Serpae Tetras

[RedMan337]

I have a 70 gal tank and I just sold all my big fish because I wanted a bunch of schooling fish. Right now, i have 21 serpae tetras, and they are surprisingly aggressive, not that I mind.

I tried to mix them with black neon tetras in equal parts (20 of each) and the serpae tetras killed and ate them all........... They made my decision to get a few diff kinds or one giant school easy lol. I want to get 20 or so more and mix them with some of the following: freshwater flounder, hillstream butterfly loach, cory cat, dwarf lobsters, kuhli loach, fiddler crab, clown/yoyo loach, and maybe bumblebee goby.

My question is, in your experience, which of those will the tetras kill/kill the tetras and which will be ok. I know the theoretical temperaments and hypothetical tank mates of each, but that doesn't always work out. I'm trying to avoid another massacre like the black neon tetra episode :(

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Dave66]

Your problem is you added the serpae school first. They view the whole tank is theirs, and will attack anything else you put in with them. They behave just fine if they are the LAST fishes in the tank; I have 12 dozen of them in a tank with a larger school of silver tip tetras, and there's no aggression from the serpae tetras toward the silver tips nor any of the other fish in that tank.

If you've another tank to put the serpae school in do so, then allow the black neons to become established for few weeks then reintroduce the serpaes a few at a time.

Your other fish choices; the flounder, though while small is a freshwater fish, as it grows it will require brackish water or suffer renal failure and death. Hillstream loaches are temperate water fishes, not tropical, and by the common name it's obvious they need high current and high dissolved Oxygen levels. They also need copious amounts of green algae to consume. Cory cats do far, far better in groups of their kind. In your 70, eight or twelve of them. The 'dwarf lobsters' are crayfish, and will eat any fish they can catch.

Kuhli loaches are also a schooling species, so at least six, with more, better. Crabs available in the hobby don't survive well in a typical tropical aquarium, and they, too, will eat any fish they can get. Clown loaches grow to 16 inches, which is too large for your tank. That adult size plus their need for a number of others of their kind, well, you can see the problem. Yoyos, also a group fish needed at least six of their kind, grow to six inches. They are semi-aggressive towards other bottom dwelling fishes, so if you HAVE to have them, don't stock kuhlis or corys.

Bumblebee gobies are brackish water fishes.

Dave

[RedMan337]

Thanks Dave! I'm new to community tanks. Still learning the little things about them. I do have another tank i can stick the serpae tetra in, thanks for the idea!

Now that you say that about clown loaches, I remember seeing one a foot long at the lfs... brain fart.

I have had success with keeping hillstream loaches in the past in water around 78 degrees with a oxygen injected powerhead blowing along the back wall for them to latch onto and let the water flow over them, like they would naturally in a stream. Would the tetras kill them, since they are docile, but have no defenses like plecos?

I planned on getting 6-10 julii corys, they're so cool and fun lol. Are there any other smaller catfish that I could keep in a community tank, like a banjo catfish maybe?

I figures as much about the lobster and crab, but they would be such a cool addition i had to ask haha.

So no flounders, gobies, clown or yoyo loaches. Are there any community fish like gobies in that they will sift through the substrate(which in this case is fine sand) for food? Also, my lfs has these large algae eating shrimp that are almost 3 inches long and way too meaty for these small fish to eat. I keep my light on a lot and my ottocats eat all the algae that grows on the walls, but there is plenty for them to feast on by the filter. Would they be ok? I believe they are called amano shrimp but I could be wrong.

[cer]

Kuhli Loaches are a good bottom feeder that sifts through sand but I would choose either kuhlis or cories.