The best tank mates for Black Skirt Tetra fish are docile community fish. Keeping these fish with other similar mannered Fish is going to be the most important variable. First, start by making sure you have enough black skirt tetras in their own school to feel confident. These fish want to be in groups so buy 5-10 of them.
The best tank mate is going to be more tetra fish. They’re all closely related and this makes for a great bond. The second best option is going to be rainbowfish or Livebearer fish.
Additional Comments
Hi everyone I’m new to owning fish. So, long story short, I'm stupid and uninformed. I bought some fish a few months back for my daughter. I wasn't aware I had to clean their tank so often. There was a real bad ICK problem at one point that lasted at least a month. Its all under control now, but the tank is so bad now. I did a little research to see how to clean a tank and was shook. So many steps much more often than I originally thought. I just invested in a water vacuum. And I NEED someone to explain to me how to clean a 2.5 gal. tank like I'm 5.
I'm currently not in the right situation for a larger tank. I was lucky enough to be able to have a 2.5. We're hoping to move soon, then I'll be going all out.
Honestly if you can't have a tank larger than 2.5 gallons I'd surrender the fish you have. That's not a large enough tank for anything other than shrimp. Fish really need a minimum of 20 gallons as they are highly active fish that can grow upwards of 4 inches.
if you’ll be able to get a bigger tank, filter and more mollies as they’re a schooling fish, you’ll be completely fine. it is very small right now, but if you’re planning on upgrading them, it’ll be better for them to just chill for a couple weeks instead of going back and forth to pet stores. but i wouldn’t wait longer than a couple weeks. i found all my tanks secondhand for super cheap!
i love my black skirt tetra fish so much, they’re such cute active little creatures and i really recommend trying to keep them. water changes are actually pretty easy, i had trouble with them at first but i found a way around it. i bought a hose that was long enough to make it to the toilet and my tanks. i just put the vacuum side in my tank fully submerged, wrap the other end of the hose with my shirt or something so i can do a big suck so the water starts pumping, put it underneath my toilet seat so it drains in the toilet and then you just go over the substrate with the vacuum and all the poop flies up but the substrate stays on the bottom.
It takes me like 20 minutes to do my 3 tanks, it’s annoying at first but you’ll get the hang of it. the amount of water you take out is dependent on the levels of your water, i highly recommend getting an api test kit. right now i’d do 50-70% water changes if i were you, later it’ll only be about 20%. i hope this isn’t too much, and that it makes sense lol. please let me know if you have any questions.
I wish you the best in keeping them. alsooo people sell tanks for $1 a gallon or cheaper on facebook marketplace & local aquarium groups- most new tanks are crazy expensive. smaller tanks are also a lot harder to keep clean, my 90 gallon is so much easier than my 40 gallon.
If you invest in a bigger tank you will notice a huge decrease in maintenance. Anything smaller than 20g is nearly impossible to maintain in my personal experience. Petco occasionally has $1 /gallon sales.
I started small, I deffs had too many fish! But it’s all about learning I eventually upgraded, but for people to tell u to surrender your fish is a bit harsh, if you love the hobby enough you’ll upgrade eventually.
But for the mean time I was the exact same I didn’t know to do gravel vacuuming I assumed water changes were enough. So the gravel vac thing sucks I can never get it working by “shaking” it up and down in the water.. I put mine in and suck on the end to get it going, sounds gross I know but the pet store lady told me that’s how she starts them cause she’s no good at the shaking thing either.
To control the flow pinch the tube or it’s just gonna take out all the water very fast especially in a smaller tank, I push my vac into the gravel till it touches the floor then I let go of my pinch in the tube and let it suck up all the crap
Before doing any of this though I have my new water waiting in a bucket with prime/water conditioner.
Black skirt tetra fish tank mates are fairly easy to find. Just find peaceful community fish.
I don’t do much with the filter but every month or so I’ll give it a rinse in the tank water that I’ve taken out, do not rinse in tap water
Also your fishy has some sort of wound on it I would look into that make sure it’s not columnaris. Cause unfortunately once there’s an infection in the tank they become septable to getting more diseases so keep an eye on their behaviour and physical appearance. Hope I helped.