(Update post #26) Dithers or more cories?

Wow o_O $70 shipping!! Black emporer tetra it is then lol.

It is strange with the melons. Ive had Odessa's, Rosy's , Black ruby's, cherry's and banded barbs with Cories and never had problems with fin nipping.
My cherries are fantastic, perfect fish, downside is they tend to be a little shy and like the bottom level of the tank most. But they get along great with each other and the cories. The "worst" ive had is the male "nipping" (more like a peck) one of the females who was ignoring him when he tried to get her attention lol very sweet natured group and I dont wanna ruin that as ive heard some bad experiences with cherries too. I keep 5 females and 1 male and theyre a happy little group. Spawning yesterday and today too. I really enjoy them.
And I loved the melon barbs too, I liked how active and curious they were, but with a lot of blind fish in this tank, their aggressive behaviors are a big problem. I added more leaf litter for the cories to hide under, but the barbs would even chase them under that and would begin to attack on site any moment they got the chance. They also started harassing the cherry barbs too and annoying the plecos. It's a major shame too, because theyre a really beautiful and fun fish. But no space for another tank, theyre not a smaller barb either so need a minimum of a 36" footprint, bigger being better at that. Adult size is nearly 3 inches. And the adult coloring of them is absolutely stunning. IMO put Odessa barbs to shame. Mine were juveniles still, and inch or so at most so far, so still had their baby coloring.
I had even hoped a huge group of them would keep any bickering among themselves instead, I had 12, but nope it just grew and grew worse, some even chased off the cories as a pack.
 
Oh Odessa's are my favourite barbs and i dont think you can beat a male Odessa for colouring wise but i do like the melons.

Such a shame but we just dont know how these things are going to pan out sometimes. Hope you manage to find a better fit to go with your other fish.

Not had any of the Emperors before but watch out for N. lacortei.
These can be quite nasty ive heard
 
Oh Odessa's are my favourite barbs and i dont think you can beat a male Odessa for colouring wise but i do like the melons.

Such a shame but we just dont know how these things are going to pan out sometimes. Hope you manage to find a better fit to go with your other fish.

Not had any of the Emperors before but watch out for N. lacortei.
These can be quite nasty ive heard
Ordered the black variety specifically (they have 2 listings for this species, this one was cheaper and cooler lol

The regular


They do sell the lacortei, but not in stock right now.
 
Ordered the black variety specifically (they have 2 listings for this species, this one was cheaper and cooler lol

The regular


They do sell the lacortei, but not in stock right now.
Cool :cool: they will look good with the cherrys.
 
How big is this tank, the fish seem to be awfully close to each other
55 gallons. 48"x12"x21"
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Wow, that video of the melons barb, how rude!!!

Yay tetras! I'm excited to see pics and videos of your black emperor tetras! They were very briefly on our list but I think we will be going with black phantom tetras and bloodfin tetras.

They will hopefully play nicer with the cories :):)
 
I've seen other videos of the tank, they don't normally. Probably just food or something there?
 
Why do they all hang out in that corner then
They've been trying to hide from the melons. The plants are densest in that corner, so they tried sheltering there but the barbs found them anyways.

I've seen other videos of the tank, they don't normally. Probably just food or something there?
Trying to hide from the melons.
 
9 out of the 10 made it.
Fedex was very late, they arrived cold but at least okay.
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They are beautiful! So big already! Can't wait until their colors come in fully :)
A couple of the larger males are 2.5 to 3 inches long, assuming full grown. And are darkening up but in some light you can see they're blue-black on top and it shows in the light. But swim into shadows and they look pitch black with a faint blue outline like they're glowing, and bright blue eyes (or green in the females case)

One of the bigger boys
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