How to deal with Bleedin heart tetra aggression

AngeloG

AngeloG

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Jan 30, 2009
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I recently bought a BH tetra. He behaved and kept to himself.Thought he would be lonely so I bought 3 more a few days later. Now the pack of 4 patrol the tank and nip at my female guppies.One of them punks out my large Angelfish. They also turn on each other. WTH!!!!! Im thinking about neeting them and returning them. Are they supposed act this way?
 
Hmm, I've never heard of bleeding hearts being aggressive like that. Maybe it's because you need more in the school? I'd get at least 2 more to see if tht's the problem.
 
how long has the new fish been added? might be establishing hierarchy.

some sp. of my tetras do that when new tetras are added- they go nuts and r more braver than usual then they usually calm down once they figure out where they stand.

the worst one was blue tetras- I had to remove them from the tanks and sell them off after weeks of going after my dwarf cichlids.


another reason could be that theres males in the group competing or a pair just formed....
 
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The last 3 were added thursday. I dont have any other fish that would put them in their place. One of my female guppies has bite marks on her fins.
 
I think the bleeding hart and Tetra Minor are almost indistinguishable and I have 5 Tetra Minors and I can tell you that they are aggressive and very much fin nippers on any fish, each other and even larger aggressive fish like my T. Barbs they used to harass. I now have them in my A. Cichlid tank (244 gallon) and they are doing great and have never seen them more at home and they are completely accepted by the community of mixed Cichlids that spend all day nipping and dodging one another.

As far as dealing with them, if they are at all like Tetra Minors, I would never ever put them with long finned slow moving fish like guppies or even large angels. I tried them in my angels tank with large 5" angels and Silver Dollars and had to remove them becasue the Tetra Minors were attacking my big Vail Angels fins.
 
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Tetra Minor==is that a Serpae Tetra?? Do not think they look alike.

But back to your problem. Like Sawyer said==Think Bleeding hearts have to be in bigger schools. I have 16 in my 120gal and they are the most shyest in my tank. They are always chasing each other and do not even look at other fishes.
 
Ill be honest never saw a bleeding hart in person even though the T. Minor tank at my LFS sure has some T.minors with red dots on their chest.
The photos of them both here below from F&S sure look similar but perhaps in person they look completely different.
Bleeding Hart Tetra
p-89963-Bleeding-Heart.jpg

Red Minor Serpae Tetra
p-26117-tetra.jpg
 
Caught the lil trouble maker. The other 3 seem lost without him so they chase each other then school then chase each other..HA HA.
 
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