Why are glofish tetras fighting

[Freshfishlove]

I have 4 glofish tetras in a 29 gallon and they each have a area of the tank and are CONSTANTLY chasing each other. Their fins aren’t getting damaged so I guess they aren’t nipping hard, but I thought these were supposed to be schooling fish??

 

[itiwhetu]

They may be trying to spawn.

 

[Freshfishlove]

They may be trying to spawn.

They never get close enough to spawn. They ONLY and ALWAYS chase each other off

 

[Freshfishlove]

The pink chases away all of them, the orange chases the blue and the green one hides in his\her tiny space

 

[itiwhetu]

Almost all Tetra behavior has something to do with mating, I don't know what is going on if it is not that.

 

[Sgooosh]

Almost all Tetra behavior has something to do with mating, I don't know what is going on if it is not that.

maybe they're just stressed or are just bad at mating

 

[otterblue]

maybe they're just stressed or are just bad at mating

Join the club.

 

[itiwhetu]

maybe they're just stressed or are just bad at mating

They may just have glo fish attitude

 

[Circus]

I had a lot more aggression before I got numbers up to the 9ish area. When I had just 3, they were constantly picking on eachother. When you have more of them they will get distracted more easily and chase less.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Since no-one's dared to talk about the Elephant in the Room...

The original species from which those mutants were derived need to be in larger shoals, in order to be content.
This need is imprinted within their genes.
Tetras in groups of less than needed WILL show aggression to each other and other fish.

So, with those genes in mind...each one of those tetra doesn't recognise its tankmates as other tetra.
This might have something to do with the different colours.

 

[Byron]

The last two posts here, #9 and #10, hold the answer to your question. Like all characins and cyprinids, this fish is a shoaling species and it must have a decent -sized group. Some species seem to manage with fewer than 10, but a scientifically-controlled study proved beyond any shadow of doubt that all shoaling species in these two families are going to be in better health if there are 10 or more in the group.

That study showed that increased aggression occurred when numbers were three and five, but not with ten. There were some other interesting observations involved with group size, and one of these was that the fish in the larger group (10) more readily fed well, whereas those in the too small groups did not. There is certainly no doubt that numbers matter to fish health when it comes to shoaling species.

On a different note, and picking up from Bruce...we as responsible aquarists should never purchase these modified fish. There is only one way to stop this practice, and that is if no one buys the fish. The UK and EU have prohibited the importation of modified fish including Glo-fish. North America is way behind in not taking action. Please be responsible, and do not encourage these monstrosities. At a time when natural ecosystems are being destroyed and species going extinct, we should be working to protect.

I am going to start mentioning something else more often, because this is a very serious issue for the hobby. Animal-rights activists are gaining strength in their attempt to prohibit the keeping of fish, along with amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. This sort of flagrant nonsense (modified fish) only fuels their fire. I agree with and support any effort to end the global trade in rare animals, but this can come back to bite us.