Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: Aquamaid on January 16, 2015, 07:10:48 PM
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So it's been a fortnight and my 9 Congo tetras have settled in well, all look lovely and are swimming freely across the tank now except for one, she's the biggest female of four, and she looks fit and healthy, she's very vain and spends lot of time admiring herself in the reflective glass, but boy is she mardy, if anyone comes too close she chases them off, and although she will swim near them, isn't joining in the fun, is this normal fishy behaviour i wonder?
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I've heard this can be a problem with small shoals. Whilst nine is by no means a small number, it's probably tiny when compared to their numbers in the wild. I've heard that adding more fish can help. Then again, you might just have a moody fish and adding more might not help at all!
I saw congo tetra in my LFS for the first time, what a stunning fish. I'm guessing they look even better once their settled into your tank.
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Hee hee!!
She sounds like she's found her territory and is defending it vigilantly!!!! I think as long as she is healthy and happy, eating well and not overly withdrawn she is probably behaving quite normally. I don't know if tetras get territorial if they are full of eggs???? I'm sure someone will know!! ;)
Just keep an eye on things for now!
FC76
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Thanks FC i'm probably worrying unecessarily, she's just proved me a liar by joining in the "Conga" or should that be "Congo" line, i shall keep eye on the madam and monitor her moods ::)
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Most shoaling fish have a pecking order of dominance and she is obviously at the top for now. When some of the boys get bigger, since male congo tetras do get bigger than females, this may change.
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Thanks Richard, i will let her have her moment then lol ;)
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Hi,
I've had my x-ray tetras for almost 3 months now, and I notice that behaviour (including pecking order, pairing-off which incidentally is generally size-pairing rather than male/female pairs, nocturnal habits, distancing from the shoal which originally was one but now occasionally two) has changed over this time.
The introduction of extra plants at the rear of the tank caused a change in behaviour - moving the fish towards the front of the tank, and one of the two larger fish decided to occupy the entire 'free-swimming' area; any fish that approaches this area gets chased away by her for much (but not all) of the day, while another seems to spend his time staring at the glass/reflection. No-one in the tank seems perturbed by this, though, and they just swim off elsewhere to play, while the one on his own seems to be keeping an observational eye on everything in the reflection rather than admiring himself; I'm fairly certain that a re-arrangement of decor might change the social structure and habits again.
In a nutshell, therefore, I think it's a matter of "watch this space" re your fish's behaviour...
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Thanks fcmf, yes i think your right, to be honest she is just grumpy not aggressive and very outnumbered lol i have just introduced 6 Harlequin Rasbora and boy that has made things a lot more interesting, the congos were such nervous nellies, like sheep, now they follow the brave little harleys all around the tank, back and forth, i'm getting sea sick lol, and mardy marge is joining in a lot more :D