Hatchetfish Slamming/ Chasing each other?

Hello I have 7 hatchetfishes that I purchased 2 weeks ago and I would like to know why such timid fishes turned aggressive? I cannot tell the difference between male and female, but either way they all have this intense "slamming/ chasing" behavior. They chase each other until one of them darts around and loses one of its scales (their fins are fine, no tears) .... they live with my peacock guppies, which they sometimes don't pay their mind of them.

Can someone explain why they do that? If it's territorial related... how long will it take for them to truly stop slamming into each other? I feel like I should separate them but I read that they are suppose to be schooling together, instead they are all spaced out individually in my tank like bad roommates.

Thanks. (

 

Bumping this up for you

 

Probably males showing of / matingbehaviour.

 

Which Hatchets are they?

I kept Silvers and found they squabbled.

They were not well behaved like my Neons and Congos.

 

Which Hatchets are they?

I kept Silvers and found they squabbled.

They were not well behaved like my Neons and Congos.

Mines are all Silver hatchets. I forgot to mention that after one of the hatchets chased the othet hatchet trespassing its territory.... the one chasing will swim back to its area that he/ she was swimming at. And won't move from that spot until another hatchet comes too close to its area.......

I hope all of them aren't males?!!!

 

Mines are all Silver hatchets. I forgot to mention that after one of the hatchets chased the othet hatchet trespassing its territory.... the one chasing will swim back to its area that he/ she was swimming at. And won't move from that spot until another hatchet comes too close to its area.......

I hope all of them aren't males?!!!

They don't have a territory.

 

They don't have a territory.

They reason why I ask if they are territorial is because of this:

Example:
Hatchet 1 is swimming on the left side of the tank. Hatchet 2 swims too close to hatchet 1, which makes hatchet 1 chase it off and then return back to the left tank. Hatchet 1 will not move until another hatchet gets too close to them.

If this isn't territorial, can you explain what behavior they are expressing?

 

Sounds like the behaviour of my silvertips. I'd expect these ones to be more schoolingfish though.

 

This question is an interesting one.

For example, how much personal space does a Silver Hatchet need and is this space available in an aquarium.

From watching videos on youtube I have noticed that shoals of fish sometimes have large gaps in between individuals.

It would be reasonable to expect that this distance varies with the species.

What also varies between species is the level of aggression between members of a shoal.

 

Agree Redshark1

As said : silvertips also are sold as schoolingfish but show the behaviour you describing as well.

 

As is often the case, the whole picture may be more complex than we can imagine.