Neons...

[PumaWard]

I just bought a shoal of 6 neons for my 75g. tank...there are a few of them which bite and ram into the others at full speed... The last shoal of neons I had never did this... is it a phase that will just pass?
Their acting like a pack of tiger barbs, oy vey. Anyway, is there anything I can do to help reduce the stress?

[OrionGirl]

It's not unusual to see aggressive behavior with fish that are moved to a new territory--they work to establish the pecking order. Providing lots of hiding places and enough food (scatter it over a wide area to allow all the fish to eat without competition) will help, and it should settle down within a few days.

[PumaWard]

All right, I was just making sure... I hadn't ever seen them do it before.. it was a bit of a surprise lol. As long as it's norm though. Thanks for the info :)

[delmore]

I agree that it will take a little time for them to sort things out and establish the pecking order.

By the way, I assume that your quarantined the neons for a minimum of 3 weeks. If not, you are asking for big problems.

[PumaWard]

I don't quarantine fish because I see it as useless and adding more stress to already stressed out fish, if they havee a disease.. it will still be with them 3 weeks later, especially if it is dormant. Also, I don't have space or money to have quarantine tank, (though I very much wish I did). What I do, however, I read on several advanced hobbyist websites. One, I don't buy fish who are in the same tank with sick or dead fish. I make sure everyone looks nice and healthy. There were two tanks at the lfs chalk full of neons, there were none sick and they have been in those tanks for a week. I get the fish used to my tank next by placing the bag in the water, etc etc, then, every 5 min, adding a cup of water to the bag for about a half hour. After that I get my small net out, net them out of the bag and place them in the tank with getting as little the lfs water in my tank as possible. That aside, my 75 is well established and the fish who have been in there a while are very healthy.

I know its a risk doing this method, but so is buying new fish.:D I always watch my new arrivals extra careful for signs of sickness, and everyday I check over all my fish.

I hope I don't sound confrontational :rolleyes:, I wasn't trying to:), but thank you for your advice anyway.

[RTR]

I am exactly the opposite. I cannot comprehend adding new fish to an established tank without quarantine. The idea of risking a setup with fish which I have had for years with a handful of neons makes me shudder. Each to his own.

http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/isolation.shtml

[yashinfan]

I usually do what PumaWard does, but one time I bought some danios from a tank where one had some cotton gill and I noticed two others were dead in a tank of ~100-200 fish. So I quarantined my fish for 10 days and it just added stress to them. They never showed any signs of disease but I wanted to be careful. They are still doing absolutely great and it's been a month or so? Anyway, I just think that stressing the fish out doesn't seem to be beneficial! I do like to quarantine fish for a couple of days to check them out more thoroughly now, just for outwardly signs and to monitor their behaviour.. doesn't do much to prevent illnesses but I haven't got any yet! :D