Help! Neon's Being Eaten

I really need some help, I've only had my tank set up for about a month now and last week I bought a few tropical fish, I purchased 4 retailed tetras, 1 male blue dwarf gourami and 2 swordtails. The tank was still looking a little empty so today I went back and bought some more fish. I got 5 neon tetras, 4 rosy tetras, 2 green tiger barbs, 2 white mollies, 2 rainbow fish and 1 speckled molly. I know barbs can bve quite nippy so i checked with my fish shop that they wouldnt pester my other fish and was told that barbs only attack "floaty fins" so everyone in the tank should get on fine. Not fully convinced, I observed the barbs knowing that they are known to be quite "nippy" to make sure that they didnt attack other fish. They chased around each other and a few of the tetra's but left the neons alone.

However, after one hour i noticed one of the neon's in my plant that looked like it was "stuck". i gave the plant a prod and to my horror the neon had had its fins nibbled off but was still alive. As it floated around the tank gasping for air, the other fish began to nibble on it. Naturally distressed I had to take the neon out of the tank and kill it. I sat in front of my tank desperatly trying to pick out my murderer out of the remaining fish in the tank. I then noticed i could only find 2 of the original 4 neons. Deciding the fish shop must have given me one less neon i dismissed it and went down stairs. Returning 2 hours later, i looked in my tank to make sure the neons were okay but couldnt find them. I have emptied out the tank of all the plants and orniments leaving only the fish and found another half eaten neon, but still alive. I removed him and put him to his rest. However the other neon is nowhere to be seen. surely he cant have been completly eaten by the others in 2 hours?

I'm quite distressed by finding my neons in this state and really want to find out which fish did it. The barbs didnt seem to chase the neons, in fact non of the fish did. I did noticed that the speckled molly seemed rather aggressive and even chased the barbs around the tank, perhaps this is my murderer?

Any help would be gratefully appreciated

Check around (not in) your tank. They may have jumped out. 2 of my neons jumped out one time, i thought they got eaten but i found them 2 days later by me desk.

love_fish said:

Check around (not in) your tank. They may have jumped out. 2 of my neons jumped out one time, i thought they got eaten but i found them 2 days later by me desk.

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i've got a lid on my tank but i've had a little look round on the desk and the floor and still cant find them
all the other fish look rather pleased with themselves though

I dunno man, its to be expected when you put those fish together, eh? I still think it is an experience though... Now you are wiser You will know not to do this again & will be willing to advise others of what your experiences are too. Its nature to i suppose BTW they probably did get eaten...

How many gallons is your tank? You are more likely to see agression issues when your tank is over stocked. Also, just because you don't see your fish acting agressive when you are next to the tank doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I know my fish act differently when i am near the tank vs. across the room. Your fish are adapting to their environment, and seeing somethign moving in the room will make then more shy than with the room being quiet.

You are more likely to see agression issues when your tank is over stocked.

I'm not sure that eating is a sign of aggression....

Check the filter too.

How big is the tank and how big is the other fish?
Tiger barbs are good in damaging other fish' fins; swordtails may do this occasionally during feeding but I doubt either one will actually eat neons wholly. Are your rainbow fishes rainbow sharks by any chance?

the tank is 2 foot x 1 foot x 1 foot so its not huge but i wouldnt say it's over stocked. the other fish are all relatively small, as the majority of them are tetra's. the biggest is probably the gourami but he was one of the first fish in the tank and didnt show any aggression to the other fish.

i'm not too sure of their proper name, i only know they are rainbow fish, definatly not sharks though. They just swim around the tank and stay by the surface pretty much ignoring the other fish.

The filter is clean and free from bits of neon's, still missing 2 bodies though

i'm a little concerned about the so called "speckled molly" who seems to be pestering all of the other fish including the tiger barbs. she is the only one of her kind in my tank because she was the only one at the fish shop so i thought id take her home so maybe that is making her feel insecure and more agressive?

wow, you added a lot of fish at once without letting your filter get properly adapted to the fish you put in only a week before. You should be careful of that. It is quite likely that they died and their remains eaten. Sad but quite possibly true I'm afraid. Neons are a lot more sensitive than people think and should really only be added to a mature tank.

I personally would think that your tank is overstocked and certainly overcrowded. But that is only my opinion. Your tank maybe fine for water depending on filtration but I think you are overcrowded...

All your fish are in the one area. One of the important things about tank stocking, IMO, is to have a good mixture of top/middle/bottom dwelling fish. All yours are in the one area. What kind of rainbows do you have also? They tend to like being in groups.

HTH

i tried to get a mixture so that all the fish weren't all in one place. the gourami stays at the bottom or the top depending on how he feels, the rainbows stay by the top and the plec stays at the botom. the tank was running for a month before fish were added and multiple water tests were carried out before fish were added. I only bought 6 fish in the after a month to help with the cycle then added the others a week later.

maybe the tank is a bit over crowded, that might explain the aggressivness, am hoping to buy a bigger one soon though

The fact your gourami stays at the bottom should have alarm bells going. They are top dwelling fish, you can tell by their mouths. Have you done a water test since the deaths?

You never mentioned a plec in your first post (what kind is it btw? All plecs add a lot of waste to the tank). That makes it worse I am afraid. In your reply to me you have only mentioned the gourami, rainbows and plec. You are forgetting the other 18 or so fish you have occupying the same space as them (and that's only the ones you mentioned).

You said you did multiple water tests before adding the fish but what about after. You added a fair amount of bioload in the first stocking you mentioned (not sure if there was more before that) and then too much, IMO, just a week later. You need to give the bacteria time to adjust before adding more. A week would probably be ok if you hadn't added so much at once.

Dana

got some pictures of the speckled molly, the rainbow and the barbs

Nice pictures. Not meaning to be rude but why?

I wrote a pretty long post trying to give you information and essentially help you (and your fish) and all you do is put pictures in reply...

fwells2 said:

Any help would be gratefully appreciated

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You reckon?

got some pictures of the speckled molly, the rainbow and the barbs

You already said that.

thanks for your help. the gourami seems happy although he does like rummaging in the stones as well as hiding in the plants at the top, is that normal? sorry i did forget about the plec, hes a spotted one (sorry not very good with technical names ) only about 1.5cm at the moment and im feeding him on cucumber.

in the tank there is
3 redtailed tetras
4 rosy tetras
2 swordtails
2 white mollys
2 rainbows
2 tiger barbs
1 gourami
1 spotted molly
1 spotted plec

now its listed out it does seem quite a lot... a bigger tank is definatly on the shopping list! although the shop said 20 fish would be perfectly comfortable in the tank, although i guess that was just so they sold more fish

i did another water test before adding the extra load of fish and everything was fine. i only added the others yesterday so ill be carrying out a water test today or tomorrow.

think i was a little too keen to get my fish in the tank

Cheese Specialist said:

Nice pictures. Not meaning to be rude but why?

I wrote a pretty long post trying to give you information and essentially help you (and your fish) and all you do is put pictures in reply...

fwells2 said:

Any help would be gratefully appreciated

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You reckon?

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and i replied in just as much depth
just takes a while to type