random06

I have a 30 gallon tank with 6 Serpae and 4 Neon tetras inside. recently I introduced 8 guppies (4 each time), 4 females and 4 males. But I only have 3 left now. The rest died during the last week. I have my water tested every other day and had no problem. I kept the temperature around 24-26°C and added salt. I have auto feeder to feed small amount of flakes twice per day. What else am I missing here?
One thing I notice is that their tale fins seem to be nipped off a little bit here and there. That happened to Neon as well. Is that because of the Serpae?

Thanks,

mcdonald.kk

Since serpaes and neons are both kinds of tetras it would be unusual for them to show that level of aggression toward one another. As a schooling fish tetras usually will school with one another, even if they aren't the exact same species. Are you sure that their fins have been nipped at? Or could there be a medical reason like fin rot? I'm still a fish newbie myself so I don't want to give you the wrong info. Did you acclimate your guppies when you put them in the tank? The other thing to keep in mind is the adult size your fish will get and the general rule of 1" of adult fish per gallon of water. With your serpaes and neons you're up to 20 gallons. Guppies get to around 2.5" each. x 8 = 20"/20 gallons. You can get away with a slightly overstocked tank though if you keep a close eye on your water quality and are good with maintenance. I'd wait to see what some of the more experienced fishLore members have to say. It sounds like you do a really good job of staying on top of your water quality so I'm not sure why your fish died =(

kra-z-fishmumm

At the fishlore home page, you can look up Serpae Tetra and it says they are known for being fin nippers if not kept in schools of 6 or more. Check it out! It says the neon tetras also like the school of 6 or more. Watch how many guppies you get. Right now, you have 24" of your tank full, leaving only 6", give or take a couple of inches, going by the 1" of adult fish per gallon. That should not of been a factor though,cause you weren't that over loaded. What were you water readings? Also, I don't hear many ppl. on here using salt for much, might not want to do that. Hope this has helped some.

random06

I did check the homepage and know Serpae is kind of fin-nipping. But I thought with 6 of them, they should be peaceful. I had all together 10 neons, 4 at beginning and another 6 after the tank was setup. But I end up with 4 left. At that time, only other fish were Serpaes. So far, I only found 2 neon bodies. the other 4 just disappeared. Felt like they were eaten by Serpae. Well Serpae is about twice in length, not mentioning the width. Some people reported similar problem with Serpae and Neon at different websites. One solution is to keep Serpae full. But overfeeding is another problem. So, I'm kinda between rock and a hard place here.
About salt, it's another story. Guy from pet store and people on the web all mentioned I needed salt for Guppies. But amount of salt they suggest is quite different, sometime, twice concentration difference. I don't know who to listen to.
pH is another mystery to me. I've been using pH test kit, I believe made by Red Sea. But the test kit keeps telling me my pH is around 8. So I used pH down. But the pH never changed from the test reading no matter how much pH down I've used. When I went to pet store to get water checked, they say my water was acidic. I test at home right after that, guess what, still 8. I don't know who to believe.
So, if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

kra-z-fishmumm

ok, lets get clear, lol for me! How many, and what type of fish are still left? I know how the LFS is, they want you to buy buy buy! My pH was always high, so I used pH down,,, never changed much and killed off lots of fish. I found that (true to fishlore info.), small daily water changes work better. Salt...also another lfs thing. I don't use it unless I have ICH out break. What type of test kit are you using? The lfs usually uses the test strips ( the ones around here anyhow), and they are so off. What temp. is your tank at? pH problems have messed up fins in my tank, but I don't know if it was caused from stress or what. I'm hoping someone else will pop in here and talk about that. Anyhow, my pH is 7.8-8.0 all the time. My fish are great. I get worried if it drops, or gets higher than that. Like you said, the fluctuations are the worse. let us know how it's going

random06

The test kit I'm using is Red Sea Fish pHarm Fresh Care Multi-Test for Freshwater Aquariums. At the store, they do use strips, but I don't know what kind of strips. My tank is set at 24°C, and pH measured by the Red Sea kit is around 8.
Currently I have 6 Serpaes, 4 Neons, and 3 guppies. I mentioned I had total of 10 Neons since the beginning. 2 during the initial N2 cycle and another 3 after about 4-5 weeks, but 4 gone with only one body found. Added another 5 to make total of 6. But after a few days, 2 gone with only one body found again.

COBettaCouple

Do you have a pic of the tank? What aeration do you have and how strong is the filter? All 3 types of fish could be fin nipping each other.

random06

here is a picture of my 30 gal tank.
I have a Whisper 30 power filter and Aquatic Gardens 2000 air pump with air stone.

COBettaCouple

Well, the tank looks good and the aeration and filtration are good and not too much for those fish. It's sounding like an aggression/territory only issue. The Serpae may need to go in a different tank, but watching them to find out who the instigators are would be a good idea.

Lucy

You have a beautiful tank.
I have neons and serpae also. Both are known as fin nippers. If I were to do it over, I would have one or the other.
One neon is territorial but over time the nipping has stopped.
Good luck