Neon Tetra's Play Dead?

[hondaman]

hi guys, it's been awhile. got a question.

I recently added 5 neon tetras into my 10g which only has a betta in it. The reason for it is obvious, the betta does nothing, well did nothing. after I added the neon's he now swims around.

anyway, my question...

I was doing the first tank cleaning since I put the neons in, and low and behold, all of them dropped to the bottom (some into gravel pockets), and stood motionless for about 5 minutes. Now of course this totally freaked me out! After I finished though, other than one having ripped its mouth open somehow, which I euthanized, all of them came back to normal.

Is this normal?

[jngldnb001]

when you say the reason is obvious... do you mean for food for the beta? also what is with this "eauthanizing" of fish? what happend to the days when you just give it a burial at sea? (flush down the toilet)

[victimizati0n]

when you say the reason is obvious... do you mean for food for the beta? also what is with this "eauthanizing" of fish? what happend to the days when you just give it a burial at sea? (flush down the toilet)

how would you like it if you were almost dead, and someone threw you in the river right where they dump all of the city waste?

i dont think you would like it very much... same goes with the fish

[Holly9937]

The cleaning probably just freaked them out a bit, especially since they are new additions and are not used to your routine. I'm sure it was nothing, but keep an eye on them:)

[dirtydawg10]

Not normal for my Neons...Maybe they are just used to the water changes. When I do gravel cleaning the Neons come right up to the gravel vac tube and try to eat the particles they see being vacuumed up.

[patoloco]

It's probably a fear matter. They will get used to the water changes, unless the betta takes care of them first.

[hondaman]

Nah, the betta leaves them alone, I was told at the LFS that it should not be a problem. Plus the neons run circles around the betta and he couldnt catch them if he wanted.

The curious thing tho, the betta now sometimes swims "in-formation" with the neons. Its cool to watch.

Anyway, I will be doing another water change tomorrow and see if I can get some pics of this behavior.

[quenton]

hi guys, it's been awhile. got a question.

I recently added 5 neon tetras into my 10g which only has a betta in it. The reason for it is obvious, the betta does nothing, well did nothing. after I added the neon's he now swims around.

anyway, my question...

I was doing the first tank cleaning since I put the neons in, and low and behold, all of them dropped to the bottom (some into gravel pockets), and stood motionless for about 5 minutes. Now of course this totally freaked me out! After I finished though, other than one having ripped its mouth open somehow, which I euthanized, all of them came back to normal.

Is this normal?
Interesting -- just a couple of hours ago (before reading this), I decided to move my 5 neons to another tank (angel was bugging them). I caught them easily and dropped each into a plastic tub of tank water. When I looked, every single one was floating upside down, some on the bottom, some on the top -- they all looked dead. I carefully put them into the other tank after gradually equalizing the water and they all swam away and look great. It was like they were scared and fainted or something. I have been keeping fish for years and have never seen this reaction before.

[BrineShrimp]

Women faint all the time in a lot of movies. I guess all these neons are females. You need to add a strong male neon tetra to take care of them.

[NatakuTseng]

Neons and Cardinals (even worse) are well known for doing this. For whatever reason its a deffensive reflex, they faint when they are startled. Not a very good one, but it must work since they are so populous in the wild.

Miss Brine Shrimp, its nice to see there are still chauvinistic pig trolls lurking here at AC, gives the mods something to do that is semi productive.

[new2tanks]

Miss Brine Shrimp, its nice to see there are still chauvinistic pig trolls lurking here at AC, gives the mods something to do that is semi productive.


2nd that!

[hondaman]

Well it is nice to know that it's not a batch of squemish "females" and it might be a normal reflex to danger.

[mykidsmylife]

I have noticed just flipping the tank light on without giving them much warning causes my neons to do this. I actually have one that when the lights flip on, it will spaz out and swim upside down and all crazy like, bumping into things around the tank. They are strange but beautiful little fish.