

So, I fed my Green Tiger Barbs 3 Boiled Baby Peas shortly after introducing them to my tank (I have 5 juvenile Green Tiger Barbs currently).
I've taken the skins off and crushed them up roughly between my fingers before placing them in to the tank.
I do admit, now looking back in hindsight, 3 whole -Baby Peas- does seem abit excessive for 5 Juvenile Green Tiger Barbs, but in all honesty, naivety and total ignorance, I didn't think that they would actually eat it all in one go! Greedy little buggers (I should have known better).
- I wont be feeding them again till Saturday Night / Sunday Morning now. (It is currently Friday night here in England). - I wont be feeding them anywhere near that much ever again.

Now they seem to be swimming with their noses down (And have been doing so for some time now, 1-2 hours), could this just be a case of indigestion?

I was told peas are good for the fishes digestion tract, so I'm presuming this is just the fish having a little un-comfort before the peas 'do their work', since I doubt the shop ever fed them foods to help with digestion (Peas, speciality foods, etc). - Since they are newly brought fish too.

GwenInNM

I've not heard of that - how are your fish doing now?

Gwen

marshallsea

Odd. That sounds like swimbladder problems. I thought peas would help with that. I must be missing something.

Dawes

The Fish are doing perfectly fine now, I think it was just a case of me feeding them too many Baby Peas is all.

- I wont be feeding them that much again, since they seem to eat; even if they aren't hungry.

I've bought some Hikari small sized pellets specially made for the likes of small fish such as Barbs, Guppies, Tetras, etc, so I'll be mixing their diet with those pellets, Tropical fish flakes, Blood worms, Peas, and other foods.
(I also have a few Algae Wafers, I know they aren't recommended for those type of fish, but it wont hurt their diet to try them out once in a while).

jaysee

IME it's normal for them to swim nose down. Not all the time, but at times. They sleep like that. Also, it is what they do when they are being bullied by the alpha barb. Even as juvis, there is an alpha. The others will Be near the surface, nose down. I believe it's a sign of submission, but it also seems to be strategic as they will often position themselves in such a way that they can see the whole tank (keeping an eye on the alpha).

fish monger

I'm just throwing this out there. Have read that tiger barbs do the head standing behavior when they are suffering from nitrite poisoning also. Thought it might be something to think about if you see this a lot.

jaysee

I'm quite certain it's a behavioral thing. It may also be something that they do when nitrites are present, but that's not anything I would know about.

Of course there is a big difference between having it's nose angled down and doing a head stand. Many barb species mill around with their noses below their tails, at up to a -45 degree angle. They should straighten out when swimming with purpose. If the angle is steeper than that, then I would be concerned.

Dawes

Hey, Jaysee.

I think you're right, they don't seem to do it other than at night when I turn off the lights, or when some of the Males are fighting over dominance.

That being said however, I think it had alot to do with me over feeding them a couple peas too!