Pecking order

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libertybelle

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
1,196
Location
VA
I am currently deworming my son’s glofish tank (yeah... “his” tank. At 18 months he was very insistent on needing a tank I promise :p) I had lost a tetra to internal parasites recently. (They’ve been in the tank for a while and a couple fish were staying smaller than the others. I incorrectly chalked it up to genetics.)

Then I did something that I normally wouldn’t do. I added fish during treatment. I’m getting the new fish to fill out the schools from the same source and I suspect they will have the same parasites as my fish were harboring so I wanted to treat them all at one time.

This is all unnecessary background and the fish are all doing fine but I’m struck by how much difference adding a few new fish makes to school behavior.

I have glo tetras (white skirts) and tiger barbs and yesterday, despite low school numbers, everything was very docile and calm with zero aggression. I added two tetras and two barbs to the tank last night. Today the tank is crazy active. No over the top aggression or anything but just a lot of half hearted chasing etc as they all figure out what the new pecking order is going to be.

I find myself curious about a rather specific question related to fish memory. If fish from an established school were moved (for illness quarantine etc) for a short period of time, would this ‘setting up pecking order’ behavior happen when the fish returned or would they settle back into the old order?

Anyway it’s been a lot of fun to watch! (I mean... for him to watch. Cause it’s totally his tank. No really ;))

Happy fishkeeping!
 
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