Black Phantoms, Flames and more.

**treasure coast freshie** · 11-19-2012, 04:49 PM

Hey! As promised, here's an issue that's puzzling to me. A few days ago I added 7 Flame tetras to my 20. (also have a small Pleco, and 3 Ghost Shrimp in the tank.) They brightened up beautifully in a few hours and look just great. The PH is WAY alkaline, (I treated for ick the previous week with fizzy tablets, more about that later.) My understanding is that the females have black tips on the pectoral fins, the males don't. It appears that I have 5 females and 2 males. In less than 24 hrs, the biggest and brightest (color) female staked out her territory, basically the right rear quadrant, (middle of the tank to the right wall, and 1/2 way to the front) and ferociously defends it. The 2nd (female) claimed from the center to the left 1//4 mark, the 3rd in line the left 1/4 to the left wall. They each have their borders, and trespassers are dealt with immediately. (the shrimps and Pleco go unnoticed) The other 2 females are slightly smaller, so are the 2 males, these 4 are relegated to the front left 1/4 of the tank. The females (especially Queeny) wiggle and dance in front of the males, entice them into their territory, and basically almost rape 'em. The males kinda seem too young to understand what's going on. Is it the males with black tips? or is this some kind of gender reversal, possibly due to the imbalance in numbers? I mentioned PH because everything I read says these fish like 7.0 or lower. I don't know what my PH is, but looks like 7.6 or higher. There seems to be some kind of aphrodisiac quality to this water. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks.

**Cyberra** · 11-19-2012, 07:37 PM

Please post your questions in the appropriate sections and you'll get more answers than you know what to do with. This section is for introductions only.