problem with tetras

[Lifez]

The 6 black skirt tetras I have in my tank seem to be getting highly aggressive towards the other fish. At first they began nipping at my betta's fins (which I was warned about) so we moved him to another container. Now it seems as if they're targetting the zebra danios that are cohabitating with them. I returned from work to find 4 of the tetras zipping around and taking nips at a floating (dead) danio, and have noticed what looks like a gash on the side of another.

Now, nothing's saying the danio didn't die by no fault of the tetras... I am in the middle of an amonia spike which I'm doing a water change in an attempt to settle down... but the tetras seem to be highly interested in biting things. Are my other danios and albino corys in jeopardy?

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bearfan]

I've always had very passive tetras...what kind are they?

 

[Lifez]

Black Skirt Tetras

 

[Bearfan]

Sorry, I read that in your first post now...

Black Skirt Tetras are technically semi-aggressive and may pick on smaller fish. I wouldn't worry about the corys so much, but if it is display aggression toward the danios, your danios may be in for a short life.

 

[Lifez]

Update: One of the remaining danios is sluggish and seems to have a chunk missing near it's left gills. One of my albino corys has been bleeding from it's side, sand the tetras are moving about the tank in a school... My 3 corys are just sitting at the bottom of the tank not moving. A far cry from thier hyperactivity they've displayed over the past few days.

Help?

 

[Menagerie]

Those tetras have to go!

 

[Keeper]

Well, I think you have two choices. You can leave the Black Skirt Tetras in with the other fish and risk the others getting hurt more(I don't recommend this)The second choice is to seperate them into different tanks if possible(I like this one the best). Your danios are getting beaten up pretty bad...hopefully they will be ok. Keep us posted.

By the way.............WELCOME TO AA..............

 

[CiRXSi]

Wow, this is kinda crazy! I'm sorry about how things are going. Every fish has it's own personality, that's for sure. My Black Skirts are anything but aggressive. I do wonder (I could be WAY off base) if they're a little "over-energetic". I remember from your other post that all these guys are in a 10 gal. They might be starving to release some energy, and this is how they do it. Then again, I could be completely wrong. I would seriously consider either getting a bigger/different tank, giving the skirts to someone you know, or even find a LFS that will buy/take them from you. It sounds like this won't be pretty if it goes on much longer. Sorry :x

 

[Lifez]

I'm thinking that part of the problem may have been the amonia situation. I lost another danio, leaving me with one... and one of my corys perished as well. The danio was definitely attacked, but after close inspection of the body after the cory died, and a little online research it seems that the cory had amonia poisoning. Odd thing though is that the cory burrowed itself under gravel before it kicked off, making it super hard to locate the corpse once I noticed it missing.

I did a water change last night as I said I was going to do, and it seems that the amonia levels are dropping off a bit. The tetras seem a little calmer and the corys that are left are flitting about again like their usual selves (they were just laying there for a while when the levels were high).

So I think this all boils down to 1) tetras being aggressive instinctively towards smaller fish and 2) the amonia aggrevating them to the point they reached where they were just blindly attacking for no reason. If anyone else has any other observations or thoughts I'd love to hear them.

Thanks for trying to help out with this nerve-wracking situation. I'm sure it's not the last, but my girlfriend and I are not about to give up on this hobby.