Black emperors

NoodleCats

NoodleCats

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Feb 26, 2020
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My melon barbs decided they weren't going to play nice with my other fish, so the person I got them from took them back.
This left an opening in the 55 for another upper level fish and my husband didn't want more cories.

We had a choice of these or perhaps dadio, but my husband liked these better, and I have no regrets these are very niiiice tetras, huge too.
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Scratch just darkening up...
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They started spawning today!
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And some videos

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I'm sorry it didn't work out with the melon barbs. They became aggressive? I have never kept them and they are not a commonly available fish for sure.
For a similar looking fish, have you thought of hexazona/pentazona barb/Bornean tiger barbs? They certainly are better behaved as most pets and kids.
The black emperors look beautiful.
 
Love the pretty eyes! Yours look much more colorful than I've seen in lfs, might be that spawning thing, huh? Or maybe your lighting?

I'm sorry your melons were not good in your tank. I had hopes they'd be less obnoxious than tiger barbs...now we know...not so much...Too bad :(
 
the loach said:
I'm sorry it didn't work out with the melon barbs. They became aggressive? I have never kept them and they are not a commonly available fish for sure.
For a similar looking fish, have you thought of hexazona/pentazona barb/Bornean tiger barbs? They certainly are better behaved as most pets and kids.
The black emperors look beautiful.
Click to expand...

Yeah they didn't seem to work well with the cories, targeted their dorsal fins and the plecos too. Would start hunting them in packs and even when the cories all hid in the corner or under leaf litter the barbs would purposely look for them just to nab them. Its a shame because theyre such a beautiful and interactive fish and I really liked them, but husband says no to another tank, so I have nowhere that they could have gone where they wouldn't have done the same thing all over again. If they kept their nipping to themselves id be fine with it but you go after tankmates on purpose, then its a problem.

The Emperors are sassy, I got mostly boys with my order lol but their disputes aren't physical outside of chasing and they don't bother the other fish. Just each other. Theyre entertaining, more so out of any tetra we have had. Flashy and have a lot of spunk, at the same time aren't causing trouble.

I'm gonna miss the barbs begging for food every time they saw me. They had the most endearing little faces when they did.

But you can see one little brat sneak up on the cories here

 
fishorama said:
Love the pretty eyes! Yours look much more colorful than I've seen in lfs, might be that spawning thing, huh? Or maybe your lighting?

I'm sorry your melons were not good in your tank. I had hopes they'd be less obnoxious than tiger barbs...now we know...not so much...Too bad :(
Click to expand...
Well usually fish in stores are cramped, constant change in tankmates, etc and not given the chance to settle so theyre often pale. Ive learned not to judge fish on their appearance in store.

Every source I read on the melons said theyre peaceful and community friendly. Its a shame because theyre not cory friendly, and the cherry barbs were pestered by them too.
But even so, I think if I had different fish in with them they'd work. The person I got them from keeps his with botia loaches and they don't mess with them. I'm thinking cories are just easy targets (face it, theyre not the smartest of fish out there lol), but nowhere in my reading did it say they'd behave this way with them. So it was a gamble.

I'm wary of any barb now, with cories, after this @theloach because even if they say peaceful, it may not be that way. Odessas are supposed to be peaceful too, but someone I know had the same issue with the barbs with their cories too.

I was considering getting more cherry barbs, but the fact my 6 are super peaceful and perfect citizens, I figured I wouldn't fix what isn't broken at the risk of new ones being badly behaved as ive heard mixed experience with cherries too.
 
I had "killer cherries" once too, I was shocked! I'd kept them before, little peaceful fish. My "evil" males were super red all the time, I wondered if they'd been hormoned or something after the dominant male killed the others, M & eventually F. Of course, I think they were among the largest fish in the tank too... Just shows you never can tell for sure.
 
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