treve

hello

Up until lately i had a very peaceful 55 gallon community tank,that was until a few days ago i noticed one of my green corys fin was nipped quite a bit and one of my von rio tetras fin and tail was badly nipped.
i do have 2 serpae tetra who i know are best kept in schools or they tend to nip but these are my oldest fish and as long as i had the 2 together i have nerver seen them nip another one of my fish.
The last few days when i have come in from work i have sat in front of my tank for hours to see who is nipping and i have not seen any fish attacking another? Does it only happen at night when the lights are out or when i turn my back? i would appreciate any advice you might have

55 gallon 2 green cory, 2 julii cory, 2 peppered cory, 3 dwarf platy, 2 red wag platy, 6 neon tetra, 2 von rio flame tetra.

Jonah

From experience I would guess that the Serpes are the culprits.

It is recommended that you keep Serpes in groups of 6 or more to reduce the nipping, the theory being that they will chase each other and leave the rest of the fish alone.

Didn't work for me, in the end I had to take them (10 in total) out of the community tank and give them a home of their own.

I did see them doing it however almost whenever I looked in the tank they took real delight in going after the fins on the longfin dannios I have and the tails of my honey gouramis.

Mike19

You could try and provide some more hiding spaces, i noticed with my serpae as they got older they got more aggressive well nippy.

treve

thanks guy's
ya i new it probably was the serpae but didnt want to admit it to myself after having them for so long,had more fin damage today when i got home dont have room for a school of serpae so a friend took them of my hands for her tank.so hopefully my other fish will heal .

midnightwolf

im sorry you couldnt keep them..

Jonah

Rehoming was a good move both for the Serpes and the other fish in your tank, well done.

To help your fish heal, remeber to keep the water as clean as possible doing extra water changes if you can and add some stress coat+ or garlic guard to the tank to help the healing process along.

treve

ya i love stress coat + always use it it really helps the fish.
thank you for all the input.
cheers