half tail fins gone

[kiki]

I have 3 harlequin rasbora and 2 black skirt tetra in 10 g tank. One harlequin got half of the tail bitten off. The fish seem to be putting more effort to keep body straight. I want to find way to reduce its stress while healing. But that is the only tank I have. I was thinking buying a hatchery tank to put inside the 10g tank to protect the bitten harlequin. Do you think it's a good idea? Will the tail grow back? If so, how long will it take?

Which of the two species is more likely to chew the fins? If it is the black skirt, will adding two harlequin rasboras help them to defend?

I was considering adding two catfish at the bottom. Since cat fish seem slow-moving, will they be vulnerable to getting their fins bitten?

thank you

[Madame_X]

Since a rasbora is so small, I would almost be inclined to go buy a little 2 gallon tank to use as a hospital tank until the fish heals. There is a good review in this forum on Melafix that you may want to read. I think it would grow back fairly quickly if the conditions are good.

I definitely think the tetras are your culprits. I don't think adding two more rasboras would help. In fact, adding more tetras may actually help (they may keep their aggression to themselves) but since I'm fairly new to this, I'd wait for a more experienced person to make a recommendation here.

Oh, and my catfish are anything BUT slow moving. They'd probably be fine.

[William]

Catfish are rather aggressive in my experiance.

They grow INCREDIBLY large in my experiance.

I wouldn't put a catfish in a tank under 100gallons :-\

[Allivymar]

Depends on the catfish (I am assuming here you are talking about suckermouth cats).

There are the common plecos which can reach 2 feet in length (I have one; hes about 8 inches long). There are the bushynose/bristlenose plecs which reach about 5-6 inches. There are the otos, which get about an inch and a half long. Depending on what you are looking for, you can probably find a catfish which will live nicely in your tank.

Any the chances of getting their fins bitten are pretty slim

[Punkymom]

Black Tetras can be aggressive if not kept in schools of 6 or more. In fact, they get more aggressive as they age. This is part of the reason I can't stand Tetras (no offense). They're just ruthless to me. But keeping them in a bigger school should help.

[Madame_X]

I have two upside down catfish and they will get no larger than 4 inches (right now they're less than 2 inches). As for aggressive, my guys hide way too much to be aggressive. So not all catfish are large and/or aggressive.

She doesn't have any large fish in her tank right now so I guess I just assumed she meant a small catfish, like a cory or something.

[vega]

I got 3 upside-down and they are doing great in my community tank. But i also kept 3 siamese algea eater and 2 panda cory. all doing great and its really hard to find un-eaten food and algea in my tank as upside-down scavange all left over and siamese algea eater take the algea. cory took both left-over and algea. but i do still feed 2-3 wafer a day just in case.... :P

[vega]

Btw, i suggest u remove the tetra ASAP from the tank before more rasbora are been hurt.

From my experience,i think more rasbora wont help as i hav similar problem like this before with 15 of my neon and 4 red-flag tetra.

[tkos]

Cory catfish are perfect for a 10 gallon. Add 3 of the dwarf or pygmy variety. They get about 2 inches in size and are very peaceful.

I would suggest adding either fake or live plants to the tank. That will give hiding spots and line of sight blocks for the fish to feel less stressful.

If it is possible removing the tetras and adding more rasborras would be great. A 10 gallon tank doesn't allow for too many fish. But if not then adding hiding spots is alway a good way to go.