Serpae Tetras

[greatfish123]

Can I mix serpae(jewel) tetras with any of tiger barbs, platies, glolights, and mollies?
Also wat about tigers with glolights and jewel tetra. Jewels are fin nippers.

 

[poopsydrew]

Can I mix serpae(jewel) tetras with any of tiger barbs, platies, glolights, and mollies?
Also wat about tigers with glolights and jewel tetra. Jewels are fin nippers.

Serpae tetras are horrible fin nippers so are Tigers and pretty much any tetra. I know many members who have had some bad experiece with serpaes.

Drew

 

[Biulu]

As long as you have at least 6 serpaes, there is mostly not a fin nipping problem, as they direct their agression towards their own kind. I have been keeping them for about 8 months now, and have not encountered any problems.

Tiger barbs, serpaes and glowlights are active shoalers, and having sufficient space (and numbers!) also contributes to reducing possible agression. Tiger barbs are also fin nippers. Platies and glowlights are peaceful.

I would not add mollies in this set-up, as they thrive best with some salt added to the water, which is a no-no for the tetras.

 

[greatfish123]

Thanks for the replies guys. I already have my serpae tetras in. So which of these two groups of fish will do better in my 46 gallon both for the compatibility and the attractiveness:
1st Group
Serpae tetra
Tiger Barb
Glolights
Platies

2nd Group
Serpae Tetra
Zebra Danios
Glolights
Platies

Also can I mix male sword tails or male guppies in with my serpae tetras?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Musho3210]

How about:

Serpae tetra
serpae tetra
serpae tetra
serpae tetra




I like tanks with just one big school of fish rather than a lot of smaller schools. But that is JMO

 

[poopsydrew]

I agree with the above, usually 1 or 2 large school look better than a bunch of smaller schools. Just a preference though.

Drew

 

[Lateral Line]

Serpæ are notorious fin nippers. True in a group they will concentrate on each other, but even then, passing a slow fish will be a temptation. Your 2 groups minus the Platys would probably be okay. TB's and GL's are generally able to look after themselves, Platys might be miserable in there.

 

[parker313]

Serpæ are notorious fin nippers. True in a group they will concentrate on each other, but even then, passing a slow fish will be a temptation. Your 2 groups minus the Platys would probably be okay. TB's and GL's are generally able to look after themselves, Platys might be miserable in there.

That's what I was thinking as well.

 

[greatfish123]

Guys thanks for the replies. Also will a couple of rams or convict cichlids do well in that community.

 

[parker313]

In general, rams make better community fish than convicts. Convicts can become *extremely* aggressive during spawning, to the point of potentially killing everything else. You can get two female cons if you have your heart set on them, but rams IMO are a better option.

 

[greatfish123]

thanks for the info. seeing as how nippy my serpaes are, will the german blue rams able to hold against them. also since cichlids in genral are very territorial, how big of a space should i allocate for them?(ie caves; driftwood etc).

also, since this is going to be a community tank, how would i feed the rams differently from the rest of the tropical fish.

thanks for all ur replies

 

[parker313]

If your rams are hardy (getting harder and harder to find good hardy rams), then yes they will, esp if you keep the tetras in ample numbers so they mainly torment themselves (min of 6). Rams are bottom dwellers and tetreas are mid-upper dwellers so it stands a better chance of working than if you had angels or other more delicate mid-level cichlids.

Rams aren't going to be too territorial or aggressive unless they are spawning. Give them several places (the number and size can vary according to your taste) to hide and hang out and they will do well.

With the nippy tetras, I would avoid getting the long fin rams, esp since they seem to be weaker anyway.