Gardeneri killies nipping tails

[Brookster123]

I have male and female gar. Killies in my 29 gal. Community tank, everytime I add new fish they are missing sections of their tails the next morning, I suspect the female killi to be the culprit of these night time nippings, would a 5 gal be a suitable re-home for the pair? Tank is cycled and waiting, netting these guys is going to be tricky so I want to make sure I'm not making a mistake before I attempt to do so

 

[Rivercats]

What else do you have in the tank? I keep Gardneri P82 Killifish and the only problem is the males will go after other males. They don't nip at non killifish. The females tend to be quite docile.

 

[Brookster123]

I keep a variety of fish, when I introduced the killies they destroyed my 3 apisto's tails the first night, friends the next night, chalked it up to a one time deal, just added 4 zebra danios, next morning 3 out of 4 were missing 70%-80% of their tails, the male stays in his moss cave, the female runs the upper water, sits under floating plants, very territorial

 

[Rivercats]

Sounds like you got a very aggressive pair which can happen with Killi's. I keep a few different kinds but have only had issues with the Gardneri males. As for them being in a 5 gallon... maybe. If you try it be sure it's planted so they don't get aggressive with each other which can also happen. Be sure to keep up on weekly 50% WC's as well.

 

[Brookster123]

that's my only concern putting them in the 5, it's that or back to the Lfs, I really enjoy having them so I'd like to give it a try, I'm going to construct a mini moss cave for male and transfer the floating plants she likes to the tank, fingers crossed, I'll post back in a week

 

[Brookster123]

So far so good, they hang out all day , no aggression, the real difference is the tank I removed them from, stress colors on my other fish are gone, success !