# Black skirts fighting and attacking each other relentlessy after taking fish away.



## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

I took out the Big head and tails out of the tank (which one of them was the same size as the biggest black skirt and held him in check.)

Lights go on at 2pm and it is now 10am, when I looked in I saw the black skirts chasing each other and ramming each other non stop ALL AROUND THE TANK. When I turned the lights on I see that the biggest black skirt is being chased the most. They go beside each other and continually bite, ram and chase. I have never seen this kind of behavior until I took the other fish out. (maybe they realize they are gone and are trying to establish territory)

They are making all the other fish jumpy. Are they trying to show who is the most dominate, or 2 males trying to chase the female to get her pregnant? Whatever is going on, I can't let it keep going, they will tear each other to threads. They never did this before? I managed to grab the female (I think) and keep her in a net, the other 2 are still going at it, and it looks like they are so jumpy and want to attack all the time and very jittery.

What should I do?


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## SueM (Jan 23, 2004)

Tetras are schooling fish, the larger the school, the safer they feel. You removed part of the school.
And yes the 2 males are fighting for dominance. When there is only 2 of them, the aggression can't be spread out among the school.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

What I am trying to say is, all 3 of them are going nuts, and I needed to remove one of them. That one of them was the female.( I think it was because it's the biggest and was being chased the most) I needed to do something.

I don't want to release her back in. They were chasing, ramming, and biting all over the tank. I need to know what to do now because this didn't happen before. What changed? What were they trying to do?

(the head and tails I took out was 2 days ago) Prior to this morning, this kind of behavior did not happen?

Questions:

1. Why are they doing this now?
2. Is it because I took out the head and tails and they have more room?
3. Are they trying to get the female pregnant? If so, why now of all times?
4. I have the biggest one seperate for now, should I release it?
5. Should I get 3 more blackskirts to stop this psyco behavior?


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

I kept black skirts for about 5 years. They're mean little things. They need to be in schools, the bigger, the better. I'd add at least 3 more. Also, move around the decor a little, that will help break up their lines of sight and territory.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

I read this:

Well, the males are in breeding condition, and all six of them have gotten it into their heads that they should be the special one to have sex with the one female. As it is, though, I'm a little worried about my female's stress levels, as she is being vigorously chased and harassed by six sex-crazed males, not to mention getting caught up in the middle all of their fights over her. Any ideas from my fellow tetra keepers? Thanks.

_*If her fins are getting damaged and she's getting too tired and stressed try removing her by any means...A good non-stressful way is to cut a 2 litre bottle in half or cut the top part and make holes in it then put the bottle in their tank...this way the water will flow into the bottle and she will remain fresh like in the tank but peaceful on her own....u can keep her there for a couple days or atleast a few hours till u get another tank or (and this would be better to keep all ur fish together) get about new 6 females to balance the ratio*_

Could this be what is happening now?


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

trashion said:


> I kept black skirts for about 5 years. They're mean little things. They need to be in schools, the bigger, the better. I'd add at least 3 more. Also, move around the decor a little, that will help break up their lines of sight and territory.


I know, but you have to understand this wasn't happening before, something changed.


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