# My neon tetras are disappearing?



## BobFish (Aug 6, 2010)

5 gallon freshwater tank is what I have a male betta, 5 neon tetras (now 1), see through fish not sure its name starts with a t (its a form of tetra?), and 3 goldfish looking things 



Hello there I started out with 5 neon tetras, 1 died and 4 remained. Now one month later they have slowly starteddisappearing completely no bodies or anything and 1 remains. 

I have a male beta in the tank who at first would chase the other fish when first introduced to the tank. My most recent addition is some see through fish called a tetalsjdks something i just call him tetris because he had a long name he is small but double the size of the neon tetras so I doubt he is eating them

I didn't really thing the beta could fit a neon tetra in his mouth he can barley even fit pellets into his mouth he spits most out so I had to change his food to flakes


Anyways the 3 other fish in the tank are these guys I don't know what to call them











Could they have eaten the neon tetras? I caught one of them chasing a neon the other night but he did not do anything besides one swim towards it. After lights out I can't tell you what goes on. Help?


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## PatrickxEdge (Aug 6, 2010)

It is a possibility that those fish could be eating the tetras, how often do you feed all the fish? and at what times of the day/night do you feed them? neon tetras are a great snack for a lot of different fish. it could also be that there are so many fish in the small 5g aquarium they can become agitated with one another easily and fight/eat one another.


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## kitten_penang (Mar 26, 2008)

maybe they were having stress issues.neons are fragile in groups of less then 6 and that is a small tank.maybe those fish picked them off one by one.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

First, welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping forum.

Well, you are learning one thing the hard way, but it is a very important lesson: always research a fish before you acquire it and know what it requires (water parameters, decor) and its personality and compatibility. That is key to a healthy successful community tank.

Betta will readily eat neons if they feel like it. I personally think a betta is a stand alone fish in a small aquarium (5g is ideal), with perhaps some bottom fish like Corydoras or shrimp. And live plants.

The picture is blurry but the "unknown" fish appear to be characins (tetra), I'm thinking one of those "berry" things, like Blueberry or Strawberry Tetra. They are artificial fish derived from (if memory serves me) the Blackskirt tetra. These can be nippy. I don't condone buying them.

No idea what a see-through fish might be, but obviously that could be another source of trouble until you find out what it is and learn its habits.

If this tank is actually 5 gallons, it is too small for any of these fish except the betta alone. Tetra need to be in groups, minimum 6, and there is not sufficient space (in terms of physical swimming room but also and perhaps more significantly water quality resulting from so many fish) in a 5g for any tetra except the dwarf species like Ember Tetra. But they would very quickly become food for a betta.

As kitten correctly mentioned, the above issues can easily cause stress and that weakens a fish's immune system leaving it vulnerable to various health issues and even demise. So as for the neons disappearance, it could be cannibalism, stress (other fish quickly consume a corpse), water parameters (no mention is made of pH, hardness or temperature).

You need to work out what you want in this tank; the store may exchange fish, they understand these difficulties we get ourselves into. The betta on its own is one option, or without the betta a small group of a dwarf fish, there are several in the cyprinid group and the Ember Tetra I mentioned. Have a look at our fish profiles (second tab from the left in the blue bar across the top), all these issues are mentioned for each fish species. And we are all here to offer guidance.

Byron.


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## PatrickxEdge (Aug 6, 2010)

on a side note i love the decor you have! i have the same barrels haha


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