Red-Eye Tetra Compatibility: A Specific Case
 

Let's bring some life to this sub-forum shall we?

In the Loach Motel, the dithers are 5 Red Eye Tetras. They're really quite pretty. The other critters in the tank are 5 Burmese Border Loaches, 2 Weather Loaches, and a Checkerboard Sand Loach. (The Yoyo's have moved out to a larger tank.)

Having opened up some space with the Yoyos, I am pondering adding some more mid/top water fish. Unfortunately, I know red-eyes are nippy little b@stards. So my question: Is there a Tetra with a bioload of about half a gallon to the inch (waste production along the lines of neons or glow lights) that could hold their own in a shoal of 5 to 7 in a tank with 5 Red Eyes?

Serpaes? Black Phantoms?

Or should I just round out the Red Eye school to 8 or so and leave it there?

well i'm torn to be honest.
to enlarge the group sounds great.
that would be my first choice.
a fish to hold it's own i would have said the Serpaes,
i have found them to be able to stand up for themselves.

i would just raise the school of red eyes to 8. the larger the school, the less of a chance of them nipping their tankmates.

Thanks guys - I'm with zach (nice avatar, BTW :thumbsup:) on this one. The bigger school ought to help diffuse the nippiness. Ought to make for 36 vectors of aggression within the school (turns out I was wrong about it being a factorial - it's a pythagorean series, like stacking cups in a pyramid 1-3-6-10-15-21-28-36). And the big silver scales look almost ganoid (like on Bichirs, Ropefish, Arowana, and Tarpon), and make them look like some sort of prehistoric throwback.

Now the next question about theses - Right now, I have 2 females and 3 males (the size and shape differences are pretty striking). Any recommendation on the final ratio? 3 female, 5 male? Does it matter?

Not the complex mathematical theory again, Tophat.:blink:
Does not matter to me.;)

This is a simpler mathematical theory than the last one. The assumption is that each fish has a place in the pecking order and picks on every fish lower down than it is. So it's just like stacking beer glasses in a pyramid, 8 fish is 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8 = 36. The way I had thought about it before assumed that the fish would also work in teams, both to nip and be nipped. That's 1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8 = 40,320. The reality is somewhere in between, but closer to the low end.

In any case, got three of the Red eyes for this tank, and another three High Fin Black Skirts to round out a school in another tank.

if it helps i dont think it so complicated of a theory and i am a junior in highschool.

That's actually when I learned about it.