Aggression Issues With Peas

Ok, my fish absolutely love peas. When ever I drop em in the tank they go crazy for them. I have 9 Black Skirt Tetras and 6 Platys. The tetras are pretty aggressive with the peas chasing each other when one of them grabs one and trying to grab them out of each other's mouths. Being semI aggressive (despite their peaceful label) and having an intense love of peas this is to be expected and is not the problem I'm having.

The problem is that unlike the platys the tetras can't forge along the bottom of the tank (for whatever reason) but they know that there is food down there. They have taken to following the platys around as they forge along the bottom of the tank and try to steal the peas the moment a platy makes the mistake of lifting it off the gravel. They even get into fights over them and I have seen some fin tearing as a result. Now the tetras have started following the platys around when ever they forge regardless of whether or not there are any peas in the tank. This has resulted in some aggression issues.

Is there any safe way I can keep the peas off the gravel to curb this kind of behavior? They need their veggies but the resulting fights have me extremely concerned about whether or not it's worth it at this point.

 

hmm. that's something I haven't seen, but I know my firemouth loves his peas, so id believe it.
if I were you id take a break from peas altogether for a little and let that behaviour get out of their system, maybe go back to it later. I don't know how theyre being fed, but when you go back id throw in a bunch all at once and after they initially feed try doing a water change, taking that aggressive moment away from them (since the peas won't be on the ground long)
just ideas, good luck

 

I don't know how theyre being fed, but when you go back id throw in a bunch all at once and after they initially feed try doing a water change, taking that aggressive moment away from them (since the peas won't be on the ground long)

That's one other problem. The platys are used to seeing old peas getting sucked up the gravel vac and they now hang out near the mouth of thee tube an nibble about. They're making it difficult to move the vacuum around even if no peas are present. It's yet another reason to keep em off the bottom. They're being such problem children thanks to these things... *sigh* :-\

 

You could use a turkey baster to pick up the leftovers.

 

I was thinking maybe I could get a breeder net, submerge it, and put the peas in there?

 

Maybe unless your fish pick them up and take off with them?

 

The tetras sure do run off with them but the resulting swarm normally takes care of it before it gets any where near the bottom.

 

Let us know how it goes using the net!

 

Id try a largerheavier veggie, so everyone can nibble it, not take it

 

What about using those feeder cones? You would need to make some the holes bigger and maybe chop up the peas so that everyone can get some.
Or maybe just chop up the peas so that everyone can get a share and it's not just a single pea.

Good Luck!