Mean Emperor tetra, larger school help or make worse?

[Alchemy129]

Hey, I'm always on the lookout for active top strata swimming fish and recently at my best lfs they had a fish that wasn't even labeled because there was only one left but he was cool so i grabbed him,(lfs told me what he was after i pointed him out) and mentioned i should come back in 2 weeks after there next shipment to get him some buddies because he's a strong schooler which i had planned on doing.
But after i got him i first put him in my 12 gal friendly community tank but he was very aggresive to all the fish in there so i moved him to my semi aggressive 29 gal figuring the lil ass could fend for himself, but he's pushing the larger fish around in there too? Is this becasue he's on his own? I am really wanting to get a school of these guys going but not if its only going to make things worse, but if it makes things better i'll do it.
So if i get more will the aggression go down like in barbs? or will i just have 6 lil devils instead of one?

 

[Devilishturtles]

I've never had this tetra, but it's common behavior when adding only one of a schooling fish. I say add more to the school and they should pick on each other instead of everyone else. No guarantees though, it might still be a devil.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I don't think emporer tetras are schoolers. I think they prefer to be in small groups, like a trio. I can't find any info to back this up though, but I think I've read it somewhere. I'd get 5 more so you'll have a group of 6. That should even aggression out and hopefully make this guy chill out. I did find a site that said they don't school readily. I also read people's experiences where they guarded part of a tank, so I guess they are a little territorial.

Good luck, they are pretty little guys!

 

[tropicfishman]

I've never owned any either, but I know that sometimes single fish that are schoolers will be aggressive when just added to a tank, if you add more he will prolly be aggresssive to them for a little while to show hes in charge, but it will go away and they will school together

 

[Alchemy129]

Thanks guys i'm going to pick up 2 more and see how it goes, all i have room for anyway, appreciate it.