Black Skirt Tetra Issue...

[dan2x38]

1 female black skirt tetra was looking stressed hanging in 1 corner a week ago so I moved her to my QT... she was swimming and eating well so today moved her back... well the other black skirts & dwarf gourami are chasing her... she is beautiful and only the gourami is bigger... she is one of my favorite fish!

why are they chasing her?

[BigDaddy]

How many tetras and how many gourami in what sized tank?

[plecoL83]

Are your other black skirts all males, maybe they think she's ready to spawn and then the gouramis decided to join in the fight? I've had that happen with my other tetras I used to have.

[babblefish1960]

It more often has to do with pecking order and territory when someone new is introduced into the tank, even if they were there before, the absence has possibly changed the order of the universe, and now they need to sort out who is who and where they belong.

Alternatively, when a sick fish is in a tank, sometimes they are just picked on to death.

If it is a dispute of space, providing a change in the layout helps with some fish, but it is all mere hypothesizing until we have more details such as number of each species and size of tank. Any and all plants, decorations and what have you will also play a factor in determination of the harassment.

[dan2x38]

29 Gallon, 4 black skirts 1 male & 3 females, 1 dwarf male gourami, 1 SAE, 1 male Pineapple Sword & 2 females, 2 leopard corys unknown sex, 1 Singapore Shrimp... NH3- 0, NO2- 0, NO3- 20, KH 3.5, GH- 6-7, PO4- 1, cellulated Fe- 0.1, non-cellulated Fe- 0

Injected with DIY CO2, planted with easy fast growing plants. Double tube lighting 6700K. I fertilize between 2-3 days apart with NPK and trace Seachem liquid mixed in some tank water, the weeks dosage a little each time. Fast them on Fridays. Feed just enough quality flake, frozen blood worm & brine shrimp, and freeze dried tubifex soaked first. WC every week 30%-40% with aged aerated water with prime and/or aqua-clear. Also vacuum gravel & clean the glass.

Bio-Wheel filter with bio-max in first cartridge. I use a 2nd media cartridge instead of carbon inserts with Seahem renew. I had some odd white lint looking algae couple of weeks ago so I installed my UV sterilizer in case it was a bacteria, did 50% WC with matured water, and vacuumed.

The gourami was aggressive with her I thought he was the cause of her stress and why she was in the corner. I had a large water sprite floating in one corner opposite where she had been. I removed it because he was to territorial but only against her. Now it is all of them.

This set-up and population has been fine for at least 9 months.

[BigDaddy]

Only thing I can think of is attacting a diseased/stressed fish.  If all the same fish have been in the tank for the full 9 months, the pecking order should have established itself long ago.

[dan2x38]

thanks... maybe a new day will have a different result... with light out everyone is calm and relaxed of course... will post follow-up in AM... would really miss her she is my Fav. think I got a pick of her she has awesome flowing fins shes easily the size of a tonnie a little more maybe...

[dan2x38]

She is not being chased as much or as far. I think the pecking order is just being reset since she was out of the loop for 8 days, like 'babblefish' suggested TANKs . She is not acting stressed like she was before which is good. I think it will  all calm down more, sure glad because she is gorgeous.



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[fishycanuck]

Nice photo. I have some of those tetras as well, and like them a lot.