Hello

I've just set up a new tropical aquarium (2 weeks ago actually), have added some plants and a few fish. I'm kind of a beginner, but I am surprised to have fighting neons.

I have 3 neon fish in a 28 liter tank. Two of them fight almost constantly; attacking and biting each other while the third neon just does its own thing. The two fighting neons are similar sized, the third is smaller. I was wondering if anyone could explain why these two neons are fighting, and should I be worried about it?

Yay, I'm so glad for the opportunity to ask on a forum! This is my first posting :-)

Hello and welcome to the forum, are you not the original zuri08?

Sounds like just common neon breeding behavior to me, I have a group and they constantly bicker with each other especially after I feed them live food. Also 28ltrs is not really enough space even for 3 little neons, they really need alot of room for swimming and should be kept in groups of at least 6-10 preferably more.

yeah definately need at least 5 for them to act properly, and 18L is absolute minimum to provide swimming room.

try some of the smaller rasboras or a dwarf puffer / bumblebee goby you can have fun with small tanks

p.s. is it just me or are there some really nasty little neons coming in atm???

most little fish are more peaceful in a group, I'd go for 6 or 7 or more though

plus they look better as a group :thup:

Dwarf puffers are great so little but so much personality

Wow Thanks for all the reply's, and so quick!

The majority of you are suggesting more neons for better behaviour, so maybe I'll go get a few more and see if that settles them down.

I know it is a small tank too - I'm flatting so can't really have anything bigger at the mo. Though so far this new hobby has turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought!

Was there another Zuri? I just like the name and usually "Zuri" itself isn't available so I add to it :-)

you could probably have up to 10 neons in a tank that size, depending on what else you wanted

we actually have 'zuri08' around already.... no doubt he will be around soon to say hello :slfg:

Hi and welcome.

Neons can be picky fish, the larger ones are usually females if they are mature and they seem to be rather territorial as stated above if there are only a few of them in a tank. I had five and the biggest one was always chasing the other larger ones around, would leave the two smaller ones alone.

Hello Zev

Interesting comment, I will keep this in mind :-)

Hi and welcome.

Neons can be picky fish, the larger ones are usually females if they are mature and they seem to be rather territorial as stated above if there are only a few of them in a tank. I had five and the biggest one was always chasing the other larger ones around, would leave the two smaller ones alone.

Good to know; I'm wanting a few guppies too, and a couple of algae eaters (have a Flying Fox already), so it will be a busy little tank.

I think that will add up to 11 fish total...

you could probably have up to 10 neons in a tank that size, depending on what else you wanted

we actually have 'zuri08' around already.... no doubt he will be around soon to say hello :slfg:

ummm... seriously overstocked!!!!

the flying fox will quickly out grow your tank (within 6 months)

you option for algae eaters is restricted pretty much to a group of oto's

im assuming the flying fox is the black line flying fox we see commonly, it will reach a size of approximately 15-18cm

Sounds like a good excuse for a bigger tank to me...

Yeah I was wondering if this was going to be a little overstocked, but I was also thinking that if I change the water frequently and get some plants growing then it should be ok. If the Black lined Flying fox gets to big the shop I bought it from said i could return it for a smaller fish.

I would love :love: to have a bigger tank - but I actually need a bigger house! Plus, I'm renting so who knows if a landlord will allow a big fish tank in their house!

The good side is I'm learning lots from setting up this little tank, so when I do get a bigger tank I'll be a better fish-keeper :-)

ops haha

Mine were savage, had 5 all alone in a 54 litre tank, they tore shreds in each other chasing and fighting. They all had ripped fins and missing scales... Even my fighters arent as bad as that

Was talking to a guy who put 10 neons into a 100L long tank to start his cycling, and noticed that they all seperated and started making small territories for themselves similar to tiny lil cichlids,

have noticed in my tanks when there is about 40 - 60 they will form a really tight school, but when the school dropt to around 20 - 25 they spread out.

also noticed that to get a realy tight forming school, add an angel fish

hell of a lot of behavioural actions for a tiny lil fish

Hello everyone

Just an update on the neon behaviour: I added 3 new neons so now there are 6 neons in the tank and they are all getting along just fine.

At first introduction of these new neons they fought like mad! Think of the old batman cartoon where you see "pow", "smack", "punch"; it was getting pretty violent!

Its now been nearly a week and there is almost no fighting, the worst they do is occasionally chase each other around the tank. A bit of a relief :-)

Was talking to a guy who put 10 neons into a 100L long tank to start his cycling, and noticed that they all seperated and started making small territories for themselves similar to tiny lil cichlids,

have noticed in my tanks when there is about 40 - 60 they will form a really tight school, but when the school dropt to around 20 - 25 they spread out.

also noticed that to get a realy tight forming school, add an angel fish

hell of a lot of behavioural actions for a tiny lil fish

I agree; for little fish there is a lot of interesting behaviour!

Thanks for the interesting notes.

theres another zuri08???

geez im popluar

Just reviving an old post.........my Neons are bloody horrible little buggers!!!

I never thought they were like this but a few in the tank actually sneak......yep all casual, around to the back of my Betta and the bravest goes for a nip of his tail :an!gry

Either I've got a pussy Betta, or we've got some psycho neons around at the mo.

They never do it when he's facing them and he seems to be the boss. He rarely goes for them though, only when they do nip him.

Purplex had some insane neons attacking her Betta too :dunno:

I have 10 in my display tank. Never get a boo out of them. They go about their business and leave everyone alone.

I have 3 that I am looking after (still haven't been told if the owner wants them back or not) that are in a separate tank as they had odd growths on their tails when they arrived. One is missing part of his tail, and I am watching to see whether or not it grows back before they are returned to the main tank.

Just reviving an old post.........my Neons are bloody horrible little buggers!!!

I never thought they were like this but a few in the tank actually sneak......yep all casual, around to the back of my Betta and the bravest goes for a nip of his tail :an!gry

Either I've got a pussy Betta, or we've got some psycho neons around at the mo.

They never do it when he's facing them and he seems to be the boss. He rarely goes for them though, only when they do nip him.

We had a school of Fourty that would chase my gouramis. probably about ten or so would start it. little bastards. especially at feeding time. removed the gouramis (because i didn't really like them anyway) and they seem to be fine now, although their numbers dropped to about 30 after I had some issues.

Previous to that had 10 or so in with a few livebearers and my fighter, they destroyed the fighter, he destroyed the guppies. And little old me had a bit of a mope about stupid fish choices.

had another customer yesterday with psycho neons, devastating her platies

poor misunderstand neons. they just need some tall plants and a big group to absorb the grumpy ones