Need Some Help?

[weasel_81]

i purchased 2 mono from a lfs. i know they are schooling fish but the only had 2 at the time. in the tank the stay to away from each other like oil and vinegar. the lfs called me and said more has come in. going to see them they look beautiful schooling around the tank in the store. getting 3 more to built my own school (5 in total). the 3 i bought now are a little smaller. again the 2 i first bought no dice for getting along. and the 3 wanting to mingle only getting a snap at when getting to close to there space. it has only been 3 days what should i do? wait? put them in a smaler tank with no hiding places. (to force schooling) thanks bobby.

 

[nmonks]

While it's true that monos are schooling fish in the wild, in aquaria, they can sometimes become territorial and aggressive. The bigger the group, the less likely aggression becomes, but still, some aquarists have reported persistent aggression. Frank Schaefer believes this might be related to breeding, but that's only likely if your specimens are adults, which isn't likely if they're new.

One thing that helps is adding another big, schooling fish. West African monos and scats are both good choices. These encourage all the fish to feel safer, while not actually triggering territorial behaviour from the dominant monos. Green chromides can also work well, if you can find them.

Moving monos to a smaller tank won't "force" them to school, so that's a non-runner. More space, more monos, and perhaps moving around the rockwork to break up the territories might all help. You could also take out all the specimens you have, put them in an bucket (with an aerator or small filter) for half an hour, move the rocks about, turn the lights out, and then add the monos. With luck, they might feel sufficiently scared by their "new" environment that they will school together.

Cheers, Neale

i purchased 2 mono from a lfs. i know they are schooling fish but the only had 2 at the time. in the tank the stay to away from each other like oil and vinegar. the lfs called me and said more has come in. going to see them they look beautiful schooling around the tank in the store. getting 3 more to built my own school (5 in total). the 3 i bought now are a little smaller. again the 2 i first bought no dice for getting along. and the 3 wanting to mingle only getting a snap at when getting to close to there space. it has only been 3 days what should i do? wait? put them in a smaler tank with no hiding places. (to force schooling) thanks bobby.

 

[weasel_81]

thanks for the info. I'll try the bucket thing. and move the rock about. i dont want to add any more fish (fear of over stocking). thanx for the information once again bobby.