New(Ish) Tank!

[tomtomtom1230]

Started up a new 120 litre tank!
 
I say new, I use the term loosely. I've rehashed my old Interpet. Renewed the nutrients in my EcoComplete gravel, new plants, new filter (kept old filter media and one of the four sponges). I have a female bristlenose in there right now and I've also got 12 Serpae tetras. They're really awesome and although somewhat nippy, they're still very full of life. I could probably put more Serpaes in I imagine but I don't want it to look too over crowded. I may have to at some point though. The Tetras are tearing each others' fins apart.

 

[thereverendturtle]

In a tank that size, if you only want serpae tetras, you could safely increase the number of them to 15-20 of them. They wouldn't be crowded and would look awesome.

 

[Gilli]

Im afriad you wont stop the nipping as Serpaes are notorious for it. All you can do if its bad is increase the numbers and that means the nipping is spread around more! Awesome as they look I wouldnt stock them again for that reason.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Yeah, I knew they were nippy but I didn't realise just how aggressive they actually were. I've never seen a bunch of fish beat the living day lights out of each other like this before; it even trumps Malawis I reckon! It's a shame that one of them has taken the brunt of the aggression. Could it be that I've got more males than females? I'm a bit sketchy about sexing tetras of any sub species at the best of times. As far as I'm aware, the only way to tell, unobtrusively, is from body size? 

 
You both make a good point. Tomorrow will be their third day in the tank. I guess they're re-establishing a pecking order. 

 
I dropped half an algae tablet in the tank for my BN plec this morning, only to find it being swarmed by tetras. She turned around and took a 'swim-up' and charged at them all 

  They haven't bothered her since. 

 

[Gilli]

I love plecs - they take no nonsence from anyone! My male BN is the king of my tank. I have a grumpy male krib who when spawning will take on anyone except the plec. He darts forwards as if hes going to give him a go but then backs off! If the plec gets too fed up with him he chases him off!! Also have a red tailed shark who will chase anyone at feeding time but the good old BN (whose name by the way is Desparate Dan because of his whiskers) shows him whose boss too!!

 
For sexing Serpae Tetra look at the photo below - on male the tip of the anal fin is black. On females, the fins are less colored. But pectorals (swimming fins) are darker
 

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Thanks Gill, that's really helpful. I'll have a look soon to see what the general population is like... 
 
If you excuse the state of the water today (I've been fishing and attaching more Anubias to rocks and wood etc which has made the water a little misty and there's some detritus), here's some pics of the tetras and the tank that they're in...
 
This is by far not my favourite setup ever but I did what I could by taking cuttings (etc) from the vallis and anubias my other tank. I'm not too brilliant at snapping pics of the fish either, so excuse poor image quality! Click on them to enlarge the pics