Tetra Behaviour

abcdefghi

abcdefghi

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Jun 6, 2007
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I currently have 3 glowlight tetras in my 10G (planning to add another 5 or 6) and nothing else in the tank. 2 of them are small, and one is considerably larger........... at times I notice that either the large one, or one of the smaller ones is chasing the other small one around the tank (I can't tell if its the same small one chasing the other small one)......... they never appear to be worried, but I just wondered if this is normal behaviour for them, or what could be causing them to do this.

They appear comfortable enough, will usually be swimming around all areas of the tank.......... they are not yet eating a whole lot, but I think this is because by the time they notice I have put some flakes in the tank, most of the flakes are falling to the bottom and they are not interested once they hit the bottom of the tank.

Just wondered if there was any reason for them chasing each other. Tank temp is around 80F, 6.0pH and soft water, plenty of fake plants, a couple of caves and ammonia/nitrite are at 0.

Thanks.
 
I wouldn't worry, my danios chase each other all over the place. Now the lack of eating has me a little concerned. My danios ate (greedy little things too) about 2 hours after letting them in my tank I fed them a few flakes. Ate every bit too. Come end of the day they ate quite a bit again. But these are danios, not tetras.
 
One thing to add is they have not yet been in the tank a week....... only been in there since Saturday, so this might have something to do with them eating. But when they do see the food they eat it, just they are not noticing it at the top, and try to grab some when it falls but miss most of it.
 
I have 4 glowlights & 4 black neons in a 10G, and they chase each other all the time. I think it's territorial: "Hey, this is MY 27 cubic inches and it always has been, I swear! Get outta here!" When chases occur, at most it's head butting if they touch at all, and lasts only about 4-5 inches. I have plenty of plants the chased fish can weave in & out of as well. The BNs are all the same size, about 1". One is new (moved from another tank) and I think is a bit smarter (he likes me, I don't scare him), but two GLs are 1" and two are younger & about 3/4", so not only is there territoriality but an age dominance kind of thing going on.

In another tank I have only 5 head & tail light tetras: two large/adult 1 inch ones, and 3 identical teenagers of about 1/2" (I call them pixies). One adult chases the other adult, and both adults chase the teens. I've seen one teen chases the other teens. Again, I think this is all a pecking-order thing, without actual pecking :) Before I got the teens last Saturday, I made sure I had plenty of plants for them to hide among, but all the fish take advantage of a time out now and then.

As for food at the bottom: earlier this week I broke up a tab of food that is meant for bottom feeders as in the 10G I have three small cories (see to your left here). The cories tend to ignore the food, but I keep trying. One of the larger glowlights happened to see the food fall, though, and became greatly interested in several pieces. I witnessed her dig into one, darting at it to take mouth fulls, and even pick it up and move it around 1" or so (about her own body length). The piece, slowly crumbing into dust, was about half the size of a regular pea at the beginning, yet she was determined to eat as much of it as she could. I was quite surprised by this behavior, and since then I've seen her poke around in the small gravel obviously looking for more treats. I bet the other GLs begin to mimic this behavior. You'll be surprised by your tetras :)
 
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My glowlights LOVE the cory tab food... in fact, they will swim down and pick it up and take it away! I only have two cories, so I break up the tabs into more reasonable sizes before dropping a piece in, but still it's a fair bit larger than the glowlight and rather amusing to see them swimming along with it in their mouths. They never manage to eat the whole thing before the cories get to it, so I think everyone goes away happy.

They do chase each around a bit, which is normal. I only have two glowlights, who happily school with my black neons (though the black neons could care less about tab food), and they all briefly chase each other around from time to time (a little bit of "whose your fishy daddy??", I think!).
 
My glowlights and black neons do the same thing. Usually it's the larger female black neon chasing everyone else away from her favorite spot to hang out (in the current), or away from the algae wafer I drop in for the cories. She's afraid of the cories, though, and lets them in to eat!

My tetras also lose interest in the flake food after it hits the bottom, unless it's stirred up by the current and starts floating again. You might try frozen or dried bloodworms, to see if you can get them to eat. They love those.
 
I agree about female Black Neons being territorial. I had one that would do that, claiming a good portion of a 6-gallon tank (oddly, right under the filter output!). She was way overweight (or egged or something) which didn't seem to bother her until the last month, when she started to look at times like she had dropsy or a spot of ich (but most of the time she didn't). No other fish had any similar problems. When she started to bury herself in some plants last Monday and act very disoriented, I realized that I had to stop thinking "When she dies..." and get serious about making a sad executive decision. Late last winter I had an H&T who had the same problem -- overweight, dropsy-like symptoms, disorientation... but she died on her own :( None of the other fish showed dangerous symptoms then, either, until this BN began to deteriorate, so I think it was age related rather than diseases. The single BN male I had in the same tank (not enough to make the female release eggs maybe?) went to live with other BNs and everyone is happy (especially me). I now have the new H&Ts.

So "abcdefghi" you'll soon be able to report interesting/funny behavior in your tetras.
 
DebbyS said:
So "abcdefghi" you'll soon be able to report interesting/funny behavior in your tetras.
Click to expand...

I am looking forward to it, the largest of the 3 I currently have has decided a cave is his new home and spends a lot of time sitting and observing from there.

Today I am going to pick up another 3 Glowlights, although am considering Black Neons but not sure if they will school that well with the glowlights (although the 3 I have now rarely school, which I think is a sign they are comfortable).
 
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