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	Speed of tiger barbs?
tweaky Enthusiast Posts: 286 Kudos: 164 Votes: 5 Registered: 18-Jan-2004	How fast can they swim? Cause when they eat they swim extremely fast to the top (where food is floating), then amazingly turn back around and i think swim twice as fast back down. It's really cool watching them when they eat, that turn is extremely quick. Just seeing if anyone knows how fast they can swim. Thanks
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:59
Bignose Hobbyist Posts: 110 Kudos: 81 Registered: 28-Jun-2004	I've been wondering that myself for a while now. As a student of fluid mechanics, it is amazing how much acceleration and deceleration they accomplish. John J. Videler's Fish Swimming looks like it would have greater insights, but as a student, the book is a little pricey. ...Maybe the school's interlibrary loan would be a better idea... [span class="edited"][Edited by Bignose 2004-07-27 14:06][/span]
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:59
amilner Big Fish Posts: 429 Kudos: 654 Votes: 0 Registered: 05-Jul-2004	Their short, stocky bodies allow for alot of power. They are very fast and that adds to their appeal. The fact that they are a shoaling species points to the fact that they need to be fast to remain safety in numbers.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:59
Bignose Hobbyist Posts: 110 Kudos: 81 Registered: 28-Jun-2004	So, thanks to the miracle of interlibrary loan, I got a copy of Videler's book. While, it does not specifically talk about tiger barbs, it does break the fishes into groups, and I would guess that TB's probably belong in the same group as Rutilus rutilus a small minnow/Cyprinidae. As stated in the text, the maxium speed is poorly defined simply b/c how do you make the fish go its fastest? (It is not like asking Carl Lewis to run the 100m.) What is used, is the optimum velocity -- defined as getting the maxiumum speed at a minimal metabolic consuption. Specifically, it is defined where the amount of work per meter reaches a minimum. Anways, the correlation for the TB group is optimum velocity = 0.47*(M^0.17) where M=fish mass in kg, and the velocity is in fish lengths per second (L/s). Since it is not easy to get a measure of the mass of our fish, the average of the group is optimum velocity = 2.3 L/S, but that has a standard deviation of 1.3 L/s. So, there is a lot of variation if you don't know the mass. All in all, it has been an interesting read -- lots of information about fin structure and muscle use and types of swimming. That is, does the fish swim by lateral undulations or with their pectoral fins, etc.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:59


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