Stocking Predicament

[alan3513]

I have in my community tank three shoals of tetras, 8 Red Phantoms, 6 Glowlights and 6 Blue Emperors (Kerri's). My problem is that after 2 1/2 months of harmony one of the male kerri's is starting to chase and harass all the other tetras from the open centre area of the tank to the point that the Phantoms and Glowlights are hiding in one corner behind a large piece of bogwood and the other kerri's (4 females and 1 male) are hanging singly in the corner tops of the tank. I have another tank ready to be stocked with different tetras and don't want to transfer it or the rest of the Kerri's over in case the problem continues with the new fish being harassed, Any ideas on what to do ?, Thanks in advance for any advice, Alan

 

[waterdrop]

This might be helped by greater amounts of plants or other cover. Often this can help interrupt this behaviour. Anyway, know it will depend on a lot of factors for you but just a thought.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[mardaver]

I'm assuming you mean Danio kerris when you refer to Blue Emperors. These are usually peaceful fish. Perhaps having a greater number would minimize the problem...similar to the problems encountered when keeping small numers of Tiger barbs.
Also, how large is your tank. I wonder if maybe having 3 tpyes of shoaling fish that swim at similar levels is causing some problems?

 

[alan3513]

Thanks for the replies guys. Waterdrop : Loads of plants on both sides and at the back of the tank. Mardaver : Depending on what web site your on. some say blue and others say purple emperor tetras but definately (inpaichthys kerri). Surely six would be an adequate amount ? Also the fish in question is not fin nipping like a tiger barb, just harassing the fish from the centre of the tank. The tank is a Fluval Roma 125 l, Thanks again, Alan

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Alan, I don't actually have anything else intelligent that pertains particularly to your species to add but since nobody else has commented further I'll just say that I've observed in my own shoals of different types of tetras that every now and then I've seen similar behaviour to what you describe and sometimes I've just had to put it down to one of those things that a particular fish will just do sometimes.

On the other hand I also think that unfortunately these numbers of 6 and 8 and whatever are in then end just numbers somebody has finally settled on as a minimum to apply the principle of not letting the numbers get too small for shoaling fish. The principle is very powerful - most of us have seen how dramatic. But really the number thing is continuous - the fish in nature often live in absolutely -huge- shoals, thousands and millions of individual fish, so these minimum numbers are somewhat an arbitrary compromise... the tetras liking it more and more the bigger the shoal gets.

~~waterdrop~~