Tetra getting beat up, change tanks, or buy more Tetra?

[grimlock3000]

I have four Head and Tail Light Tetra which I have had for a few months. After purchse, I found out after the fact that schooling fish should be bought in quanities of six or more. Two of the Tetra are much larger than the others, and recently they have been picking on the two smaller ones a lot. One of my small Tetras is now missing a fin as a result and hides almost all the time Is the better solution to split up the Tetra between two tanks, or buy two more Tetra, and put them all in my larger tank (26g)? The 26g has no been cycled yet, probably going to buy some fish for it today to get it going...

 

[SixFootDaisy]

adding fish doesnt always help the problem. You might want to move out the 'bad' fish. But not the little one. because he didnt do anything wrong

 

[lmw80]

You have 2 choices, as I see it. You can either do as SixFoot suggested...remove the fish, and see what happens then, or, add more. With schooling fish, such as tetras a lot of times bullies are eliminated in bigger groups. This is the case a lot of the time, but not all of the time. Also, it depends on how big your tank is. If your tank gets overstocked by adding more of these schooling fish, they may in fact, fight more. If you have enough room for more, you may want to try adding more and see what happens. On the other hand, if they still continue to fight, you may end up removing some anyway.

 

[grimlock3000]

Alright, I will try moving the two mean Tetras in my 26g tank ASAP and leave the two small Tetras in the with Gouramis, Guppy, and Catfishes. That seems less risky, and the safest way for the injured fin to heal back. I would hate to buy more Tetra, put them all in the large tank, and then watch the mean ones beat up on even more fish.

 

[madasafish]

BTW, I find, and have read, that H-A-T-L Tetras are quite hardy for cycling (I chose them to cycle my first tank, and they worked well. Monitor the vitals, change the water if the ammonia gets ridiculously high (but not too much water), and they should be fine.

Yeah, take those bullies out of there, and perhaps recombine the group when the others have had time to grow. I found that by separating my two gourami males (one mean, one docile), I gave the weaker one a chance to "grow up and become a man." When I recombined them, they had a much more equitable relationship!