agressive fish in community tank

K

kara2

rl
Aug 30, 2004
28
0
0
In my 29 gallon tank, I have two black skirt tetras, one Australian Rainbow fish, and two lemon tetras.

The rainbow fish is only behaving naturally, but it is very agressive towards the other fish in the tank. In fact, no fish can be visible or above the plant line or it chases them back down below.

I'd like to get more fish, but would like to go community. Otherwise, I'd have to get rid of the other 4 fish I have, right?

What can I do to "temper" the rainbow fish? And/or, what are the options to have him leave the tank? I've heard of orphan tanks before, but feel bad abandoning him.

Thoughts?
 
I recently have had a similar problem with one of my rainbows... in particular it chases the only other rainbow that I have (which is a bit smaller and a different species) and it chases my serpae tetras. I've considered both buying more rainbows (my plan from the start) or getting rid of the aggressive one. Unfortunately the rainbow that's been chased came down with Ich so now I'm treating the entire tank before I deal with the aggressive one.
 
Two options:
1 - If you want to go comunity, the easiest way is to bring back the rainbow and fill out the two schools of tetras. You'd have a really nice looking tank with the plants and a school of 8 black skirts and one of 8 lemons. Fill out the bottom with some cories or some other bottom feeders and you'll have a really nice, active tank with plenty of personality.

2 - You can also take the rainbow out and keep it in a seperate tank for a few weeks. Introduce it back to the 29g along with another rainbow or 2 after you redo the aquascape. This way it will be coming into a new area where the territory belongs to the tetras. I actually did just the opposite when adding the school of rummynoses to the 33g. If you add a beta to a tank of rummies, no more betta; the other way around, no problem, the tetras come in submissive.
 
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