Colourful silver tipped tetras

[thelittleone]

I'm new around here and was slightly concerned about the behaviour of my tetras. 5 are pale yellow and one is closer to orange. The orange one also has a definite black stripe in his tail, the others more dull.

The orange one was being really agressive and chasing all the others which I posted on in general chit chat and was told they're just like that. It was so distressing to see though that I took him out for a bit. Immediately the others formed a nice shoal and then they all started having a go at each other. Seeing as this behaviour wasn't any better I put him back in and in the 5 minutes he was out he had turned from orange with a dark black stripe to pale pink and no stripe, 5 mins after that he was back to normal.

Are they all mating? Showing off their colours. I think the colourful one is the only male. His colour change was very dramatic. I'm going to leave them as they are now but he's being very anti-social that the others all hide away.

 

[black angel]

is this them?
http/www.aquahobby.com/silvertip.html

the male will be quite aggressive and drive and bump the females to release eggs and this happens nearly all the time. dont worry about them bullying each other as its quite normal behaviour, but if you are unhappy then buying a couple more may spread the agression out a bit more.

 

[Lateral Line]

Most tetras, when introduced to a new tank will jostle about to establish their rank in the new setup. That is quite normal and rarely causes any damage. As long as you are not seeing frayed fins or individuals hiding on their own, I'd run with it.

I always found Silver Tips to be quite able to look after themselves. I used to have a group 7-8 in a 4 foot tank with some barbs that were 3 times their size which the little tetras used to chase about if the mood took them. I'd call them mildly aggressive. Most often, however, their tendencies were towards each other - so as long as the group is big enough - it gets watered down.

Shoaling is a sign of insecurity. When you took a fish out, (sounds like a male), the others worried for a while and shoaled up for protection, as soon as they figured the danger was clear, they started doing their own thing again.

 

[thelittleone]

It sounds like they're being normal then. But today the chasing has stopped mostly, the orange one swims alone in the centre of the tank and the others are all hiding. Is this bad? They sometimes pop out for a second but the orange one chases them back into hiding.

 

[thelittleone]

Good news. After a few more days they are all really chilled with each other. They swim very happily and feed well. I'm going to get a pleco next week coz I'll have had the tetras for 3 weeks...

 

[Big Slick]

I too have this problem. I have a group of 10, which after just 4 days is now down to 3 of them patrolling the tank split into thirds (the middle of which is under constant harrassment by the 2 either side of it). The rest are spread all over the remainder of the tank, under ledges, caves and plants, only venturing out at feeding time.
After reading the above comments, i take it that the general concensus is that this is somewhat normal and will sort itself out in a few weeks. I'm feeling really sorry for the poor little buggers in hiding, so my question is, what would be the plan if this turns out not to be the case? Any advanced heads-up anyone?
Thanks in advance.