hlford

Hi! My bf and I are new aquarium owners. We started our 20 gallon tank with 5 black skirt tetras and one plecko. It seems like 4 of our tetras are picking on the other one. The other one is quite a bit larger than the other four. Could it be that the larger one is a different sex than the other four? Also, how do you tell the difference between male and female black skirt tetras? Thanks for your help.

Allie

Black skirt tetra are very territorial among themselves. We had 9 in our 120g who we had to get rid of b/c they disturbed the whole tank of angels and other tetra.
Here their profile:
http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/prof...kirttetra.html

voiceless_kat

I have 4 hi-fin white skirt tetras, and they usually are in their own spots of the tank, except at feeding time. I didn't know they were territorial so that must be the explanation.

I had expected they would school like the red eye tetras, who are usually together, except for a renegade who has to go his own way every now and then.

They are with otos and 3 very tiny black rasboras who more or less stay together.

Sabi

It could be you have 3 males and one female. Generally the female is rounder than the male. I have 4 of them and apart from darting at the female now and then they are peaceful.

roxanne

i have 2 and they are always chasing each other from one side of the tank.. it's like it's divided down the middle and if one crosses that imaginary line poof the chase is on.. they don't bother the other fish just each other.. they were tank mates and seemed to pay no attention to each other at lfs.. bought them home and that changed almost immediately...

hlford

Thanks for your reply! Just one more question, is there any other way to tell between the male and the female besides how big around they are?

roxanne

nope not that i'm aware of.. was wondering on that myself and after researching the answer seems to be no...

capekate

Hi Roxanne
that is exactly what my BSTs were doing. They each had a place in the tank, and if one crossed that 'line' watch out! lol...
While in a tank at the LFS I believe there are so many of them that they really do not have the time to make territories and would appear to be docile. Also they are stressed out in those conditions. Once you bring them home, you do in fact see a big difference in behavior.

~ kate