Accidentally Lucky In The Past..........

[eaglesaquarium]

Some fish are more tolerant and hardier than others.  Some can handle higher nitrates, some can handle varying conditions far better than others.  So, the skirts might be one of those, I've never really looked into that for them, but many tetra species are far more tolerant of certain conditions than others.

 

[Squeegeatc]

I just did a water change.   Nitrates are still high, but lower than yesterday.  Strangely enough, NO nitrites any of the times I've tested.  Our watersupply is hard, with higher PH/Alkalinity.   No clue bout ammonia levels----stupid test strips dont' show that.   All "fish trucks" come in Thursday.  Someone should have test vials in then. 
 
Glad I have mostly Tetra's and was planning on moving them first!!
 
Levels read as follows
Nitrate  80
Nitrite  0
Total Hardness  150
Chlorine  0
Alkalinity  180
PH  8.4

 

[Squeegeatc]

hmmm......2 of the black skirts are now hiding in the back corner of the tank.  1 of them was very aggressive towards the others.  So now I don't know if I should move them early to try and save them, or if the bully scared the other 2 off.  I sure hope a larger school fixes that problem! 
 
 
 
edit-----one of the other black skirts came back out and the other is a serious bully.  I feel better about the water conditions at least.  but what does one do about a bully fish?  I thought these were unaggressive.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Skirts are one of the more aggressive of the tetras. 
 
 
Larger shoals will help to spread the aggression of the bully, not really stop it.  But, he'll (assume bully to be a male, but not always) have to watch his back more, especially in a larger group, he'd have to deal with challenges from more males from more directions rather than him being able to pick on only one weaker male.
 
To help with bullies, the best thing to do is provide cover (plants, decor, etc.) to give the bullied fish a place to retreat to.
 
 
Nitrate coming back down to 80 is a good sign.  Everything should go fine tomorrow.  Enjoy.

 

[Squeegeatc]

Thank you.   I hope tomorrow's levels are MUCH better.  And by tomorrow night, they will be in the big tank with hopefully 3 more.

 

[fishman2014]

welcome to the forum