How to stop Fin nipping

Discussion in 'General Discussions' started by Jewls, May 30, 2012.

  1. Jewls

    Jewls

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    This fish ( buenos-aires-tetra ) is nipping all my other fish in my tank especial my 2 angels and Pristella Tatra. How can i stop them from being so aggressive (funny they never touch the Neons)
     
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  3. azurekoi

    azurekoi Loaches & Gobies

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    Buenos Aires Tetras are fin nippers....not much you can do about natural behaviour unfortunately... Also known to munch your finer leaved plants..

    Increasing shoal sizes(PS - how many do you have?) sometimes internalizes this agression to within the shoal,but not allways the answer... Increasing structure in the tank could help as well,but if I was you - would return them to the shop you got them from and replace with a shoal of more chilled Tetras... Rosy Tets(for instance) much more colourfull and not fin nippers...
     
  4. Ryno

    Ryno Kenaal baber

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    Dont like rio tetras they nip fins even most of the time if the school is big like 20
     
  5. cheekychops

    cheekychops themasterofSAURON

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    @azurekoi would you classify black phantom tetras as fin nippers?
    sorry for the kinda hijack of the thread. but yea still kinda on topic :p
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 2, 2016
  6. azurekoi

    azurekoi Loaches & Gobies

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    Hyphessebrycon genus Tetras like Black Phantoms are generally not known to be fin nippy,but you sort of need to manage them correctly to ensure this.... I have found keeping them in a school of at least 3 males with 5 females that any hargy,bargy gets taken up by the members of the school... a lone male with a few females may become nippy to other fish...Sort of trying to impress the girl kind of thing...
     
  7. cheekychops

    cheekychops themasterofSAURON

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    mmm . thanks, i ask because i am keeping 4 male and 4 female phantoms and they have destroyed my bettas fins :( anyways, mr betta is getting a nice new home now.
     
  8. OP
    Jewls

    Jewls

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    Yea thanks for your reply. I think when I have time again I will Swop them back at the shop for the "Rosy Tets" you speak of XD
     
  9. Reedfish

    Reedfish Moderator

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    As has been said above, increasing shoal size can reduce fin nipping tendancies. But not always.

    Sometimes the only answer is to remove the offending fish unfortunately.
     
  10. Razer2007

    Razer2007 Danelle Vivier

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    You could always just get more neons or pristella's in exchange.
     
  11. OP
    Jewls

    Jewls

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    Razer said he will keep the 2 devils in his smaller tank for the time being. Then I wil go " get more neons or pristella's in exchange."
     
  12. Ryno

    Ryno Kenaal baber

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    i love pristellas. i have a group of 16. they school very good and tightly together
     
  13. OP
    Jewls

    Jewls

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    Maby its because I only have 2 XD
     
  14. azurekoi

    azurekoi Loaches & Gobies

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    He,he - 2 fish aint a school mate.... get some more.
     
  15. mydummyname

    mydummyname Balala shark

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    @Jewls, very good advice you've gotten here.. often fish become nippy when the environment is not ideal, sometimes its water quality, sometimes a fish becomes nippy if its stressed out, sometimes its fish that are incompatible with each other and often its because (in the case of schooling / shoaling fish) the fish are kept in inadequate numbers.

    many times in the case of schooling fish, the mimimum recommended numbers are just not enough to stop a fish from being stressed out and nipping, and you find that when you boost the numbers the nipping stops..

    the other important thing is to see what type of tank do you have, is it an aggressive tank, a semi-aggressive tank or is it really a peaceful tank..

    if you have fish like Buenos Aires Tetras, tiger barbs, red-eye tetras etc, then you have a semi aggressive setup and you should only place fish in that tank that can handle that environment.. do not add mild mannered fish to a tank that has any of these aggressive tendencies.

    if you want a peaceful tank, you could go with the rosy tetra's, neons, or rummy noses, cardinals and such types, but do not mix peaceful and aggressive or semi-aggressive fish.. even semi-aggressive fish should never go with agrressive fish.. for example, you should not mix tiger barbs (semi-aggressive) with malawi cichlids (aggressive) the tiger barbs wouldnt last day.

    good luck dude..
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 2, 2016
  16. mydummyname

    mydummyname Balala shark

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    there is your problem. i would say get 7 or 8 in total and your problem should be solved as the aggression would be spread out. if you should get 20, they are more likely to school along happily in the tank. please dont mix these fish with rosy fin tetras. the rosy fins would get shredded in no time.

    i keep a school of 20 tiger barbs in a 1,2m 300L tank with 20 rummy nose tetras, under normal circumstances the rummy noses would have been nipped to death after only a few short weeks, but with the tiger barbs in such a large school, they dont even bother each other, let alone mess with the rummy nose tetra's. all you see are the two schools streaming along happily past each other.

    PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS COMBINATION UNLESS YOU HAVE A LARGE ENOUGH TANK AND LARGE ENOUGH SCHOOLS OF FISH OR YOU WILL LOSE FISH.
     
  17. mydummyname

    mydummyname Balala shark

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    thats more like detention! lol
     
  18. OP
    Jewls

    Jewls

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    Thank you for that advice and I have 2 angels, 2 Buenos Aires Tetras(i think), 6 neon's, 4 (white yellow and black fins) tetras and I am going to get A Siamese Algi eater. The 2 Buenos Aires Tetras I am keeping in a friends tank with no other fish in it for now.
     

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