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Seprea Tetra Question..????

4K views 14 replies 4 participants last post by  Angel079 
#1 ·
Does anyone know much about Seprea Tetras? I have 5 of them in my 65 gallon Community Tank. Just added them about 2 months ago and I really like them but I did not realize that they are a bit nippy. They do not bother the other fish in my aquarium thank God, but they do chase each other around a lot. It does make the tank more interesting but I am wondering if I added a sixth one, would it calm them down a little or make it worse? Are they just more of an aggressive tetra by nature?

None of them appear to be stressed out or anything. The colors on them are beautiful and all fins are intact, all of them eat well too. It kind of looks like they are playing tag with each other but I guess I thought they would school more instead of chasing each other around the tank.

Just a little confused on these guys :-?
 
#2 ·
I have a few my self. I have noticed that like Tiger barbs, they set up a pecking order amongst them selves. so the more you have the more the aggression is spread. They get REALLY fiesty during feeding time, I have heard them compated to pirhanas when eating. However it is natural for them and as long as your not having any injured fish and they are keeping it within their shoal, I would say it is fine. I have never had any injuries my self.
 
#3 ·
Hmmm.... that's interesting because I have 4 and they are completely peaceful. My green tiger barbs are the terrors of the tank. Maybe that's what keeps the serpaes under control? They know their place?
 
#4 ·
You know I kept 2 Serpaes with 3 tiger barbs, and never had any problems, they schooled together and were very peaceful, but I have since had some issues with that tank as a whole, and it was suggested to me that they may not have been as happy as I thought.. so who knows :/
 
#5 ·
Thank you cbirk,
I was getting a little nervous here but am glad to know that this can be normal behavior for them.


Romad,
Never thought of that. I have other tetras in my tank ( 6 Glowlight, 6 Black Neon and 10 Cardinals) and they are all very peaceful so I just assumed that the Seprae Tetras would be too but I was wrong on that one. It may be because of what you said, they really are the largest sizewise in my tank besides the Powder Blue Gouramis. My Powder Blue pretty much stays to itself so they don't see any threat there at all. I had to laugh a little bit one day because one of the Seprea Tetras was swimming behind the Powder Blue Gouramis and I saw the Gouramis stop and back up a little bit. That sent the Seprea Tetra dashing off in the opposite direction. I guess the Gouramis was sending him the "Don't try that crap with me message" lol.

I have 8 Panda Tetras in my holding tank and they will be added in about 2 weeks. I don't think that will make much of a difference though because as I said in my intial post, the Seprea Tetras pretty much chase their own kind. I'm just not use to it and was wondering if it was okay for them to do that. I am keeping a close eye on them though to make sure that no injuries will result in their aggressive behavior. So far it hasn't and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it never does. They are a very pretty fish.

 
#7 ·
We
 
#8 ·
we kept 3 in with 3 angel fish, and some rosie barbs with no issues for 2 years. one died recently but I think it was old age as it was old when we got it
 
#9 ·
It really dep on the set up within the tank.
Sometimes you can calm their behavior down by adding few more and have groups of 9-10 of them. Like in my case in the 45g it didn't work out AT ALL and the bullied up the whole Tetra gang so they went back tot he store :-(

Hope it'll work out for ya!!
 
#11 ·
Oh no they bullied the whole tank, everybody in there not just Tetra's. Even upping the group hadn't helped these gangsters (and that is a pretty well planted boarder heavy planted tank there too) but 9 times outta 10 when the nip/ become aggressive simply upping the group does indeed help.
 
#12 ·
Well, I hope it doesn't get that way with mine. I've had them for about 2 months and so far they have only chased each other. I am watching them now and the other fish swim by the Seprea Tetras and the Seprea don't bother them at all. But I do notice that the other Tetras aren't swimming around the whole tank as much. It could just be today that they are hanging around in certain areas.

I still hate that the Seprea Tetras don't school together. I guess I read the wrong infomation when I looked them up. I really don't want to buy any more of them for fear that they would try to take over the whole tank and start chasing the other groups of fish.

In the meantime I'll keep my eyes on things.
 
#13 ·
Its hard to give a good advise there really....You're the one seeing the tank each day not us; its easier for you to just observe and make the call... Me I could have possibly "tested" longer but truthfully I didn't want to and I just felt better returning them the the store and picking other Tetra's that overall fit much better.
 
#15 ·
May be interesting for you to read this one http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/aquarium-plants/lowering-lights-report-37138/
To keep it short: Tetra's are naturally home in dimly lit forest streams. That said their ideal tank set up should be well covered with plants, driftwoods and low lights to make them feel homey (and very LITTLE current from the filter). If you go under my aquarium log here to the left under my name, the tank called "New 45g" that's my Tetra set up (pic's not quite up to date but you'll see).
 
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