Bully phantom....what to do!

[ohmikeosh]

I think one of the phantoms which happens to be the biggest one is bullying the other two and trying to bully the black neons, but they arent scared of him. They are tough little guys. And the phantoms are the chickens. The first two days they were all schooling really nice, but last night and today the big phantom has the center of the tank and the other two phantoms are hiding on opposite ends of the tank. They come out for a little bit, but after a while the bigger one chases them around and they go back to hiding. They are all eating good and the neons dont seem to care about the bully, but the other two phantoms are hiding a bit. What can I do? I have 3 black neon's and 3 phantom tetras in a 29 so far. Should I add more phantoms? Or should I seperate the big one. They are not even swimming around they are all just in there spots....Thanks for looking.

[gm72]

I think as long as your cycle is clean you should add 3 members of each to the schools.

[ohmikeosh]

I may try to get only females if possible. This guy has got to go (I just named him biff). Now none of the fish are swimming because he is bullying all of them he has the whole tank while the others are stuck in there spots. Biff is probably going back to that crowded tank he came from. He is literally headbutting other fish that try to swim.

[ohmikeosh]

Just found out that the females are bigger than the males and the females tend to bully the males. I think I may have 2 females and one male.

[rich311k]

I think you will find 3-4 more of them will solve the problem.

[ohmikeosh]

Ok thanks rich..will try adding a few more before biff goes bye bye.

[mommy1]

i have 9 black phantoms, and when i first added them they would flare at each other, not really fighting just warning and showing off to each other. after a while everyone calmed down and now there is only the occasional show down of flaring. schooling fish do better in larger numbers, i think if you add 3 or 4 more the problem will be solved, or at the least it will calm down to livable.

[ohmikeosh]

Ok I am probably gonna add three more of each....Thanks!