KyWildFish

I bought a tank a few months ago and fish cycled the tank using danios and tetras. I now know thats not cool, but I was working on limited advise. After a few weeks the largest zebra danio started constantly chasing the other fish in the aquarium around. The tetras would hide behind a large rock and he would seek them and the other danios out. I read that they might need more than 6 fish to give a more "school" like atmosphere so I added some mollies (3). The behavior stopped and I thought I had solved the problem. About 2 days ago the behavoir started again and he wont stop with the aggression. He chases any fish thats near him and seems to nip them if he catches them. I am about fed up with the behavior. The girl at the pet store just suggested removing him, but I want to know if another method exists to stop it. I thought danios were supposed to be nice community fish.

jdhef

I had 4 Danios that I cycled my tank with. One died early on, leaving three. Of the three one would constantly chase one of the others around, while the other one hid out. Rencently, the chaser died.

I think that a school of the same kind of fish is supposed to limit agression, so adding mollies really won't help calm your Danio down. You might want to try bringing your Danio population up to 5 or 6 is you can.

Good luck

tzqng8

I agree with jdhef. 6 of the same species will make a good school. So, up the danio's and you might be alright. But, like people, fish have their personalities, so he might just be a bully.

BTW, I have enjoyed your food science knowledge on many other posts. Bravo! And welcome (don't think I have said that yet).

ShaynaB

Danios are lively little fish. I cycled my first tank that way and they nipped one of my cory cat's tails completely off. They like to chase each other and whatever else is in the tank. The reason that they say to have more is that the chasing gets kind of spread out with larger numbers of danios.

I ended up taking my danios back to the store because of the cory cat thing.

If you have the room, try adding more of them. It might work.

KyWildFish

This site is great. I get to kill time while waiting on projects at work. Any food/nutrition or science questions I will try and feild or search with my resources for the (best)answers.

I didn't want any more danios. They are too busy and seem to hog all the food. Before I learned as much as I have about fish, I just bought them for the cycle. Now I feel stuck with them and dont know what to do. My GF's brother has a smaller tank with some in it but I dont know if he wants them. I was planning on a few larger fish with a planted tank, but now looks like it will be another route. Guess I will need another tank

tzqng8

Gotta love MTS.

KyWildFish

This is an educated guess but...

MTS = Multi Tank Syndrom?

jdhef

Good guess. Be careful, it's very contagious!

tzqng8

This link may prove to be helpful for other abbreviations.

KyWildFish

My next guess was "My Tank Smells", but it didnt seem right.

tzqng8

Murder Tinsley Smith...? Never heard of him.

Tinsley Smith is no relation to any person real or fictional. Any supposed resemblance to a real person is hereby denied.