Aggresive neon tetras? Pecking order duration?

[Pkr]

I have 6 neons in a new heavily planted ten gallon im setting for my parents, at first they seemed fine together, eventually one particular neon has been attacking the others to an extent where all the rest have gone into hiding. Its been a week so far same, when i removed him another one took its place and started bullying the remaining. If this is them establishing the 'pecking order' how long does this last and if thats not it what do i do? I had ten neons in my own tank back in another city, tbh i started with just 4 and NEVER faced this agression before

 

[Guyb93]

I have 6 neons in a new heavily planted ten gallon im setting for my parents, at first they seemed fine together, eventually one particular neon has been attacking the others to an extent where all the rest have gone into hiding. Its been a week so far same, when i removed him another one took its place and started bullying the remaining. If this is them establishing the 'pecking order' how long does this last and if thats not it what do i do? I had ten neons in my own tank back in another city, tbh i started with just 4 and NEVER faced this agression before

Tetra are little buggers towards eachother , iv never had the issue but mine are dither and really do need to stick together for safety , I’d say if you remove the aggressor and another steps up to take the place I’d guess at a power tug o war .. god knows a time plan till it balances but they are schooling fish so I’d leave them to fund a hierarchy

 

[Slaphppy7]

They need to be in a bigger group to spread out the aggression.
I would never keep less than 10 of ANY tetra, even the peaceful ones, they are a social fish and do best in larger groups.

 

[Guyb93]

They need to be in a bigger group to spread out the aggression.
I would never keep less than 10 of ANY tetra, even the peaceful ones, they are a social fish and do best in larger groups.

Won’t adding more at this point just add to the power struggle ? I don’t know much on tetra , I had a school of 8 Columbian Redfin 6 got eaten by my Oscar , once rehomed I bought another 6 and they love life now ahahah just happy to be alive I think

 

[Yohance1130]

I have 6 neons in a new heavily planted ten gallon im setting for my parents, at first they seemed fine together, eventually one particular neon has been attacking the others to an extent where all the rest have gone into hiding. Its been a week so far same, when i removed him another one took its place and started bullying the remaining. If this is them establishing the 'pecking order' how long does this last and if thats not it what do i do? I had ten neons in my own tank back in another city, tbh i started with just 4 and NEVER faced this agression before

When I had 6 neon tetras in my 10 gallon they were also aggressive towards each other. But when I added 1 more neon the aggression decreased, Neons really like to be an odd numbers from my experience they are more aggressive when their numbers are pair compared to unpair. idk why honestly.

Its best to not take out your neons out of the tank since they will be more stressed being outside of their school. Since they need their school for safety. Also the aggressiveness usually does not usually cause physical harm to the neons. I have rarely seen any injuries to any one of my neons caused by aggressiveness towards each other. So it is best to just leave them in the tank. Their kind of like siblings fighting each other.

It really depends on the neons if they will establish a pecking order, in my experience some of my neons have never established a pecking order and always still peked at each other, I also had some neons that established a pecking order within a week and stopped the aggressiveness.



Try to get a school of neons in odd numbers, it may help reduce aggressiveness but neons are hit and miss some are just aggressive and some are not. but odd numbers will help reduce the chances of them being aggressive.

If they are still aggresive try add a lots of caves and plants as cover so that if anyone is getting bullied they can go retreat and hide away from the aggressor. It may also help reduce the aggressiveness also.

If it is just 1 of them that is bullying and harming the other neons you can possibly try to return him to the shop you bought him at and get a different neon.

Neons are usually aggressive to their own kind and not to other fish and for the majority of the time their aggressiveness towards each other will usually not physically harm the neons.

Its like when you live with your siblings you will eventually clash heads at one point but when you fight each other you usually are not trying to physically harm each other to the point were someone breaks their leg.

In this case the neons are kinda of like siblings all living together.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Yeah, any fish that will fit in an Oscar's mouth is fair game.
Adding more neons will spread out the aggression, a pecking order will be established, but it will be harder for any bullies to single out a victim, and they usually tire of the bullying.

 

[Guyb93]

Yeah, any fish that will fit in an Oscar's mouth is fair game.
Adding more neons will spread out the aggression, a pecking order will be established, but it will be harder for any bullies to single out a victim, and they usually tire of the bullying.

It was a 7 inch Oscar and it also ate 4inch silver dollars ahaha my Oscar was a machine it was ridiculous it would actively hunt anything that didn’t stand its ground

 

[Colin_T]

Neon tetras naturally occur in groups of thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of individuals. So having 6 in an aquarium is stressful to them. Having more fish in the group makes them feel more comfortable and as mentioned above, any aggression is spread out over more individuals.

 

[Slaphppy7]

It was a 7 inch Oscar and it also ate 4inch silver dollars ahaha my Oscar was a machine it was ridiculous it would actively hunt anything that didn’t stand its ground

Yep, they aren't the best tankmates with smaller fish

 

[Pkr]

They need to be in a bigger group to spread out the aggression.
I would never keep less than 10 of ANY tetra, even the peaceful ones, they are a social fish and do best in larger

When I had 6 neon tetras in my 10 gallon they were also aggressive towards each other. But when I added 1 more neon the aggression decreased, Neons really like to be an odd numbers from my experience they are more aggressive when their numbers are pair compared to unpair. idk why honestly.

Its best to not take out your neons out of the tank since they will be more stressed being outside of their school. Since they need their school for safety. Also the aggressiveness usually does not usually cause physical harm to the neons. I have rarely seen any injuries to any one of my neons caused by aggressiveness towards each other. So it is best to just leave them in the tank. Their kind of like siblings fighting each other.

It really depends on the neons if they will establish a pecking order, in my experience some of my neons have never established a pecking order and always still peked at each other, I also had some neons that established a pecking order within a week and stopped the aggressiveness.



Try to get a school of neons in odd numbers, it may help reduce aggressiveness but neons are hit and miss some are just aggressive and some are not. but odd numbers will help reduce the chances of them being aggressive.

If they are still aggresive try add a lots of caves and plants as cover so that if anyone is getting bullied they can go retreat and hide away from the aggressor. It may also help reduce the aggressiveness also.

If it is just 1 of them that is bullying and harming the other neons you can possibly try to return him to the shop you bought him at and get a different neon.

Neons are usually aggressive to their own kind and not to other fish and for the majority of the time their aggressiveness towards each other will usually not physically harm the neons.

Its like when you live with your siblings you will eventually clash heads at one point but when you fight each other you usually are not trying to physically harm each other to the point were someone breaks their leg.

In this case the neons are kinda of like siblings all living together.

Thankyou very much

 

[Pkr]

Neon tetras naturally occur in groups of thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of individuals. So having 6 in an aquarium is stressful to them. Having more fish in the group makes them feel more comfortable and as mentioned above, any aggression is spread out over more individuals.

Noted, thanks!!