Nipping Glowfish

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FishFry420

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Hi,I have 4 glowfish tetras along with sum guppies in my 20gal

I'm not sure which of them is doing the nipping, but ome of my tetras tails has been nipped so extremely, down to nubs and im concerned :(
The other tetras have little to none damage to their fins.
What do I do!!!
 
pictures of the fish and tank?
what other fish are in the tank besides the tetra and guppies?
how long have you had the fish for?
what is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH & GH of the water?
how long has the tank been set up for?
 
Get more of the tetras. 4 is too small of a school so they get aggressive not having enough members of their own kind around.

So get at least 2 more, as 6 is the number that they tend to cool down with. You could get the glofish ones, the white skirt tetras, or the black skirt tetras. Theyre all the same species, just depends what you like.

After a few days or so, they will start to calm down.


Also, add in tall plants to allow lines of sight to be blocked to give some fish some privacy when needed. Skirt tetras like to have some visible barrier. It keeps the aggression down.



Skirt tetras can handle the hardness (GH) that guppies need, but the guppies may not do well if your water is too soft for them.
 
Get more of the tetras. 4 is too small of a school so they get aggressive not having enough members of their own kind around.

So get at least 2 more, as 6 is the number that they tend to cool down with. You could get the glofish ones, the white skirt tetras, or the black skirt tetras. Theyre all the same species, just depends what you like.

After a few days or so, they will start to calm down.


Also, add in tall plants to allow lines of sight to be blocked to give some fish some privacy when needed. Skirt tetras like to have some visible barrier. It keeps the aggression down.



Skirt tetras can handle the hardness (GH) that guppies need, but the guppies may not do well if your water is too soft for them.
Thank you

In addition to the tetras and guppies I have a black molly. Petco said for this size tank getting more would be pushing it (currently at 8 total), do u still think I should get more?
 
Thank you

In addition to the tetras and guppies I have a black molly. Petco said for this size tank getting more would be pushing it (currently at 8 total), do u still think I should get more?
I would see what your gH is, then if its not suitable for the guppies AND the molly, rehome those and get more tetras.

If your GH is good for livebearers, I would say switch out the molly for 2 more skirt tetras. Mollies do better in a 30 gallon anyways as they get pretty big and have a good sized bioload.

BUT.

If your GH is super hard, it may then be too high for the skirts, in which case you'd want to rehome those. Skirts can handle harder water than most other tetras, even into the livebearer range, but not much higher.



So find out your GH. You can find it on your water provider's site or you can call them usually.
 
The store was correct to be concerned about numbers of fish in the tank, but unfortunately they did not consider the ramifications. Tetras are shoaling fish which means they must be in a group, and numbers vary depending upon the species. Heree you are dealing with a species that is feisty to begin with, and prone to nip fins, so that means an even larger group of that species. A group of 8-10 might solve the issue, though once a fish has started nipping it sometimes does not revert. Given the tank size, returning the four tetras might be best.

However, the GH and pH are issues as others mentioned, so we should sort all this out before doing anything. But it needs to be done ASAP, as nipping is serious and not going to just stop.
 

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