Fish Fighting?

[joeskandal]

i woke up this morning and i have been watching my neons chase one another around the tank.
Why is this?
I thought they all seemed to be picking on one at first, but the firther i watched them, the more i realised its just one or two being very boisterous!
They are also chasing the lampeyes.
I dont know why they have started doing this, is it maybe a hierarchal thing, trying to find out who is the boss?!
They have only been in there a few weeks, so they are pretty new.
Water parameters are fine, apart from the nitrate, its a bit high, but we are working on that daily, with small water changes.
Has anyone else experienced this with neon tetras?
Please help, as i dont want them bullying each other to death, or making it so other fish cant come out into the open, its not fair on them!

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Noahs ark6]

i woke up this morning and i have been watching my neons chase one another around the tank.
Why is this?
I thought they all seemed to be picking on one at first, but the firther i watched them, the more i realised its just one or two being very boisterous!
They are also chasing the lampeyes.
I dont know why they have started doing this, is it maybe a hierarchal thing, trying to find out who is the boss?!
They have only been in there a few weeks, so they are pretty new.
Water parameters are fine, apart from the nitrate, its a bit high, but we are working on that daily, with small water changes.
Has anyone else experienced this with neon tetras?
Please help, as i dont want them bullying each other to death, or making it so other fish cant come out into the open, its not fair on them!

Thanks,
Joe

I have 4 neon tetras and i have experienced this before. This might sound wrong, but i put in some stress coat (this realaxes the fish) that worked for a while but then they started doing it again. I then realized they were hungry... fed them a little bit more and now there fine.
cheers.

 

[KittyKat]

Noahs ark6: this is how they normally behave, which is why it's best to keep them in groups of at least 6 and even better in groups of 15-20+. Your "boisterous" individuals are just males trying to impress the females. You are only distracting them with food, this can easily result in overfeeding.

joeskandal: exact water parameter readings? Set-up information? Stocking?

 

[Twinklecaz]

Yeah my Green Neons do this, don't worry about it unless they actually hurt each other. Or consider what Kitty Kat said and get some more.

 

[joeskandal]

we have 12 in there, maybe we should get another half dozen of them.
They are doing it a bit to the lamp eye killies though, which is even more annoying.
!2 of them too.
You think maybe another 6 of each?
Thanks for your answers people.

As for water parameters, like i say they are fine.
Amm 0, rite 0, rate 20, ph 7.2
stocking is a couple of little plecs, 12 lampeyes, 12 neons.

 

[KittyKat]

Lampeyes are quite similar to neons in shape and size? That's probably what is causing the inter-species aggression. To be honest, a 220 litre tank should be fine for them together. Getting 6 more of each may very well solve the problem.. Maybe some undemanding plants would also help, if you don't have any right now.