View Full Version : Please help identify fish, fin nipping, one casualty
Hello, I am a very new aquarist and so far so good except for this "fin nipping" phenomenon. I have a 20 gallon aquarium with a few different kinds of fish, I'll list the species except for the offending one, the name of which I don't know, and neither have I been able to find a picture of this exact species.
Here's what I have:
6 neon tetras
4 green tiger barbs
3 common platys (bright red with black fins)
1 bala shark
6 of these unknown fish.
Now I know I have some notorious fin nippers in my tank, but I've never seen any other kind of fish chasing the unknown fish, they just chase each other around, constantly nipping the fins of the smallest ones, and now one is almost dead; another one is badly beaten up as well and it just hides in one corner until the others come, nip it's fins and chase it away. The casualty's physical condition got worse over the last few days and now it has almost chunks torn off and is lying at the bottom gulping it's last. The barbs used to nip each other's fins when they were new to the tank but now they live surprisingly peacefully with each other and other fish as well, while the lone bala shark just minds it's own business... unless it does all this at night when I cant see it, I think no other species is responsible for this.
I have pictures, please identify this fish:
http://gallery.photo.net/photo/6932876-md.jpg
The casualty:
http://gallery.photo.net/photo/6932878-md.jpg
Please advise!
Cheers!
xBSD
fins_n_fur
02-10-2008, 09:46 AM
The first picture looks like a hockeystick or penguin tetras or Thayeria boehlkei. I can't help with the behaviour, however. Did you just add them (recently)?
The first picture looks like a hockeystick or penguin tetras or Thayeria boehlkei. I can't help with the behaviour, however. Did you just add them (recently)?
No, these were amongst the first fish to populate the tank after I bought it. The most recent addition are the 3 red platys, which was two days ago, but this has been going on since the beginning.
Thanks for your response, I'll check the names you mentioned and read up on them.
Cheers!
xBSD
fins_n_fur
02-10-2008, 10:00 AM
Good luck, they are supposed to be peaceful community fish.
Fishalicious
02-10-2008, 10:28 AM
Has the nipping now stopped that the small one is dead? It is a hockeystick tetra by the way which are not really nippy...
A lot of tetra's will take out a weak or sick tetra to keep themselves safe from disease so it could be that the little one wasn't well and the others decided to take it out...
Tlewis
02-10-2008, 10:31 AM
the platy's can chase and give your fish a bad time if they are ready to breed but this is rare. Also I would get a hand full of those Tetras. They school and will weather beter in a school of at least 4. My guess is that you may only have that one tetra or only a couple. Get a few more and I bet you will notice a difference in behaivor of the other platy's. The other thing you can do if it's a territorial thing is move around the ornamints in your tank. The fish will have to then re claim ther land and this gives new fish a chance. Hope this helps
Tetra's sometimes just end up at the bottom. Flush it!
:1:
Tlewis
02-10-2008, 10:33 AM
Has the nipping now stopped that the small one is dead? It is a hockeystick tetra by the way which are not really nippy...
A lot of tetra's will take out a weak or sick tetra to keep themselves safe from disease so it could be that the little one wasn't well and the others decided to take it out...
MMMMM, I'm humgry for some fish now. I went to Monterey Bay Aquarium and they too had a Sea Food resturant there. I thought perfect. I can view all the beautiful animals and then go eat them. thumbs2:
Has the nipping now stopped that the small one is dead? It is a hockeystick tetra by the way which are not really nippy...
A lot of tetra's will take out a weak or sick tetra to keep themselves safe from disease so it could be that the little one wasn't well and the others decided to take it out...
No, can't say that the nipping has stopped, they still chase each other around almost constantly.
Everywhere I read, these hockeystick tetras are "peaceful", but in my tank, they are the most aggressive kind of fish, but only towards each other, they don't even pay attention to the neon tetras, let alone completely unrelated fish.
Cheers!
xBSD
the platy's can chase and give your fish a bad time if they are ready to breed but this is rare. Also I would get a hand full of those Tetras. They school and will weather beter in a school of at least 4. My guess is that you may only have that one tetra or only a couple. Get a few more and I bet you will notice a difference in behaivor of the other platy's. The other thing you can do if it's a territorial thing is move around the ornamints in your tank. The fish will have to then re claim ther land and this gives new fish a chance. Hope this helps
Tetra's sometimes just end up at the bottom. Flush it!
:1:
I have 6 of the hockeystick tetras in question, do I need any more? I did add a live plant and a large rock only two days ago, so I think re-arrangement might not be necessary.
Cheers!
xBSD
Fishalicious
02-10-2008, 11:38 AM
That really is strange because Thayeria boehlkei (hockeysticks) are one of the most peaceful tetra's I know - they can even easily go with Angelfish as they are quite calm.
With other nippy tetra's it is always good to up the numbers as that way the aggression is spread out and there are rarely casualties - so maybe that is an idea for your 'gone wild' hockeysticks.... also try to provide a lot of hiding place via plants so escape is more easy for those being picked on.
Good luck!!!
shockshockshad
02-10-2008, 11:49 PM
You know that bala sharks get almost a foot and a half long, right? They need a 125 gallon and PLUS they are schooling fish.
jbeining75
02-10-2008, 11:56 PM
You know that bala sharks get almost a foot and a half long, right? They need a 125 gallon and PLUS they are schooling fish.
thats what I was thinking......
You know that bala sharks get almost a foot and a half long, right? They need a 125 gallon and PLUS they are schooling fish.
Yeah I figured that out after I got it, being an almost complete newbie at this, I didn't do much research on the fish before I went and filled my new tank. The one bala shark that I have though, is still small, little over 2 inches in length. Maybe I should take it back to the store?
Cheers!
xBSD
smaug
02-11-2008, 04:02 AM
Yeah I figured that out after I got it, being an almost complete newbie at this, I didn't do much research on the fish before I went and filled my new tank. The one bala shark that I have though, is still small, little over 2 inches in length. Maybe I should take it back to the store?
Cheers!
xBSD
immediatly!I wish I would have done that years ago with mine,now he is 8" long and nobody wants him.
Warsong
02-11-2008, 11:01 AM
it would be the tiger barbs, i found out the hard way barbs are very aggressive. i had one in my tank also that was attacking everything and i had to find somewhere else to put it. lucky eventually i had a outbreak of a bacterial infection which killed the tiger barb off be4 i could rescue him.
unless u actually saw the hockeysticks doing it i dont think it was them that were fin nipping.
unless u actually saw the hockeysticks doing it i dont think it was them that were fin nipping.
I did see the hockeysticks doing it, almost constantly. But now they seem to have calmed down after that one fish died. The barbs I have are fairly peaceful, they had a few fights between themselves to establish a hierarchy of sorts and now they just swim around peacefully.
Cheers!
xBSD
immediatly!I wish I would have done that years ago with mine,now he is 8" long and nobody wants him.
It's done, I liked my shark, it's better off outside of my tank. Got a couple of Kuhli loaches to replace it.
Cheers!
xBSD
Has the nipping now stopped that the small one is dead? It is a hockeystick tetra by the way which are not really nippy...
A lot of tetra's will take out a weak or sick tetra to keep themselves safe from disease so it could be that the little one wasn't well and the others decided to take it out...
Actually it has finally stopped now, after the weak, beaten up fish finally died, I took it out and after a couple of days all was well with the hockeysticks. They still give chases to one another, but nothing like the constant nipping of each other's fins.
Cheers!
xBSD
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