Serpae Tetra Behavior

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

OriolePride21

New Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2020
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Location
Baltimore, MD.
Hello everyone! I have 10 Serpae Tetra in a 29 gallon species only tank. The tank is cycled, and the water parameters are good. My problem is they are super aggressive/territorial and nip at each others fins so much that the dorsal and tailfins are pretty well damaged. The fins aren't able to heal because of the constant nipping. Is this normal behavior? There's 4 males and 6 females, do I need more serpaes or two more males? do they want a community tank? A bigger tank? I'm a little lost on how to deal with them. They are fiesty little buggers lol
 
Yes, unfortunately they are just about the nippiest tetra in the hobby.

How long have you had them? If you've only got them recently it may calm down as they work out a pecking order, but if you've had them a while, they'll keep on doing it. It is usually recommended to keep them in groups of at least 12 to 15, but this is mainly to keep the nipping to within their own species and stop them nipping other fish. I don't know if getting more would solve the problem :unsure:
 
That sounds like typical serpae tetras :( I once had some for a couple of days - then they went back to shop as every other fish in the tank had bits missing.
 
Maybe two more males might help idk. I know they're happy and spawn literally every morning. The males go nuts, haha. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't something I've been doing wrong. Thanks for your input.
 
Yup - that's what they do. I also bought a group and returned them because they are simply not suited to community life. More correctly most community fish are not suited to life with serpaes. If you have a species only tank make sure there are plenty of plants to provide "line of sight" hiding places. Also make sure you keep your water scrupulously clean to minimise any chance of infections. As @essjay suggests a bigger group will spread the aggression, but I'm afraid that you will have to learn to live with tattered fins.
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Back
Top