Krakens_tanks

No we live in completely opposite sides of the country. I ended up with only 2 B.neons left a week later. As mentioned I sat for a couple hours one night and saw that the larger sized neons were fin nipping and bashing the smaller ones. I have called it up to the large mixture of size from small to large in size and the stress levels caused by transport (whole sales to my store was 2 days, was at store for 30 minutes before I picked them up then added to my tank about 20 minutes later so going from bag water store tank to mine all very quickly. I did regular water parameters checking with the api master kit. As well as had lights off the first 24 hrs they were in the tank as well as drip acclimated them to the tank. I never saw any signs of illness or parasites in the fish. Just missing fins and some even had small chunks out of them some were event found sort bent like there back was damaged ( which none had that defect coming in ) so that's why I assume stress sent them on a frenzy.

So my first planted community tank has come a long way in 3 months. Can't put into details how much I'm loving this tank

So as it stands currently I this is the stock 2x b.neons ( they are definitely a pair 1M1F) 10 albino Corey's 6 scissor tail rasbora 6 rasbora het. 1 bamboo shrimp Everyone else in the tank is doing amazing I'm assuming that last two are the dominant pair some how idk it's odd for sure. And I have seen tanks that are like 75G and have 85 neons so 30 in a 40 shouldn't have been an issue. Its just bad luck on my end but since adding the Cory's and rasbora I have cemented myself knowing my tank is fine as I have yet to loose a single one and they have been in there for 2 days now which I had already lost around half my neons by that point.

Tell me about it. My jaw was dropped by how good they all looked. Like I felt so proud of my first community tank in like 6 years then bam smack to the face.

Yea I wish I would of taken pictures but the thought never hit my mind I was just sorta stunned and saddened at the entire situation.

Yea they definitely don't look like emperor from what google shows. Like I know people will think I'm crazy cuz like I posted if I wouldn't have seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it either. I'm starting to belive that maybe I just got some crazy inbred psychos or someone cross breed something into them that made them act weird

I ordered black neons and these are what was sold to me. If they are not black neons I would feel like a fool but also it would make a good argument on a refund for all those fish since they were not that cheap to have so few left. First picture was them at store where they sat for about 20 mins till I picked them up second was my tank

I don't think there is anything that looks exactly like a neon tetra... Not to memory anyway but I guess nothing is impossible now a days.

Your good this was basically just like a journal entry for my own short comings.

Ok so this is going to be a longer sorta post so I apologise Tldr: mature black neons are species aggressive and no one seems to say that before hand and we'll lesson learned. So last Friday I finally picked up my 30 black neon tetras super excited and couldn't wait to watch them school for days to come. For some info incase you haven't seen my multiple post about this tank. It's a 40B planted with Christmas moss, java ferns, brazilian pennywort, crypt wednii, foxtail fern, and a plant I just can't remember the name for the life of me ( very common plant though) two larger pieces of wood. temp is set at 76°, I dose easy green ferts and use co-op root tabs, water perimeters we're all 0 with the exception of nitrates at 10 - 20 ppm, oh was at 7.6, had been fully cycled for about 3 weeks as plants were showing new growth and even pearling. So went to the lfs that ordered the fish for me, I felt amazing as a large majority of the fish were really good size close to 1.5" maybe close to 2" in size i would say maybe 10 were smaller then that. From what I assume sexing them I had about 8 large females the rest were males. ( I think this was mistake number 1) Took the fish home left them to drip acclimate for around 30 to 35 mins. Everyone was looking good and healthy so I transferred fish into tank. Instantly fell in love and was swooning over my happy little tank ( insert ominous music here please ) Next morning I woke up and had 3 smaller ones that had passed I didn't think nothing of it cuz 30 fish in a bag for large period of time while shipping then being added to my tank losses were expected. Went about my day as normal came home from shopping with the wife had 2 more smalls dead, again didn't shock me smaller fish being less hardy but I still wanted to check my water as I did just add 30 fish at once. Still everything was fine after testing so I fed the tank and turned lights off for the day. This is where things started getting a bit odd. I noticed the school had now become 2 separate schools one with all the females and majority of the larger males the second the remaining small males and a few of the larger males. The larger school kept swimming in and out of the foxtail darting at any fish from the second school I assumed maybe those large females are full of eggs and they were trying to pair up or show off even though my tank doesn't really have any kind of swan mop but maybe the foxtail they were claiming was there best option so they got territorial over it. Figured they would realize it wasn't going to work or hell maybe lay eggs but that was as far as I though it would go.... Till the next morning... 10 fish were dead and had there fins ripped off laying dead at the bottom of the tank with marks all along there bodies. (Mind you they are the only fish in the tank no others) so I immediately flipped out and thought my water crashed as I was under the belief they were peaceful fish and maybe just picked at them once they died. Tested water which as far as my api master test kit said was perfectly fine yet again I assumed human error and tested 3 more times to be safe... Still nothing so I did a massive 65% water change cuz I was convinced I was doing something wrong while my wife took a water sample to 3 lfs to get tested all three stores agreed water was in good condition for fish. So I was at a complete loss. I assumed maybe a bad batch from the fish farms as it's known to happen or maybe even neon tetra disease then my phone rang my lfs called to let me know fish for my wife's tank had come in. So we went picked those up (I also picked up some fish for my tank which I know most people will say that's a terrible idea as I'm currently loosing fish left and right) came back added 6 albino Corey's and 4 scissor rasbora ( acclimated the same way as mentioned above ) We made dinner ate watched a movie went back to the tank another 4 dead. I am in full on I give up mode I had no clue what else to do. So last night I decided to stay up and watch the tank, lights off only light was in the back of the room which gave me just enough to see into the tank where I would periodically look to see what the fish were doing. Then it happened to disbelief I saw 4 of the large neons group up and nip the fins right off of another neon. I quickly tried to grab the fish to move to a separate tank to see if It would be ok not even 5 mins later that neon passed. So I go back to watching by 530 am they had taken the pack down to 7 neons 4 males 3 females are all that's left. 7/30 survived. I was truly miffed as I was led to believe they are peaceful fish everything online that I read, people I had talked to everything, then I started searching other forums and pages specifically for black neon aggression in the search bar come across like 4 or 5 others who have had this same problem. Seems once they reach a larger mature size they become territorial and aggressive to there own species.... Ultimately this is a learning experience that I should dive a lot deeper into researching fish just because majority says peaceful doesn't mean they are always going to be that way... Side note this entire process I was speaking with @xXInkedPhoenixX who also purchased black neons around the same time and has seen some aggression as well. Luckily no where near my level but still aggression all the same. Now I'm sure there will be a large number who will try to call BS and I don't blame you I wouldn't believe this if it didn't happen to me personally but thought it was worth sharing with others.

