Are some Silver Dollars aggressive?

[balton777]

I've been keeping fish for 10 years and never until recently kept SD's. They just never appealled to me. Not too long ago I bought some on a whim. Now between my tanks I have about 12 Silver Dollars of different kinds. 3 of them are juvie Redhooks that are about 2" long. They've been aggressively biting my baby Grammodes and catfish and generally wreaking havoc on the tank. They're not causing any real damage but are stressing everyone out. Is this normal? Will it go away or get worse? Sorry to sound like a noob but I am to SD's. Thanks for any repies.

 

[mdo135]

Most sds are just like that, but it might stop as they get used to their tankmates. Mine used to pick on the tetras, but after a few months they just gave up. Keep em well fed too. btw redhoods are the worst tempered!

 

[Mystix212]

I've always thought of redhooks being meaner and they are. But the standard SD's are quite passive and calm.

 

[señor_pescados_felices]

I've had nippy silver dollars for sure...

 

[balton777]

Thanks I'm experiencing calm behavior from the regular SD's just like Mystix said but the RH's are the nippy little bast*#d$. I feel like thumping them in the head sometimes.

 

[Mystix212]

Drop in a small bunch of live plants such as elodea to help them get distracted from nipping fish. They'll probably spend more time eating the plant.

 

[grmanrocks]

i had a school of SD's in my hundred gallon for about a month....

till i got sick of the tank being all twitchy. not my kind of fish i guess.....plus they picked on just about everyone

 

[WayneSB]

My experience with silver dollars is limited, but the couple I had would just try to school with the tetras and would chase each other around all the time. One time they nipped at my rainbow, but I'm not convinced that the rainbow wasn't already asking for it.

For the most part, they've been pretty tame, but I also had the standard garden variety of silver dollars.