# Injured Neon Tetras



## n1zjd (Jan 25, 2010)

I had recently bought some fish for a ten gallon tank that I have. I got 3 mollies and 11 neon tetras amongst other things. I was told they would do fine together but unfortunately found out otherwise. I had seen the mollies chase the neons a little, nothing extreme, but apparently after the lights go off or when I wasnt watching the tank they did more than just chase a little. I found out earlier today that the tails of 5 of the neons have been bitten! They all seem to be swimming pretty good still with the exception of one. Do you think these fish will survive? The mollies have been removed and put into another ten gallon tank until I can find a home for them. Thanks for any help/advice.


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Welcome to the Forum!

What stricks me for starter you say "3 mollies and 11 neon tetras amongst other things" what ALL exactly does live in your 10g???

Mollies require hard water, higher pH. Neon's on the other hand softer water with lower pH. You will agree only one kind of water does indeed flow out of your tap...so what water do you have there?

Do you have any plants in there for the Neon's to hide?
Honestly from what you're describing I doubt they'll live long in your tank, sorry to say that. You will need to make a decision between 1 or the other there and I'd base this decision off your water here as mentioned above.


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## n1zjd (Jan 25, 2010)

Well now Im feeling like a moron already! My tap water ph is around 7.0, I dont know if I have hard or soft water though?!? The other fish include a male beta and 2 corydoras. Im 100% positive the beta wasnt the culprit. It was the mollies for sure. I bought some live plants from the fish store but I dont have alot of them at the current time. I have a cave type decoration as well but Im sure that doesnt benefit the neons. There appears to be plenty of room for the fish I have in the tank but Im new and obviously didnt do my job well before jumping into this so please feel free to clue me in.


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

No need to feel bad...you're here for the reason to learn aren't you...so allow us to help you 
pH 7 is neutral...you'd need to measure your KH or GH to see the level of hardness in your water, either you can get a liquid test kit for this or see if the fish store has a liquid kit they'd test for you and have them give you a NUMBER in return (not a "its ok, that means nothing) and make sure they don't test with these strips, these are HIGHLY inaccurate.

There's really little you can do at this point 1) You could return the 3 Mollies in exchange to get more cory's as they really are very sensitive fish and only feel well in group sizes (6-8) then they feel secure and are much more active. 2) You could get yourself a second larger tank (something like 15-20g) get that cycled without fish and then move your Molly's in it and stock them up to a larger group.

There's really little else you can do, its not like you could sit the Molly's down and have a talk about aggression with them and for your Neon's to be chased and harassed 24/7 is terribly stressful to them and will not be healthy in the long run to say the least.


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## n1zjd (Jan 25, 2010)

Thanks for the reply. I have friends with tanks and I will see if they want the fish, otherwise I will have to return them. Ill buy a test kit when I go to the pet store again later this week. This tank has been running with the beta in it for more than 6 months so I decided it was time to add something else. I do plan to get a larger tank in the future. Do tails grow back or will they, at best, heal and continue with life? Im not going to just give up on them so I will just see what happens. BTW, the two corys that I have are VERY active fish. I would have got a few more but I was afraid of overstocking the tank. Ive read 1 gallon per inch of fish, I think I am over that as it is, but the tank doesnt seem like it would be crowded but Im obviously not a fish. Again, thanks for your help and for not being hard on me for being foolish. Cheers

Edit: BTW you have some beautiful tanks!


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

The inch of fish per gallon rule is pretty much nonsense. There number of factors it doesn't consider is absolutely huge (water chemistry requirements, aggression, predation, overall waste output, etc.). 

Is this a male or female betta? I've heard stories (not just second hand rumors, either; members on this very forum have posted about it) of larger bettas making snacks of neon tetras. Even if he's fine with them now, soon enough your betta might discover that neons are edible and quite tasty.


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## n1zjd (Jan 25, 2010)

iamntbatman - Thanks for the reply. Its a male beta and he has shown zero aggression towards any of the fish. But I agree with you 100%, and after browsing this site for a good couple hours last night viewing many different members tanks Ive realized that what I might consider not crowded, may not actually be true. After seeing how beautiful a tank can and should look Im going to take on a whole new approach to how I do things. For the time being things need to stay the way they are because I had to move the mollies to my other tank. According to Angel, chances are they wont make it anyway. My new plan is to focus on getting the tank better 'planted' with a variety of live plants and dedicate that ten gallon tank to the beta alone. Im just in awe with how beautiful a tank really can be with a variety of live plants and a small population of fish. I promise I will learn the proper way to maintain my tanks and care for my fish. I think this just may become my new addiction :-D Cheers


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

You say "to the other tank"...What all do you have there on tanks and stocks....Maybe amongst them we can help you "sort" out the stocks more ideally if you like?

