Aggressive Neon Tetra's?

[Sambo]

Hi guys, my neon tetras are acting a bit aggressvie, some of them keep fin nipping each other and chasing one another?

why are they doing this, shouldn't they be non aggressive?


Any input appreciated.

Thanks

Sam

 

[WILDER]

Need a bigger group.
How many gallons or litres is the tank.

 

[Lateral Line]

Depends. If they have recently been introduced to the tank, then an amount of squabbling is inevitable as they sort out their heirarchical positions in the new accomodation. If the "aggression" you are seeing is just occurring amongst the Neons, then this is quite possible.

Another issue is that certain reproductive activity can be mistaken for aggression. If it is males, (brighter, slimmer fish), chasing females...

As with most small tetras, they should be kept in groups, ideally 6 or more fish. Keeping small numbers leads to stress which tends to promote atypical behaviour, which may include aggression. Generally, if this is the case, you will see aggression directed outside of the Neon group as well - although that depends on what else you have in the tank.

 

[Griz]

I saw this sort of behaviour regularly with a group of 16 neons I had, even after they had been in the tank for several months. I decided that it was likely breeding behaviour. No harm was ever done.