Are Albinos more delicate?

[Litespeed]

We have been trying to get our albino count up to three, along with the green barbs. We have lost two albinos and 1 green barb before we can introduce them into the main tank or just after we put them in the main tank. I check ammonia, nitrite and nitrate a couple times a week and everything is fine. It just seems like the green and albino aren't as hardy as the tiger. We got another albino and green in our Q tank and hope they last the two weeks so we can put them in the main tank. Right now in the main tank we have three tiger barbs, two green and two albino's.
Does anyone else have trouble keeping albino and green barbs?

[William]

I am not sure about your particualr species but albinos are often but not always more sensetive.

[batmura]

Does anyone else have trouble keeping albino and green barbs?
Whenever I hate tiger, green, and albino barbs in my tank, the tigers outlived the other two species. My guess is that they are the hardiest of the three.

[VIP]

When i started i had 4 green barbs... and last night, after 7 months, i ve lost the last one. I have many kinds of barbs but it seems to me that i am not lucky with the green ones...

never had Albino though... just find it too weird to see thru them...aaabut i knw that is just me:ssmile:
peace

[DrNic]

In general albino fish are going to be more light sensitive than their wild-type relatives. You have to remember that for the most part albino fish lack some/most of their coloring which is used as protection from light (particularly UV). Since most aquarium bulbs try to mimic sunlight they do create some UV which can in some cases be harmful for albino fish, which in turn can in some cases result in infections from skin damage.

I've had some albino barbs for a little while now with no ill effects from a normal 20W bulb. I have however had problems with albino angelfish under a strong mini-halogen bulb when I was breeding. Apparently the bulb was putting off too much UV and the fish ended up with a few sores before I realized what was happening. Luckily I was able to quickly change the bulbs and she healed up without much of a problem.