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Everywhere I've read says that seprae tetras are aggressive, or fin nippers. I have a school of neons and glowlights at the moment, and think that adding a shoal of sepraes will really brighten up the tank. I was just wondering if this was just a myth and if sepraes aren't as bad as they're made out to be. If sepraes are too nippy for neons, to you think red phantoms will be OK because apparently they are very very peaceful. I'm not convinced though, as they look almost the same as their aggressive cousins, the sepraes.

Also before I leave you to answer my first question, do you think if I buy a school of cardinals, would they schoold with the neons and cardinals? Or would they form their own school?

I wouldn't worry about Serpaes being nippy towards neons and glowlights. I would worry about the neons and glowlights not being able to get food. IME neons and glowlights are kind of slow. Mine stay towards the bottom-middle of the tank and are slower to come to the surface to eat. If Serpaes stay towards the top, they may eat all the food before the neons and glowlights had a chance to get up there.

I've never kept Serpaes, so I can't really give you an experience with them.

But, I also have neons and glowlights. They all stick together. Cardinals and neons look similar so they will probably stick together, along with the glowlights.

Really I think most tetras hang out together. In my 55g I have 3 different kinds and they all swim back and forth in one big mass. I think if they felt threatened, they would stay with their own kinds.

What size tank do you have by the way?


*Kristin*

I have some Serpaes. In my experience, they aren't really as agressive towards other fish as much as they are amongst themselves. Mine will really bully each other around sometimes. I used to have Diamond tetras in with the Serpaes. The Serpaes never nipped at the Diamonds and they did school together.

GirlieGirl is right about the feeding though. Mine are definitely greedy and they are very fast. They will eat as much as they can as fast as they can. I don't know what you would do to get around that problem, my other fish have always held their own at feeding time, so I don't worry about it. I will say that mine eat a good bit quickly, but they do fill up and stop eating quickly too. Maybe you could do two small feedings close to each other.

- Meow -

Ive kept them with neons and it wasnt good...in the end I had to return the Serpaes. Which was a shame as they are a beautiful fish.

They are like little Piranha tho.

You could try it, but have a backup plan in case things dont work out.

IMO Serpaes go well with Tiger Barbs, Danios, Red Eyes etc other fast nippy fish

Cardinals and neons will school together, especially if they feel threatened