Agressive Characins? Bleeding Heart; Columbian Tetra

[Bonnie]

I inherited three fish from my daughter, when she decided to take down her 30 gallon tank--a pleco, a bleeding heart tetra, and a Columbian Tetra. It took me an hour of surfing on the web to figure out what the latter one was, as my daughter didn't remember.

The bleeding heart's fins all look as if they have been chewed up. I don't think it is disease, as the Columbian is fine, and the fins haven't gotten any worse and I don't see a "line" at the fin edge. I can't tell if it is male or female, with the chewed fins. It eats quite well, however.

My problem is, I have lost all six of my neons, since I got them, including some I have had for over a year and a half. I have found three out of the six neon bodies, just floating in the tank, not a mark on them. Two have just disappeared, so I presume they died and got eaten.

Now, I want to know if the new tetras have been bullying the neons, to the point that they bang their heads on the glass and die, or expire from shock, or what. I haven't witnessed either new fish chasing the neons, but I can't watch at all times, of course.

I know such fish should be kept in at least groups of three, but am reluctant to add fish that might attack any more neons that I have. Plus, there is only one pet shop--Petsmart--that is anywhere near us where we live, in a semi-rural area south of Atlanta, Ga. And it doesn't have any Columbian tetras, though it has had bleeding hearts in the past, but not recently.

Now, due to the bleeding heart's ragged fins, I suspected that the Columbian was being the bully, but it has been a very nervous fish since I got it, constantly hiding behind the folliage in my tank (it is well-planted with a variety of plants, short, tall, and in-between). It was almost a week before it finally came out and snatched food from the surface of the water before dashing back behind the plants. The bleeding heart was nervous for a couple of days, but then became very confident.

The water is fine--zero for ammonia and nitrite, and 10 parts per million for the nitrate, which is well-within normal limits. The pH was low--6.2--but I have been adding some Correct pH to the tank, and it is now up to 6.4. I would like it to be around 6.8-7. However, the neons started disappearing long before I started adding that stuff to the tank. It was all I could find to adjust the pH. Also, the neons were doing just fine--I had six for a long time and they seemed healthy and happy. I give the fish two different kinds of flake food, to enhance color, and once or twice a week, give them thawed bloodworms.

Recently, while sitting nearby, I noticed the bleeding heart chasing and nipping at the Columbian tetra. Not consistently, but occassionaly. The Columbian is still a nervous fish--he is okay if I stand nearby and just look at the tank, but if I put my hand in, to scatter food, he swims away frantically and hides behind some plants, usually near the bottom in the back. As I wrote, it is hard for me to get some food in him, though he looks healthy and his colors are bright and shiny.

So, whom do you guys think is the culprit doing away with my neons? The Columbian, supplementing his diet with the neons, when I am not looking, or the bleeding heart?

I would humanely dispose of both of them, but my young grandsons would want to know that their fish were doing well in our tank. I am tempted to get rid of the bleeding heart, in case it does have a fin disease, and because I have seen it agressive. I would love to get some more Columbian tetras, but have not seen them. My daughter got hers from a Petsmart, but where she lives and that was over a year ago.

Thanks for any help anyone can give me.

 

[drobbyb]

Tetras can be funny. When they are kept in a group of at least 6 they tend to exhibit schooling behavior and that little bit of aggression that they naturally have is spread around to the other members of the group. It's entirely possible that since you didn't have 6 of the same species for the two loners, one is picking on the other. But I am not sure about the neon losses. If they were to be bullied to death, their bodies would show it.

 

[Bonnie]

Tetras can be funny. When they are kept in a group of at least 6 they tend to exhibit schooling behavior and that little bit of aggression that they naturally have is spread around to the other members of the group. It's entirely possible that since you didn't have 6 of the same species for the two loners, one is picking on the other. But I am not sure about the neon losses. If they were to be bullied to death, their bodies would show it.

Thanks. Two of the neons I found chewed up, but I don't know if that happened post-mortem or not. I've been trying to observe the fish from a distance, and so far, haven't seen too much agression, except the bleeding heart occassionaly chasing the Columbian, but not nipping, so far as I can tell. But I still say it is suspicious that all my neons suddenly died, right after I got these two tetras. Not all at once, but fairly close together, over two weeks. I would rather have neons than bleeding hearts or that Columbian tetra, but hate to kill them humanely, and have to explain to my two young grandsons why the fish aren't there anymore...

 

[Bonnie]

Tetras can be funny. When they are kept in a group of at least 6 they tend to exhibit schooling behavior and that little bit of aggression that they naturally have is spread around to the other members of the group. It's entirely possible that since you didn't have 6 of the same species for the two loners, one is picking on the other. But I am not sure about the neon losses. If they were to be bullied to death, their bodies would show it.

Well, drobby, I found out why the bleeding heart has such ragged fins...when I looked at the tank this morning, I saw that it had ich! I've had the fish over 2 weeks, with no sign of the disease except the ragged fins, hence, I thought it was a victim of fin nipping by the Columbian, but now I know it was ich. Why did it take so long to show up??? I quickly put in some Copper Safe, but it is 14 years old, and I don't know how good it still is, though, being inorganic, I should think it wouldn't deteriorate. And I turned the temp up from 78 to 83, and I may turn it up gradually, to 85. I have only had ich twice in 21 years of keeping fish tanks. I hope the coppersafe works. I picked up something else at Petsmart, that isn't coppersafe, which they didn't have, but it can't be combined with the coppersafe. I took the filter out, too, although it had been in the tank for a week. The coppersafe said that if it is under 5 days old, to take it out, but I'm not taking any chances.

I wonder if the ich could be the reason the neons died, though I didn't see any sign of the disease on them--no spots or ragged fins. They just up and died. Could they have had the disease without the spots???