Thank you the plants still need to grow in but it's been a great start probably the most thought I have ever out into a tank lol

Omg guys after two weeks of waiting finally got my black neons and these are probably some of the most intriguing and beautiful fish I have kept.

(Insert Futurama shut up and take my money meme)

I'm pretty sure dwarf saggitaria and micro sword are low tech carpeting plants

😲😲😲😲😲 this is probably the coolest thing I have seen in a minute I definitely would buy all these products. If I could make a request with the cup/tray combo is there anyway to maybe have a hook or two to hold my nets? My biggest struggle is setting nets down somewhere and loosing them or throwing them in a bucket which is never close to my tanks. @FishBroDyl this is what I was talking about

Ok well that's alot of information to process. The price isn't really what scares me off it's how easily things can go wrong. So far my tank is doing well with out co2 so I think I will leave that one alone. What I might do is set up a plants only tank (I have a spare 40 that's not being used) and use that as an experiment tank to play with co2 until I feel comfortable with adding it to a stocked tank down the road

Oh idc what others think it's more of I am to emotionally invested in my fish lol

So me and a buddy were just talking and I came up with what I think is a game changer for the hobby especially if you order fish online. Imagine a website similar to all the travel and hotel sites where you can enter the fish your looking for and it pulled up all the stores selling them and the price per fish next to it? Like oh you want neon tetras here are 30+ sellers, there location, link to there site, and price of the fish and reviews all on one site god i would love that instead of hoping page to page just to see everyone is out of stock or having to go back and trying to find the one that was .50 cents cheaper per fish or had free shipping ect.

See it's more of what could I do wrong lol

What's a solid starting point for equipment that won't completely break the bank?

See I wonder if that's my problem is that I over research and I happen to hyper focus on what could go wrong or so says the wife lol but I mean I have the time I'm currently on short term disability so spend 18 hrs a day in front of my tank.

I know this sounds ridiculous but am I the only one who is scared to attempt Co2. I know it's very easy for some people but knowing how easy it can be to kill fish i am extremely cautious. I have watched a crap ton of videos and read articles but I still feel like I'm missing something cuz I have no confidence in my ability to try it. Any advice for someone who is on the fence about it?

@Tanked look if you need fishy friends hit my inbox anytime no one in this hobby should feel alone. Though I know exactly what you mean it took me till 2 years ago to make fish friends and believe it or not it's cuz I was selling an extra Python water change system and me and dude got to talking for a bit he is now my best friend and when I officially get married next year he is set to be my best man. So don't give up on making fish friends. In the words of my favorite pixar movie "you got a friend in me" and I mean that hmu anytime would love to hear all about you making lights from a tv and stuff that sounds wicked

I'm curious how it got there tbh cuz I didn't post it lol but that's probably actuate to how I would be arguing with young myself when I explain all you need are sponges not fancy canisters and sumps lol

Lol this is going to make me seem like a terrible person but story time hahaha So like 2 years ago I found one of my old math teachers on Facebook as one if the people you may know my first message to him was "dude you lied to me, you said I wouldn't always have a calculator yet here I am typing this massage on one" thankfully he took the joke well