Evil Tetras

[DrOizo]

I've got a Tetra Hierachy in my tank and this has become very apparent recently. Often they go into frenzy 'dances' with eachother and nearly every single one has large portions of their fins missing due to nipping. I melafix often and they all seem ok. One was looking bad though and I can usually tell when one is going to die and yesterday I found him mutilated at the filter inlet. The other Tetras had opened up his belly and chewed all his fins off. Obviously fights happen in the wild and I'm not very concerned but I was wondering whether this is normal Tetra behaviour. Cheers Guys

 

[trout_pout]

No clue, but funny topic nevertheless
mwahahah! I have talked to a man in a pet shop and he said all kind of tetra's aren't really competitive or are aggressive 8)
that is ALL I know

 

[millym]

hi
sorry about your fish
we have 10 neons,6 cardinals & quite often the males flick back & forth at eachother at amazing speed having little fights we've also noticed like you some of their tails do end up a little raggedy looking we know theyre not being nipped by any other species in our tank (we're always watching to make sure everyones ok) & we also use melafix on a reg basis which seems to help. i think its just normal behaviour but thankfully none of ours seem to inflict serious damage on eachother. have you ever looked closely at tetras mouths - very mean looking little things & im sure they have mean teeth in there too our red eye tetras ( down to 2 survivors our of 6 bought about a year ago) also chase eachother in the same way... quite amusing as one of our red eyes is about 2 inches long & the other is a teeny one not even an inch but he gives as good as he gets, their tails always seem to look fine though so they must just be chasing not nipping.
good luck
ps: is that cat in your signature yours??? he /she does not look amused with his/her latest haircut

 

[DrOizo]

No the cat is not mine, but I might just shave one of mycats so that I can say that it is Tetras look like minature pirahnas and act like them too. It is obviously just How tetras are. Angry little things.

 

[jams.alaskan]

Your cat will never forgive you... AND you can double the never if you happen to get caught laughing at him.

ALASKA

 

[BigSteve]

Normally neons and glowlights are very mild-mannered tetras, or do you have
some other tetras that aren't listed in your sig??
There are some mean and nippy tetras, but generally not any of the slim-
bodied ones.

 

[Stryker]

With tetras I think numbers help. For a while I had just 2 prestilla in a hospital tank. The hospital tank worked a treat, the two tetras forgot all about their ich as they spent their stay chasing and fighting.

Now they are back in the larger community tank with their pals and all is well again.....

 

[DrOizo]

They are the Tetras in my Sig as I said I think they have a hierachy when it comes to the females and the Alpha male doesn't like it when the little epsilons come on to his girls

 

[Alia]

I never had any trouble with tetras until I brought home 6 red minors -- very pretty fish, btw. Turns out they are real nippers. They don't seem to bother the black skirt tetras (who chase each other but like playing, not nipping), or the cherry barbs, and the female betta has managed to steer clear of them, but the dwarf gourami had to be rehomed. Their fins were in tatters within a week.

The little devils also terrorize my cory cats, and none of my fish have ever bothered them before -- not even my krib when he was in there. Now they cower in fear all day long, poor things. I think the red minors are going to have to go in my hex tank when I get it set up, with maybe some quick little khuli loaches for company. Not much fin on a khuli, and they are very fast.

As for tetras being like piranhas, I believe it is the same fish family. I have always called my black skirts my little piranhas because of the way they eat. I love watching them dart up for the food and snatch it, darting back down to mid-level. They are so fun.

 

[yellowsky]

me too , i was pretty sure that tetras and barbs and pirahnas are part of the same fish tree thingy,
which explains their aggressive feeding frenzies..