# Fin nipping guppies and tetras



## CatB (Jan 29, 2012)

wait, is it the guppies, the tetras, or both that have bits of tail missing? what species of tetra do you have? 
you mentioned overcrowding, what size tank do you have, and how many of each species of fish? 
have you actually seen one fish biting another's tail?
also, have you checked your water parameters (especially ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte, pH) recently? what are they? where the tails seem bitten off, is the flesh darker? because it COULD be tail rot...


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

What size tank do you have? How many of each type do you have? I know that in my 110g I had a swordtail that always went after my male guppies tails. Maybe its overcrowding?


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## nathanAcs (Mar 30, 2012)

I have five neon tetras. Two black skirt tetras. I think thats what theyre called and i also have about 60 -70 guppies. We started wioth about 10 and now there are so many! They reproduce quickly! Im not sure how many gallons the tank is but its huge. It is about 4 feet long. 1 ft wde and 18 inches high. Im positive its not tail rot. Ive seen them chase each other around aiming for their tail.


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

I'm not 100% sure but that could be a 40 breeder. Well can you get another tank? If not try and see if you can trade in some guppies to a LFS or find a way to reduce your population because it sounds like you have to many in a tank. If you have that many guppies and keep them all in there its going to get even crazier in that tank.


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## Aether.ed (Jun 22, 2011)

Ah thats an easy one! Black skirt tetras are some of the nastiest, nippyest tetras out there, they take joy in bullying and picking on other fish ripping up their fins just for fun! I would not keep these in a community tank especially ones with flowing fins like guppies!

Get ur neons some buddys, get at least 10 in a tank that size, tetras should be kept in group of 6 or more as they are schoaling sociable fish!

Lose the black skirts and you will be fine!

Also if you do have too many guppys (as some seem to think you do) get urself a larger fish eating fish, not too big as to eat ur adult guppies but one that can eat enough of the fry to keep the population down. I use an african brown knife fish and 3 x butterfly fish as population control in my tanks! Guppys are very messy for their size (just eat and crap constantly!) and too many of them will pollute the water. (but you probably know that)! 


good luck


Ed


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## nathanAcs (Mar 30, 2012)

Okay yea . Ill try to go take some guppues in to petco as a donation. And really its the skirts?  i really like those! Sad day and now that u mention that. Their fins are in perfect conditions. Theyre pretty fast too. Ill keep both of these in mind. Thanks i guess after all these years my father and i are still rookies in fish keeping.


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## CatB (Jan 29, 2012)

hey, hey- i'd just get more black skirts. most tetras/barbs/other nippy fish calm down when they're in groups of five or more. it's recommended most everywhere to never have less than five of any species of most any schooling fish, especially tetras and barbs. also, yeah, return/sell/RAOK some of those guppies... i had like 100 in a poorly filtered five gallon tank once, but the only reason they lived was because they got used to the ammonia buildup (NEVEREVEREVER do that, i was stupid and didn't know anything about fishkeeping...)


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## Aether.ed (Jun 22, 2011)

I'd just shift the black skirts, even in a larger group they go out of their way to nip other fish. They caused chaos in my bros 30gal and he had at least 15 of them! Notoriously nippy little buggers! Adding more would usually mellow out aggro with tetras but its just not the case with black skirts they are just plain nasty to other fish (they do leave each other alone so a species tank would work well). Can see why you like them tho I do like the deeper bodied tetra. May I suggest black phantoms, look very similar to the black skirts but a tad smaller and have a nice splash of red on them, very peaceful too!

Ed


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## nathanAcs (Mar 30, 2012)

hmm the phantom tetra seems relly cool. what are other species of fish i can keep with guppies that i wont have a nipping issue?


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