Right now I have a black neon tetra and two otos in qt. They've been in there for about 6 weeks so their qt is up and they are ready for the main tank. They are just keeping my tank cycled until I bring home the next (hopefully last) batch of fish, which will be a honey gourami and one more tetra. There's just a slight problem..I had originally bought two tetras last time but one died the day after I brought them home. The remaining tetra has been incredibly skiddish the entire time of being alone. She got used to me after a while, but those darned otos suddenly became terrified of me, and every time I walked by, they would freak and spin around the tank. Through social learning, the tetra learned from them that I was bad and now she's scared again. Should I put her in the 10 gallon with the other 4, or should I keep her in qt to keep the last tetra company? There's a pretty big risk that the new one might die and she'd be alone for another month. Do you think I could just stop at a school of 5? I might do that instead.

Aschool of 5 tetras are fine, if that is what ou are talking about. They might need to settle in the tank for awhile longer to be calmer and not so skiddish. Sometimes it can take awhile. My newest goldfish this summer took 2 weeks to settle in the tank. So give it time, things should settle down.

i'd leave her it the Qt tank for when you get the new tetra so this way is less stress and hopefully she will calm down

I've decided it is best to move her into the main tank with the other tetras. It will be 1-2 more weeks until I can get to the LFS to buy the last batch of fish. She seems to be getting worse...she's not acting sick, but more and more scared of me. She's even swimming like the otos :\ Even when I do get the other fish, the new tetra could die and she'd be stuck alone for another month. Keeping two tetras together could encourage extreme dominance like the last two... I originally bought four but only two made it, the most dominant one and the most submissive one. I had to use a divider for the rest of qt. The school of four do pretty well. None are ever cowering away, all eat well, and there are hardly any ripped fins. I think I'm going to stop at 5 and see how it goes. I'll leave the two otos in the qt to hold the cycle until I get my gourami. Thanks for your input.