breeding or not??/

[Fisheye]

I just added three red barbs to my community tank .Two have seemed to pair up and the other one is fine .My question the two that stay together are continually rubbing each other ,swimming in rapid circle together and normally I would accept this as for-play for breeding. However both are same coloration with no difference and I thought the female would be less colorful.

Is this a matting procedure with red barbs>

Color of both fish --red gold bottom with silvery back.

Is this the normall pre breeeding pattern for Barbs?

Thanks

Fisheye

[jesp]

I had tiger barbs for a long time and that was just how they fought and established dominance. My guess is that it would be the same for your barbs too. I can't say for sure though.

[samantha]

In my experience, I had some barbs before I had cichlids (way more fun to breed) and I found that the stuff your describing is what they used to do too, but I also found the "odd duck out" was the one they would start to pick on once they established a mating pair...