New Fish Fighting

[Deleted member 55926]

I noticed since I introduced my 12 Neon Tetras that there is a lot of bickering going on within the school. Initially, they huddled together nicely, but ever since there have been multiple battles raging between pairs. They are chasing each other around and trying to nip each other. The group also seems very broken, with tetras randomly scattered around after all this fighting.

Just wanted to check that this is normal at first, and that they're just naturally creating their hierarchy or something.

 

[Harlequins]

They might be just settling in,i had problems with bullying neons when i first got them,i eventually took them back to the lfs,has they all kept hiding from each other in the end...

 

[waterdrop]

Try to notice what they do when you are doing a water change. I'd be interested to know if they form a tighter shoal when you start playing inside the tank.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Assaye]

My neons bickered like mad when I first added them. I wouldn't worry unless specific individuals seem to hide away and get particularly stresed.

 

[Bebobb]

They're fine. If I am correct, then I assume that they are trying to set up a hierachy (spelling) But I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Gilli]

This is normal behaviour - they will sort themselves out. You will find that they will only schoal tightly when worried about something - other than that when they feel settled they will all go their own way alone or in small groups or pairs and all meet up for a short time on and off!

 

[waterdrop]

Certainly agree. Its all part of how much more interesting it is to have your own fish to watch day after day as opposed to the casual look in the LFS. Tetras can be quite fiesty things with a lot of social dynamics going on within the group! Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention to you over in your feeding thread was that it works well (it did for me at least) to give off one pinch of food -beneath- the surface especially so there will be food that is dropping faster for your neon/cards, as the clearly enjoy that even though they will take food from the surface. It can help them compete if you've got a lot of surface feeders who are scarfing it up.

~~waterdrop~~