Neon Tetra help

[Justy311]

I had 3 neons and a fiddler crab, well, 2 neons and the fiddler both passed on. I just had the one neon for a while and he was kind of sad hanging out in the back of the aquarium, not doing much, not eating. So I thought i would get new ones to help him out, try and cheer him up, but these new fish are mean, they attack this one and he is all hiding in the back. I dont know much about fish, this is my first tank since i was a lil boy, in like 92 when i had gold fish. I was just wondering if this is normal, or should i separate them or get a bigger tank. Or do they just need to warm up to the old fish. Any info will be great. Thanks so much

Justin

 

[kev_kb]

Sorry can't really help, but Neons should be kept in groups of 6 or more. I think I also read that they can turn on any ill members of the group, but hopefully thats not the case.

 

[black angel]

try rearranging the tank. this may bring them back together again.

 

[Justy311]

hmm, i got the two othe fish after a while, i only have a 2.5 tank, thinking about going bigger, but not sure yet...limited space at college. I dont know, i feel bad for the fish, he is scared it looks like. Thank you for your help. Much appreciated.

 

[Loupe]

Try either buying or making a cave for him to hide in. This should make him feel more safe.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

You should definitely try getting bigger accomodations. These fish like to swim around in an open environment in large groups. They feel secure in these groups because they know that if a predator were to chace them, they'd all scatter and confuse it. It would probably also like some tails to chace other than its own.

 

[JapaneseShiba]

Getting a larger aquarium does help, it gives fish a chance to take what's theirs in the aquarium

You should get at least 6 or 7 neon tetras for the lonely guy, but just dumping them in won't help (though, sometimes it does). What you have to do is take the little guy out and put him in a smaller aquarium (10 gallon maybe). Then, take about 3 of the new neon tetras and put them in there with him and leave them alone for about 6 hours (4 hours usually does the trick, but some people like to do it for over a day!), then, check up on the 3 new neon tetras and the "loner" tetra from before. He sould be coming out a bit, maybe following behind at a little bit of distance. As long as he looks interested in being with the group and showing signs of friendlyness and "following" them around.

Next, add the rest of the 4 or 5 neon tetras you got into the tank. It does work, I have had a school of neons die and one left also, and this idea seemed to work (now they are all together, and I can not tell who the lonner guy is anymore!)

Good luck!!!