Yellow Tail Congo Tetra's? Anyone Had Them Before?

[TooManyChoices]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]I recently purchased (about 4-5 days ago) 6 yellow tail congo tetra's (3m, 3f) for my African river theme tank and have found them to be intensely shy. So much so that they'll barely feed if I'm sitting in front of the tank. They'll happily feed if I'm about 3 metres away. If they do feed while I'm close I have to be completely still, if I move even my head they dart for cover![/background]
[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]This is their tank as it is now:[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Their behaviour is also quite interesting, whilst they do school together, the females and males seem to form 2 different groups. The females are much more happy to come forward during feeding time, but other wise are far more shy whilst I'm watching. The males are a bit braver whilst I'm watching but are more shy when it comes to feeding time![/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Sitting well back from the tank and watching them they seem very happy, chasing each other about, and swimming all about the tank. [/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]The main thing with them is that they're amazingly perceptive of movements outside the tank. Any little movements startle them![/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)]Does anyone have any experience with these fish being extremely shy? They're definitely not what I was expecting from a tetra in terms of behaviour. Hopefully within a few weeks they'll start to actually come to the surface in expectation of food, after all that's one of the best parts of fish keeping [/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)].[/background]

[background=rgb(250, 250, 250)](the only tank mate is a solo african butterfly fish)[/background]

 

[TooManyChoices]

Bump........,,

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Just seen this for first time after the bump, I use to have some Alestopetersius caudalis and still have Pantodon buchholzi...
 
Your tank is far too bright for Yellow Tail Congo Tetras and African Butterfly Fish to feel confident in. You either need to use much lower wattage bulbs, or buy a mass of floating plants that will massively subdue the lighting (as in cover ~75% of the water surface, leaving some free space for growth and reproduction of the plants. My group of 12 were always out and about, in my Rio240 I had a huge clump of Cabomba that was ~75cm long and draped along a lot of the water surface, while in the garage 5x2x2 the only lighting was through the window that was partially covered by blankets.
 
Get a dark back or simply drape a black towel/sheet across the length of the back of the tank, again this will make fish feel more secure and less exposed.
 
Are you able to go back to the store and get more of the tetras, especially more females? Back when I bought mine I was still very much a newcomer to the hobby and I was convinced by the staff that only males had the central caudal fin entension, as seen on Phenacogrammus interruptus, so I thought I had a mixed sex group. It turned out that there was a single female in the first group of six I bought and she died on the first night. I bought another 7 the following week and all was well for ~4 months, then the trouble started as these males matured... They took part in mass jousting battles with each other, using their forked teeth to inflict vicious wounds on each others flanks. Every time a male got injured, extra water changes and Myxazin failed to save them, I ended up giving the final few away to a guy called "mussels" on here and they apparently behaved in his 6-foot tank.
 
If I was to ever get these again (and I nearly did with a big African order I made last September), I would ensure there are at least two females per male in a 9+ group. If you can more than 9 from this shop right now, snap them up, these are far from "bread and butter" hobby fish and you might not see another group for sale for years (I have not in 2.5 years). The males look amazing as they mature and their deep bodies make them perfect ditherfish for African oddballs like your African Butterfly Fish, Leopard Bushfish etc.
 
While your Pantodon will not like more than a gentle current, the tetras will love to current surf if you have a moderate powerhead (~6x tank volume turnover) firing along a long side of the tank midwater in a shady spot under some floating plants and/or bogwood. Before I realised who was causing the injuries, these guys surfed in the 12500lph  of my Hydor Magnum 8 in the 5x2x2 with their heads tilted down at ~45 degrees (but anything like 24x turnover currents would really stress your Butterfly).

 

[TooManyChoices]

Thanks for the response. The tetras have never been in the above lighting. It was reduced before adding them to only one 25watt t8 bulb so the lighting is really dim. Also most the surface is completely covered with vegetation and there is a black background.

Annoyingly the lfs that has them is only selling male/female pairs. Is it worth getting another pair? I definitely have 3 of each sex at the moment.

 

[thereverendturtle]

The more the merrier. That's a beautiful setup you have. Can you post current pictures? Sorry I know that's off topic.

 

[TooManyChoices]

Thanks. Those photos are how it is currently, if I try to take a new photos the tetras will just hide anyway

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Thanks for the response. The tetras have never been in the above lighting. It was reduced before adding them to only one 25watt t8 bulb so the lighting is really dim. Also most the surface is completely covered with vegetation and there is a black background.

Annoyingly the lfs that has them is only selling male/female pairs. Is it worth getting another pair? I definitely have 3 of each sex at the moment.

Like I said, get the group bigger while you can. If they are only being sold in sexed pairs, I would buy at least another 3 pairs (which should cost ~£25-30 at worst case scenario, at least here in UK).

 

[TooManyChoices]

Thanks heaps for the advice, I'll see if I can get anymore.

 

[thereverendturtle]

Sorry, I read your post wrong...
May I ask, why you have the water level so low?

 

[TooManyChoices]

Paranoia about the butterfly fish jumping out

 

[thereverendturtle]

Got ya.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Paranoia about the butterfly fish jumping out

 Blimey, that is paranoid, you have a decent cover by the looks of things and you are losing ~33% of the tank volume.

 

[TooManyChoices]

You're probably right. But I lie. It's part paranoia and part aesthetics. I wanted pieces of wood breaking the surface.

 

[TooManyChoices]

Managed to get another pair of them! So that brings it to 4 males and 4 females. The whole school is still very easily startled by movements outside the tank.

 

[fluttermoth]

If you're sure you've sorted the tank/lighting out, I would go for a bit of good old Pavlovian conditioning; feed them only when you have time to sit with them while they're eating.
 
They'll soon learn you're no threat to them and to associate you with food