Are Serpae Tetras really aggressive?

Question

I had 8 Serpae Tetras in the tank with my Giant Danios & Black Skirt Tetras back in Febuary but I had to give 4 away because my tank was alittle overstocked ( I was new to the hobby). They never nipped at the other fish in the tank and wasn't showing any signs of aggression. Matter of fact they would school with my black skirts and the 4 that I still have still do it. So are Serpae Tetras really aggressive like some people say?

Answer 1

Hi Crystal,

Yes and No.  Yes if you keep 3 or less.  You start adding to that and you have a pack of wild Piranha wannabes :-)  They will nip and bite anything and probably scare all your fish to death.

Check out this website i have found for you.  http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/...  If you do not want to go ahead with these i would suggest Fire Tetras, very nice and very calm even in packs.

Good Luck :-)

Answer 2

My brothers group of 5 nipped all the fins off, and killed several, of his Neon Tetras. I would say they are high risk community fish. They had a tank to themselves up until his apistogrammas wanted to breed in another tank, now they share a tank with bonkers chain loaches which look after themselves, if fish were people, chain loaches would be football hooligans, so they hold their own against the serpaes for now.

When serpaes are in small groups less than 6-8 they are a bit more timid.

Answer 3

They may not be aggressive for several reasons, including their background, their health, the size of the tank, and the temperature!  

Answer 4

serpeas are notorious fin nippers but, unlike others have suggested...

when kept in large enough groups the agression is kept within the group instead of towards other fish., it is BEST with "fin nippers" (this goes for larger tetras, barbs ect) to keep them in a larger group as all agression is kept keeping their little group in order.

because you started with 8 they developed a good group dynamic that kept your other fish safe, when you removed 4 you upset the pekcing order and they will be spending alot of time trying to figure it back out.

you may be lucky, they may be happy in a group of 4 and have no agression issues...

usually its at least 5 but as long as there not showing agression to their tank mates i wouldnt worry.

however, their tank mates are also known to be "mildly agressive" and "active" fish, so that might also be why.

if you tried to house them with neon tetras or angel fish ect youd see alot of agression and potentially loose alot of fish...