!!!Black skirt tetras gone mad!!!

[debisbooked]

Here's the situation: quarantined three skirt tetras for 20 days and then added them to 75g after drip acclimation of one hour (yesterday). After a few minutes of confusion, the three started to tag along with the five skirt tetras already in tank. Everything looked good; all eight were schooling nicely for hours before lights out last night. This morning, (and before tank lights on), I notice the whole group is madly zinging and twirling around, up and down and across the tank. It looks like the largest tetra (the former leader) is being harassed continuously. What is going on? Is this a new pecking order being established? Is this going to end with dead tetras from stress?

 

[debisbooked]

Well, no one has replied to my post on mad tetras. The crazy activity was so virulent for several hours this morning that I made three attempts to get the 'harried' tetra out of the tank before the others killed him/her. No luck with netting though. Now, four hours later, all eight black skirts have gone their separate ways and settled down with just an occasional 'zinging' of each other. So much for being peaceful community fish!

 

[Coursair]

Well, no one has replied to my post on mad tetras. The crazy activity was so virulent for several hours this morning that I made three attempts to get the 'harried' tetra out of the tank before the others killed him/her. No luck with netting though. Now, four hours later, all eight black skirts have gone their separate ways and settled down with just an occasional 'zinging' of each other. So much for being peaceful community fish!

May have been breeding behavior or resetting pecking order.

 

[Cynic]

Here's the situation: quarantined three skirt tetras for 20 days and then added them to 75g after drip acclimation of one hour (yesterday). After a few minutes of confusion, the three started to tag along with the five skirt tetras already in tank. Everything looked good; all eight were schooling nicely for hours before lights out last night. This morning, (and before tank lights on), I notice the whole group is madly zinging and twirling around, up and down and across the tank. It looks like the largest tetra (the former leader) is being harassed continuously. What is going on? Is this a new pecking order being established? Is this going to end with dead tetras from stress?

I'm not entirely sure what they are doing but my 7 Black Skirts do exactly the same thing and I haven't lose any for nearly a year. Personally I wouldn't stress

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Perfectly normal. Mine did the same thing. Still do occasionally. They are establishing a pecking order (as you suspected). They are nippy fish so that is why higher numbers (more than 6) are usually recommended. More fish will result in the aggression being spread about.

 

[debisbooked]

Perfectly normal. Mine did the same thing. Still do occasionally. They are establishing a pecking order (as you suspected). They are nippy fish so that is why higher numbers (more than 6) are usually recommended. More fish will result in the aggression being spread about.

Ha! When there were just five everyone seemed content. They seemed to have calmed down now. I really worried about the large, older one though. He was acting as if he was really tired of the 'pecking' and was about to give up the ghost over it. Now they are swimming solo, each acting as if the others don't exist -go figure!