neons under attack

(this was mentioned in my previous topic but nobody replied since it was sorta offtopic. I believe it deserves its own topic)

I'm having a problem with the 5 neons I bought 2 days ago.

When I first released them into the tank (after acclimatising temp and pH) the Serpae tetra's immediately chased them as if they were food ( my initial batch of neons are adult size where the new batch are rather small) and unfortunately several have been nipped since. I have read that serpae tetra's can be fin nipping but have been reassured by my LFS and some sites that they only nip their own kind and rarely other species, yet one of my neons has lost its tail fin, one has lost its bottom half of the tail and one has a visible "hole" in the bottom half. :'( The one with no tail has in fact gone missing now and I have not seen it for at least 24 hours.

was it wrong to introduce smaller neons to my tank? should I take them back and buy some adult ones? (LFS only had small neons at the time, still unsure if they have adult neons now)

Would it be better to replace my serpae tetras and get something more peaceful such as harelquin rasboras or glowlight tetras?

 

How big is your tank and how many serpae tetra have you?

We have a community tank with Serpaes, harlequin, rainbow fish, german rams and corys and they all get along splendidly...(the harlequins are the smallest in the tank - about 1/3 the size of the Serpaes)

Maybe your tank is too small or you have a bully in there somewhere You should try to observe who actually does the chasing and nipping

 

my tank is 20 galleons standard rectangular shape and I have 4 serpae tetras. They were all attacking the nieons at one point but they seemed to have calmed down now. I had them bagged and ready to be traded and realised that I probably would have regretted trading them in if I did, so I decided to keep them. I had to replace one of my neons as it died and was eaten :-X

I couldn't really throw away my first fish, I've become quite attached to them, despite their fin nipping ways

 

Unfortunately the person informed you wrong--Serpaes are somewhat infamous for nipping the fins of other fish. If the Neons are being nipped, you should split them up. You can't leave the Neons with the Serpaes if they are being bullied to death. How many Serpaes do you have? Sometimes keeping them in larger shoals can halp reduce nipping.

 

Unfortunately Omorrokh, contrary to what you've experienced, we do have a tank with Serpae Tetras, Rainbows, Blue Rams, Harlequins and Corries who all get along quite fine.. in fact, our Serpaes pretty much keep to themself and that tank has a level of harmony we wish our other tanks had..as an animal lover myself, I know you know all animals have a personality of their own that may not conform to popular belief or even scientific evidence..fish are no different..while Serpae Tetras may have a rep for fin-nipping, our experience shows that it's contained among themselves IF they are added to the tank AFTER the other fish making up the community, and not if they're the tank's first inhabitants, which I believe is Fisheatcorn's case..Neons also have a rep for not being the hardiest of fish in a community tank environment even when placed with some of the more peaceful species of fish, so I would think twice about adding them to a tank that already has Serpaes..Silvertip Tetras are a possibility, maybe Emperors or Black Neons who are a little more hardy could work, along with sufficient plants (real or fake) to provide hiding places for all, because even Serpaes sometimes need to hide from each other depending on where they fall in the pecking-order.

 

I'm not saying that all Serpaes are nippers. I have heard plenty of people who don't have any problems with them (as well as plenty of people who have had bad problems with them). Unfortunately in Fisheatcorn's case, the Serpaes turned out to be nippy, and they shouldn't be left with the Neons if they are nipping their fins. Hope that clarifies what I was saying.

 

thanks for your opinions

As it turns out, initially yes the serpaes did contain the nipping to themselves when I introduced the first batch of neons which were adult size. the same was true when I added the corydoras. it only occured when I added the small neons.

however, I'm glad to say that the nipping of others has stopped and all of them are getting along well now

 

Glad to hear everybody's getting along well Fisheatcorn, the combination of Serpaes and Neons makes for a nice blend of colors.. putting together a mix of fish for a community tank can sometimes be a dicey affair even when certain basic rules that you'll read in books by experts like Dick Mills and Gwynne Vevers are applied, not mixing fast swimmers with slow, big with small.. but even these rules have been disproved many times, so it stands to reason there are no real rules in fish-keeping, only guidelines, a lot of trial and error, and hopefully success in achieving a harmonious and healthy mix of fish.

 

vitamin supplements may also help your nipped fish's fins to recover faster

Buzz

 

I'm glad to hear your fish are getting along ok now. Monitor the Neons closely to make sure they don't develop infections where their fins were nipped.