Tiger Barbs as dither fish for Cichlids

Jaws My Shark

Jaws My Shark

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#7
Jul 6, 2004
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#7
Dither?

This may be a stupid questin, but what is a dither fish? I'm only asking because I'm sure I'm not the only one who's wondering.

According to Dictionary.com...

dither - a state of indecisive agitation

So is it what it sounds like? Is it using fish that the big fish won't hurt, but will make it display aggressive behavior? Am I way off?

Just wondering...
 

C

Cichlid-Man

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#9
Jul 9, 2003
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#9
Basically a dither fish...is a fish to take the aggression of larger fish. Kinda like a grounding for lighting....it just kinda stops it. The aggressive fish will use dither fish to beat up on (or try to if they can catch them....hence smaller faster fish) and not take it out on your other cichlids. Hope i explained it well enough....
 

LongTime

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#12
May 16, 2004
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#12
Originally posted by Cichlid-Man
Basically a dither fish...is a fish to take the aggression of larger fish. Kinda like a grounding for lighting....it just kinda stops it. The aggressive fish will use dither fish to beat up on (or try to if they can catch them....hence smaller faster fish) and not take it out on your other cichlids. Hope i explained it well enough....
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Actualy, what you have described is called a "target fish." A dither fish is a fish that is not as shy as its tank mates. It goes into the tank in order to make the other fish feel more secure.
 

C

Cichlid-Man

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#14
Jul 9, 2003
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#14
Yes, sorry didn't really explain myself there longtime. But say you have Malawi cichlids....aggression is part of life so using that aggression on say the dither fish would also make them target fish ;) Personally i consider them both the same, idk seems to me they do the same jobs.
 

LongTime

LongTime

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#17
May 16, 2004
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#17
Originally posted by Cichlid-Man
Personally i consider them both the same, idk seems to me they do the same jobs.
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In most cases that is quite true. However, there are those cases where a good target fish may make a lousy dither fish. The fish may be such a fast moving darter that it further terrorizes the fish it is supposed to make feel more secure. :)

You are quite right about the aggresion. With some fish, everything else is a target no matter what you call it!

As far as tiger barbs go, I had a friend that used them as target fish in his cichlid tank. He also kept Africans, from both lakes, with American Cichlids . This is also the guy who rebuilt a Mazda engine on his kitchen table so... ;)
 

LongTime

LongTime

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#18
May 16, 2004
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#18
ScubaSteve

ScubaSteve

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#19
May 11, 2003
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#19
Cool.......

According to http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/...ighlight=dither he housed Tiger Barbs with two 4 inch Electric Blue Johannis........


Thanks for the replies........

:D
 

blueturq

blueturq

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#20
Mar 17, 2004
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i dunno if you should risk it longtime.

you have:

1 pair of convicts
2 JD
1 Texas Cichlid
2 pictus cats
2 bristenosed plecos

Seeing as how Tinfoil barbs are much larger, i highly doubt that tiger barbs(much smaller) can fend for themselves against brawlers like your texas, or your JD's, or ESPECIALLY your pair of cons!:eek:
 

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