Why cant I keep my black skirt tetras from fighting?

[JasonR]

Within the past 2 months I've bought 5 of these guys.

At first I had one in the tank for at least as year by himself. I decided to give him some buddies and bought 2 more. One of them died mysteriously but the other 2 were constantly chasing each other. Being a schooling fish, I went and bought 3 more for a total of 5. This morning I had another death floating at the top of my tank half eaten by my other fish.

I'm now down to 4 of the little guys and they are constantly chasing each other around the tank.

Ive tried re-arranging the tank decorations and plants for them to re-establish territories but nothing seems to help. They just chase each other and cant get along peacefully.

Am I just doomed to never keep black skirts? Do I need more to keep the aggression down?

Tank specs:

25 gallon tall
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
10 nitrate

Tank Mates:

1 Angel fish
1 Blue Gourami
1 Senegal Bicher
1 Clown pleco

 

[lucy42083]

Isn't chasing each other around all day what schooling fish are supposed to do? Re-arranging the decor won't do anything - tetras are not territorial fish, they aren't fighting over territory.

I'd advise getting more of them, 5 is like an absolute minimum, the more the better for schooling fish - the chasing gets spread out more.

 

[Sploke]

Agreed, I usually recommend minimum 6-8 for schooling fish, preferably many more if the tank will support it.

 

[JasonR]

Isn't chasing each other around all day what schooling fish are supposed to do? Re-arranging the decor won't do anything - tetras are not territorial fish, they aren't fighting over territory.

I'd advise getting more of them, 5 is like an absolute minimum, the more the better for schooling fish - the chasing gets spread out more.

They are chasing each other around to the point of ripped and torn fins. If they were just chasing and not causing any damage I wouldn't care. Guess ill pick up some more and see if that stops it.

 

[Marinemom]

I agree that buying more of them is probably your best bet. When you add the new ones do a small water change and re-arrange the decor again. This will completely discombogulate them and they won't know where they are let alone who is with them. They may think they are in a new tank altogather. You need at least six to be a proper school and eight or nine would be even better if space permits.

Marinemom

 

[JasonR]

Would 7 overcrowd my tank? It's a 25 tall and it doesn't seem like theres all that much swimming room horizontally.

Heres a picture of the tank, Ive since added some more fake plants and gotten rid of the mondo grass thats not really an aquatic plant, thanks petsmart!

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t159/jasondeb/DSC_3812.jpg

 

[Marinemom]

You need to get more black skirts in there to stop the aggression. I would try it. Just keep an eye on the water conditions and do plenty of water changes.

Nice tank by the way.

marinemom

 

[BigFishKeeper]

When you get more black skirts take the current ones out and put them in a bucket then add the new ones in the bucket. then add them to the tank.

 

[JasonR]

When you get more black skirts take the current ones out and put them in a bucket then add the new ones in the bucket. then add them to the tank.

Sounds good, Ill try and get over there tomorrow and pick some up, ill post back here how it went.

 

[IceH2O]

The Birchir will end up eating the skirts not to far into the future. I hope you plan on getting him a bigger tank.

I had 2 skirts that were left over from a school I had years ago,they have to be going on 5 yrs old by now. I just add 6 more bring the total to 8. They are much more active now and I haven't noticed any aggression among them at all.

Is that an Angel in there also? I'm surprised they aren't tearing him up any.