Tankmates For Aggressive Fish

[Randi]

OK, I've posted about them before but here is one last question: I have a 20 gal high that is home to 6 serpae tetras and 4 cories. I would really like to add a top dweller to the tank. The problem is that my tetras are super aggressive, they attack anything they see. Right now they leave the cories alone except when they get fed. I am resorting to some odd tricks to make sure that they don't attack the cories and steal their bottom feeder pellets. I am planning on adding 2 more serpaes and 2 more cories to try and calm things down. So, should I look for a top dweller that can hold their own against what my son calls 'our baby pirahanas' or for a peaceful fish that might go unnoticed, or would it be cruel to add fish to this tank? I tried a male betta in the tank but he ended up having to hide behind the filter intake the entire time he lived there.

 

[thekarateboy96]

try a semi aggressive

 

[mattlee]

adding more serpaes should keep them more focused on each other to gain hierachy in the tank, similar to tiger barbs the more the better.

if they are nippy then dont add anything with long fins like the betta you once had or gouramis, angels etc etc.

maybe try a smaller cichlid like a rainbow that should be able to hold its ground against a tetra or baby priahna not a top dweller as such but an all over tank fish

i wouldnt advise getting any dwarf cichlids with corys as its been known for them to take eyes out of them.

 

[seizethecupcake]

Aggressive fish can be such a pain! I've got a mentally disturbed guppy who attacks anything in his level of the tank.

 

[Randi]

The rainbow cichlid is looking good.
Really Cupcake, a guppy?!?

 

[MBOU]

I keep serpea tetras in a Barb community tank (tigers, semifasciolatus, cherry, black ruby and denisonii) and also zebra danios, cories, a breeding pair of kribensis, pencil fish and a pair of bristlenose.

Decided as beautiful as they are, i really dont like Serpea Tetras They massacred a few XL adult tiger barbs in the first month and now arent killing anything but spreading their aggresion, my black ruby barbs shoal with them and are now getting really nasty!! And this is in a 260L VERY heavily planted tank and each shoal was 15+ fish.