More Tetras?

[Caaristiona]

Hello everyone,

I'm new on the boards and sort of new to fishkeeping (my dad's been keeping fish for years - probably upwards of twenty - and I finally got my own.) At the moment I have 4 Serpae Tetras in a 10 Gallon (I think that's about 50 litres) and I want to bump the number up to 6. That would mean that my tank contains a betta, 6 serpaes, and 2 panda cories.

Too much? Will the new tetras refuse to shoal with the original ones??

 

[K-Holed]

How long have your other Serpaes been in there? They should shoal without problems and an increase in their number should help lessen their aggresion. The betta is a little concerning with Serpaes, as they can be a little nippy with lomg finned fish.

 

[Corleone]

Initially you might find the new fish will form a separate shoal. I've had danios, tetras, and corys do that to me several times. They eventually do merge, usually after a water change or other disruption in the tank.

However, 10 gallons isn't very big, and with two more serpaes it will be very heavily stocked and need some hefty filtration to keep up.

 

[Caaristiona]

Initially I was worried about the betta, but kept an eye on him. He's a bully, and takes care of himself. I've been wondering when the Serpaes will realize there are four of them and only one of him and gang up, but it hasn't happened. They also occupy different parts of the tank, so everything seems to be fine in that regard.

I realize that 10 gallons is tiny and that 2 more fish will be maxing it out, however, I feel bad keeping only four of them... there used to be 6, but two have died in the last year.

Thanks for the replies!