Dominant Tetra

[icepop]

I recently started my first aquarium. It's a very small 5.5 gallon tank which has been running for a couple weeks now. On the weekend I bought my first fish: two head & tail light tetra and one black neon tetra (suggested by the girl at the pet store).

I am very new to the hobby and don't know very much about fish behaviour. It seems to me that one of the head & tail light tetras seems to be dominant over the other two. It tends to eat the most and chases the other two into separate corners of the tank while it occupies the central portion of the tank. The other two swim around a bit but tend to spend a lot of time in opposite and sometimes the same corner of the tank.

Is this common behaviour for tetras? Does anyone have any suggestions or advice?


Update: I just noticed that the other head & light tetra has nipped fins. Apparently the other tetra has been chasing him and acting fairly agressive. I am worried. What should I do about the fins?

 

[morleyz]

Keep a close eye on the fins for signs of infection. If you see any redness or white fuzzy stuff...try out some melafix...seems to be a good all around tonic for stuff like that.

Anyway, you might want to shake things up a bit in the tank. Try rearranging the decorations if you have a bunch. Maybe add some if you have space. Keep the lights to a minimum for a week or two.

If it gets too bad, put in a divider for a while until everyone is healthy and then rearrange the decor again before removing the divider...hopefully the sub-dominant ones will be a little more adept at fending for themselves.

 

[Dr.Guppy]

I think that the best way to 'shake things up' would be to add more tetras. they do prefer to live in shoals of 6 or more, and preferably 10. the fact that you only have 3 tetras in your tank could be an underlying problem of the aggresion.

hope this helps,
Michael.

 

[OrionGirl]

If you choose to add more fish, don't get more than 1 or 2. A 5.5 gallon tank is very small, and won't stand a whole lot more bio-load, but more importantly the bigger issue of territory comes into play. The existing fish have no place to hide from the bully.

IMO, you'd be better off returning the tetras, since you can't provide them with the size school they need to be comfortable. Pick up a male betta and 3 panda or skunk cories. The fish will be happier, and display better behavior. If you really want to schooling behavior, locate some dwarf cories instead and get 4-5.

 

[icepop]

Thanks everyone for your replies. They have been very helpful.

I tried rearranging the plants and decor a bit and it seems to have improved things slightly. They are swimming around more together, it seems. It's hard to tell since I haven't had time to watch them much today.

I think I will pick up some Melafix just in case for the tetra with the nipped fins. I suppose that is a good thing to have on hand anyways, eh? Is it ok to add that with the other fish in there?

I would like to add some more tetras but I'm worried about adding more fish since the ones in there have only been there less than a week. I added Cycle to the tank to introduce bacteria in the aquarium and I think that as a result my ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels have been extremely low. I think I'll wait a while longer to see if these levels peak before I add some new fishies. I don't want to be too eager.

 

[enufluvfor3]

I think tetras do seem to be a little nippy. I am thinking of putting a couple more serpae's in my tank as I have a feeling my three precious innocent tetras are a little bullyish when I'm not around. I have 2 cory's and 2 mollies in there too in my 10 and they have been living on Melafix. You can put it in with the other fish too. I know a lot o fpeople who put it in as a preventative. I don't really like that idea too much because it doesn't mix with a lot of medications so I don't like to have anything in my tank in case I might need to medicate with something else. But in your case I think it would be a good idea.