red serpae tetras chasing e/o... what to do?

H

honghong322

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Sep 2, 2007
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I just finished stocking my 29g...

I have 6 peppered cories
1 koi angel
and I just added 9 red serpae tetras...

they're chasing each other around trying to nip at each others fins.. is this normal? They haven't bothered the angel and once in a while they would try to nip at one of the cories... blah i would hate to return them...

what should I do?
 
From my own experience with red serpaes, they are some of the more aggressive tetras for their size. They chase each other around sometimes, and nip at each others fins, but I've never seen any serious damage sustained from their aggression. They limit their aggression to their own kind, leaving bigger fish alone, for the most part.

After a time, the aggression should level off. I think they are trying to establish a pecking order, which is why they are so aggressive. I would wait a few days and see if the fighting dies down, and let us know how things go.
 
I will most definately do that. They just got introduced this afternoon and were freely swimming around until I saw that one of them tried to nip at my angel. I spooked it and currently they're in a school staying away from my angel for now. I will keep you guys updated
 
are these the same thing as monk tetras?
 
gregm said:
are these the same thing as monk tetras?
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I've never heard of this name before. But I always despise the use of common names very often mainly because there is always a lot of confusion among fish species with similar names.;) If you are talking about Moenkhausia pittieri, no, it isn't.

Monk=refers to Moenkhausia but a lot of tetras have the name, Moenkhausia as part of their identification hence common names are useless.:shakehead:
 
I have six serpaes in a 55 with an angel fish. Yes, they do go after each other a bit...but no real harm, just establishing the pecking order. They never bother the angel. I'd keep watching them, but they should be fine in time.
 
honghong322 said:
i got rid of them.. they were harassing the crap out of my angel...
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Not surprising, they're some of the best-known fin nippers. Again, I pose my question; Why are the nippiest tetras (serpaes/skirts) the ones bred for long tails?

Btw, they were establishing the pecking order when you got them, new territory, new leaders. My white clouds, neons, bettas, and honey gouramis all went after each other a bit when I set my 75g up.
 
That's normal for Serpaes, and I bet it will sort itself out soon. I might be a little concerned that they'd see the angel's fins as something to nibble on, but they may be too busy chasing each other..
 
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