# Serpae Tetra



## action20 (Jul 17, 2013)

Just bought 3 Serpae Tetra Saturday to go in my tank that has 5 Mollies, 3 Platies, 1 Rainbow shark, and 8 rosy red minnows...

The serape tetra usually just hang to the one side of the tank (the darker side), and don't feed when the rest of the fish are feeding...

It's a 29 gallon tank...hoping they adjust soon...


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

They should. I hope you are done buying? Sounds like a pretty stocked tank. Take my advice and quit while you are ahead.


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## action20 (Jul 17, 2013)

haha...yea i'm done...it's actually not crowded...just had to get more than just the rosy reds and the mollies in the tank i initially started with...plus i have two smaller tanks i could use if it does appear to be crowded


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## switchbreed (Sep 10, 2013)

should be in larger groups than 3.....Serpaes are also very mean fish in my experience.


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## action20 (Jul 17, 2013)

The guy at the fish specialty shop said they should be good with what I currently had and that 3 was fine, so I didn't get 5.


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## switchbreed (Sep 10, 2013)

Thats a bunch of balboa  serpaes are notorious fin nippers and they get worse the fewer they are. This is probably because of them being school fish so if they are to few to school they get more agressive. For me they managed to destroy most fins in my tank over the course of 12 hours. Sadly after i got rid of them one cardinal with barely any fins died. Research before you buy, very important.


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

Unfortunately some of the above posts are spot on, Serpae tetras when well adjusted should look like piranhas at feeding time. You are probably already overstocked but in this case if you are not willing\able to take the serpaes back then get at least 4 more. You will need to be prepared to do a minimum of 50% water change weekly and should also look into a second filter. Just to add to the good news that rainbow shark of yours will grow to six inches quickly and barely be able to turn around in that size of tank. Good news is that if you can keep up with this overload for 6 months then hopefully you will be ready for your next tank (75 or 90 gallon) lol that you can rehome him into


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## Avraptorhal (Jan 24, 2013)

switchbreed said:


> Thats a bunch of balboa  serpaes are notorious fin nippers and they get worse the fewer they are. This is probably because of them being school fish so if they are to few to school they get more agressive. For me they managed to destroy most fins in my tank over the course of 12 hours. Sadly after i got rid of them one cardinal with barely any fins died. Research before you buy, very important.


I have the exception that proves the rule. I have one long fin Serpae Tetra. It is the remainder of 6 that I tried to start with. I killed two with excess nitrates (80+). That left the one I have now, Subsequently I bought three more to add to the one left. After loosing one in the QT I moved the remainder to the DT. Those two disappeared, one two days after the move and the last of the two disappeared a couple days later. Before you ask I did all the searching that occurred to me.

The one I have left is a relatively peaceful fish just occassionly chases a fish that he thought was invading a section of the tank he considered his territory. I never saw him bite the fish he chased and none show any evidence of bites. They are thriving.*question


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## action20 (Jul 17, 2013)

Did read around about the tetras before buying and found mixed reviews. The place I went to is pretty knowledable about fish so asked about them again before buying. 

As for the rainbow shark, I know that eventually it would out grow the tank.


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

Avraptorhal said:


> I have the exception that proves the rule. I have one long fin Serpae Tetra. It is the remainder of 6 that I tried to start with. I killed two with excess nitrates (80+). That left the one I have now, Subsequently I bought three more to add to the one left. After loosing one in the QT I moved the remainder to the DT. Those two disappeared, one two days after the move and the last of the two disappeared a couple days later. Before you ask I did all the searching that occurred to me.
> 
> The one I have left is a relatively peaceful fish just occassionly chases a fish that he thought was invading a section of the tank he considered his territory. I never saw him bite the fish he chased and none show any evidence of bites. They are thriving.*question


There are always exceptions and I hope you have one, but unfortunately lots of people have exceptionally peaceful fish until they are a year or two old.


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## switchbreed (Sep 10, 2013)

Well at this point I can only hope that they stay peaceful 
It might very well be that the "shark" is intimidating enough to keep them in check.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

action20 said:


> The guy at the fish specialty shop said they should be good with what I currently had and that 3 was fine, so I didn't get 5.


Taking the advice of the people in the stores will end you up down a wrong road. Maybe not in this case specifically, but most don't know what they are talking about as never having kept fish outside the store themselves. Just a word of caution. You are much better off doing your own reading and making your own decisions based on your research.


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## tetrafan01 (Sep 12, 2013)

I also have 3 serapes only one of them is aggressive only toward other serapas if they come in to his space..He doesn't bother any of my other fish though. I agree research is always the best way to know your fishes habits.:fish-in-bowl:


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## Avraptorhal (Jan 24, 2013)

dalfed said:


> There are always exceptions and I hope you have one, but unfortunately lots of people have exceptionally peaceful fish until they are a year or two old.


My fish are about a year old, so we'll know soon. So far he just swims about the tank, maybe chases one fish every couple of days. None of the other fish show any evidence of fin nipping, I'm watching them carefully.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Tetras I have found to be pretty nippy things. I have a group of emperor, rainbow and now red minor tetras, all of whom are extremely nippy. This is why I chose them for the angel tank.


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