And don't worry about the addiction part LOL....look at our aquarium logs here for each user...see how many people have multiple set ups lol


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## n1zjd (Jan 25, 2010)

I have another 10 gallon setup with two swordtails in it, basically my quarantine tank for new fish. I also have a 20 gallon tank that isnt in use. I have a thread on here that you can find in the Unanswered posts about a 20 gallon with built in background. Ive decided Im giving it to my sister and Im going to get either a 55 gallon or a 30 gallon tank. I really want the 55 gallon tank but not sure I have a good place for it. Although when I get my mind set on something it usually happens :-D I have a wall in my kitchen it could go against but Im a bit worried about algae forming due to a nearby window. I do know that the only direct sunlight that comes through that window is only for a short period of time while the sun is going down, and really my current tank gets that same sunlight with zero algae problem so I guess it would be just fine. Nice, I think I just talked myself into the 55 gallon, haha!

EDIT: Still looking for an answer as to whether or not the neons tails will grow back or just heal, if they do in fact survive, which I think they all will.


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

I just answered your other thread. I'd find a 55g wonderful (for your headache as far as maintenance and the fish).
No worries about the window: Algae will then start developing IF 1) Tank is not maintained well (weekly water changes) 2) Your feed way too much 3) Between your lights and the plant nutrition there's no balance 4) you run high wattage lights for some 20hrs/day
So no I wouldn't worry about the window at all; I even had 55g's set ups right next to the window where they'd get direct sunlight for the greater portion of the day and had no algae whatsoever 
And worst case if you're worried: Put the blinds down when the sun comes around 

The Neons will heal up. If you get a 55g I'd move (and stock up) the cory over to it, move the Mollies too, then add XYZ other fish that will get along with the mollies and leave the Neon's alone in the smaller tank. It MAY work better for them all in the 55g....it may not...so pers I'd not wanna risk it, so make them a NICE Neon set up with plants in the 10g.

If you have troubles locally to find plant variety...here's where I order all my plants for my tanks (and I love their quality & prices) Sweet Aquatics


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## n1zjd (Jan 25, 2010)

Once again thank you! Ill take a look at that page after I post this reply. Ive got VERY little in the form of LFS. They sell some plant bulbs as well as.....supposedly....live plants that come in these plastic containers. I purchased one of those 'live' plants recently, and while ill admit I dont really know how it SHOULD look, it doesnt look very good to me. I have had sucess in the past with the bulbs though and plan to get some more when I buy another ten gallon tank dedicated to plants. So Ill almost guarantee an order from the website you referred me to :-D I just got off the phone with the wife and got the OK for the 55 gallon so its a GO! Right now my plans are to dedicate one of the ten gallon tanks to a nicely planted aquarium for the beta and another nicely planted 10 gallon for the neons. Im not sure what I intend to put into the 55 gallon at this point. The first step will be getting the tank, setting it up and properly cycling it while also getting it planted. Then I will think about the fish. Thanks once again for your reply. Cheers


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Yea I got the same issue here, so I gave up locally and just order a bunch plants online there....Specially for a 55g set up, I ordered enough to qualify for free shipping, so the prices def beat any store I ever seen lol
I also realized with a lot members here lately that buy the plants in them plastic tubes at petco/ petsmart; a lot of them are actually NOT true tank plants, will survive for a lil while fully submerged but never thrive years on end like real tank plants.

HEY Congratulations!!!! Well I'd say def add your Mollies & Cory cats in it and stock up the cats to a group (not that you have the room) of something like 10 cats.

A lil tip from my end on cycling: Which ever one of these 10g has been running the longest in your house: Take the pad out of its filter, wash it out in the new 55g set up (called seeding) and put the pad/ sponge back where it came from the 10g....That's pretty much instant cycle if you will, between that and planting it you won't have no issue going fwd.


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Keep in mind there's a big difference between aggression and predation. Even if a fish is a complete puppy dog when it comes to aggression, it still won't pass up a free meal. I've kept quite a few fish that were/are generally very well-behaved community residents but will quickly learn that small enough fish are edible. They don't attack them; they just eat them.


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