There are schooling fish, shoaling fish, dither fish...are endler's fighty fish?

[Nanotanks]

I'm not sure if the best thing I ever did, or the worst thing I ever did was introducing a school of six Endler males to my community tank of ruby and ember tetra, Tucano tetra, Otocinclus, and a badass betta.

On the plus side, no one runs away. I can sit and watch them interact: the Tucanos inhabit the mid to top region, the tetra the mid to bottom. The Betta is a Siamese housecat, and does what he wants. They didn't always do this: the ruby and embers used to hide behind the hardscape if I was there. I think the Endlers are the catalyst. 

The Endlers are a ceaseless ball of frenetic energy, constantly engaged in a roiling ball of chaos. I started to feel bad, until I sat down and watched them. When they're tired, which is when the light is off, they leave each other alone. But unless they're eating, their daylight hours are spent in a Byzantine web of treachery and attack. They form temporary alliances, betray each other, run away, and then charge back in as soon as they see weakness. All this while never really hurting each other, and becoming the most colorful and vibrant inhabitant of my tanks, like constantly fighting peacocks swathed in orange, black, green, and blue. Even zebra spots on their fins!

I hate them for their chaos. But their tankmates don't care at all, just obediently move aside as the spinning ball of colored rage moves through the tank. I need to be more like a fish, and just accept chaos and hostility. That is why a school of male Endlers may be the best and worst thing to ever happen to my tank.

[Scapexghost]

If you want to tone down the aggression you could consider adding some female endlers if you have the room

[PineSong]

On 10/10/2021 at 2:02 PM, Nanotanks said:

I'm not sure if the best thing I ever did, or the worst thing I ever did was introducing a school of six Endler males to my community tank of ruby and ember tetra, Tucano tetra, Otocinclus, and a badass betta.

Ha! I am going to come down on the side of it being one of the best! I have two male red chili Endlers in my community tank and they are definitely a favorite additions--they go back and forth between chasing and racing all the bigger fish and doing their little vibrating dance in front of them.

The Endlers don't seem to bother with each other at all--they harass the heck out of the male mollies. It looks a bit like a prison shower scene to me, but the mollies do not seem bothered a bit and just keep doing whatever they are doing like the little guys are not there.

I don't have any female chili reds, but I got a trio of blue star Endlers so I can add more Endler males to the tank once they make some.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Are endlers one of those that seem to do ok in smaller numbers?

[laritheloud]

On 10/10/2021 at 10:03 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Are endlers one of those that seem to do ok in smaller numbers?

I started with 3 male endlers in my bachelor pad tank and now I have 12. They were just fine when they were only 3 with inverts. Now they are a roiling mass of chaos during the day as described by OP, but still don't really seem to hurt or actually bother one another. They're just high-energy!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@laritheloud I was just wondering about it because it would be neat instead of a centerpiece fish (a concept to which I'm totally over) maybe just be able to add a few (literally 3)  more colorful fish to my small collection of ember tetras. 

Edited October 11, 2021 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[laritheloud]

@xXInkedPhoenixX I think that'd be totally fine. I had only 3 endlers for over a month and they were totally fine, even housed them in quarantine with a thicklip gourami temporarily when she was bloated and they were perfectly happy. They'd probably be curious little fish with a lot of spunky energy during the day, but I actually don't think you'd see quite as much squabbling as if you got more of them. They're super fun little guys and they add next to nothing to the bioload. 

[PineSong]

On 10/10/2021 at 10:30 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

@laritheloud I was just wondering about it because it would be neat instead of a centerpiece fish (a concept to which I'm totally over) maybe just be able to add a few (literally 3)  more colorful fish to my small collection of ember tetras. 

I've had two male Endlers in my 20g community tank with other fish since July, and they appear to be happy as clams. I see no ill effects from keeping low numbers--I can guarantee they are not afraid of the other fish at all (mollies, guppies, platys, otocinclus, betta, white clouds).

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@PineSong great, that's exactly what I need. I think it will make my Flex more lively and colorful- I got 4 today of all different color/patterns. They're in a 2 gallon QT right now with a hitchiker (CPD which will go with my others) and 3 Hillstreams. They're very active.