fish charging each other

[biggrigg22]

i have a six gallon tank with 3 neons and 3 black neons. they have recently been charging at each other...i'm not sure if they are biting at each other or if they are just playing tag or something?

it's no emergency...yet because they haven't really been taking chunks out of each other, but i was just wondering is this a problem? the only reason it concerns me is because both species are supposed to be very peaceful, community fish.

any advice/insight would be great

 

[ger87410]

If the fish charging seems to be trying to go after the other ones week spot, like the end of hi tail, blind spot, etc. If so, They are probaly fighting, might be a territory issue. If no damage is being done, you have nothing to worry about. Just throw an oscar cichlid into the tank, he'll solve all your problems. j/k

 

[millym]

our neons, cardinals & red eye tetras can often be seen sort of 'flicking back & forth' at eachother very very quickly, its a dominance/territorial thing, ours never seem to get hurt though so i wouldnt worry too much

 

[biggrigg22]

thanks for the replies. there is a little damage being done to the tail on only one of the neons.

is there anything i can do to curb this aggression?

 

[ger87410]

Well, you could try seperating it from the other fish for a while and feeding it less. And see if the problem gets worse or better. If worse, start feeding him a lot more. That's how I found out to feed my gourami less then normal to keep his aggression down.

 

[guppymonkey]

It sounds like the schools aren't large enough. When schooling fish are kept in very small groups they can get aggressive. I would get rid of one of the groups and add some more of the other. Make it 6 to 10 neons and add a few corys and it will look better and have less aggression.

 

[biggrigg22]

i'm going to try adding a couple more fish. i originally had two more neons, but they died because of high nitrate/nitrite. but now that i think about it...i never had aggression problems back then when i had more fish. i can't decide which kind to get rid of and which to get more of though.

thanks again for the advice everyone