neon disaster

[tetrastetrastetras]

hi everyone, new here but love reading about fish. i'm a relative newbie but i used to lurk here for info on setting up my aquarium. my current setup (40gal) has been running for a year or so now, its tropical with some plants, rocks, driftwood, TopFin Power filter 60, airstone with pump and 2 light tubes, Flora-Glo and Aqua Glo, both hagen i believe.

anyways i've had 4 red eyed tetras and neon tetras in teh tank since it's inception, and some Algae eaters, and a pimelodus pictus catfish. recently i picked up a couple neon tetras to form a group but these past few days i've been missing more and more neon tetras. you probably guessed it, the pictus catfish ate around 8 of them whole over a span of 3 days.

At first i was really confused but after reseraching tonight i realised that the pictus was a big mistake with this community. anyways, the point is i hope nobody picks a pictus to go with their neon tetra tank... it is a lot of trouble.

I think i'm going to return the pictus to petsmart and get some more neon tetras... I really dislike having fish that eat other fish, it's not fun when you wake up and more fish are missing.

Can anyone make a recommendation on what other fish i could add to my community safely? i prefer colours and movement, and i'm planning to increase the plants density as soon as i'm able. I just dont' want bad advice from my friend again and get half my fish killed for no good reason. thanks for listening to me rant

[Lady Hobbs]

I would prefer the neons as well. I love those colorful little guys and they're some of my favorites. You can have a lot of nice fish in that tank. Rasbora's are another favorite of mine. Stay small and always moving. I also have some long-finned danio's I like a lot. (I hate zerba's) You could get a few gourami's as well and a group of cory-cats for the bottom.

Silver Dollars are great fish too but get about 5 inches (round). Nice fish and get along with everything.

[tetrastetrastetras]

I would prefer the neons as well. I love those colorful little guys and they're some of my favorites. You can have a lot of nice fish in that tank. Rasbora's are another favorite of mine. Stay small and always moving. I also have some long-finned danio's I like a lot. (I hate zerba's) You could get a few gourami's as well and a group of cory-cats for the bottom.

Silver Dollars are great fish too but get about 5 inches (round). Nice fish and get along with everything.

Thanks Lady Hobbs, i'm going to try to get some more plants for them to hide in, and some driftwood for decor. maybe I can title the tank Neon Wonderland ;) I'll keep an eye out for Rasboras and Danios, Gourami's are a lil pricier around here so I'll hang back for a bit. I think the key lesson i learned is to always do your research on compatability first!!

[tetrastetrastetras]

update: i think my red eyed tetras are getting territorial... i've lost a few neons to biting and such so I think my tank is getting a little crowded. the water quality is pretty decent though, all the chemicals are in good ranges but they seem to be dying left and right. alas my cardinal is still there and getting bigger, he's been nicknamed the Veteran. I'm going to stop adding fish for a while, just so the tank stabilizes, maybe i added too many too soon. right now i only have 3 neons left out of too many... they don't seem too hardy despite what some sites say. I guess my neon dreams will have to wait... especially with the 4 big red eyed tetras bossing the tank. i bought a few danios and they are fitting into the tank just great, so thats some comfort

[Lady Hobbs]

Sorry you're losing your neon's. But no, neons are not that hardly. They are too tiny to be hardy. Amazingly, I have four and should name all of them Veterans. These things have been moved from tank to tank so many times it's unreal but they keep on-keeping on. I've lost others for no obvious reason. Water is the same for all of them but some of them just give up the ghost and die.

[Rue]

I don't think it's to do with size...zebra danios are just as small and quite hardy...

...I think it's to do with genetics and water preferences...

[troy]

Remove the red-eyed tetras A.S.A.P. The same thing happened to me with my serpae tetras and were eventually eaten by large tinfoil barbs; when they got moved to another tank.