Taking Some Fish Back, Need Opinions

M

maryalice81403

AC Members
Oct 2, 2006
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Salinas, CA
So, I bought 6 Neons and 6 White Clouds last weekend to put in my 12 gal cycled tank with the idea of later adding my Betta. Some of you told me that it is too many fish for 12 gal and apparently you are right (no suprise there!) because my ammonia has gone way up. Also, some of you suggested those fish aren't too good with Bettas.

So the plan is now to take some of them back to the store (I hope they take them back). I was thinking of taking 3 Neons and 3 White Clouds back. So I would be left with 3 Neons, 3 White Clouds and eventually the Betta in a 12 gal tank. Is that still too many fish? Is it okay to split up the Neons and White Clouds or should I just keep 6 of one kind? I actually like the looks of the Neons better but some of you said they might nip the Betta so I am afraid to keep 6 of them.

What do you suggest?

Thanks,
MaryAlice
 
Neons and/or WCM's look nicer in groups IMO I would ditch one or the other and keep the remaining.

I generally don't recommend neons for nippyness, but your individual experience may vary. I know people that have done the betta/neon thing and had no problems. It'd be something to watch for in the first week. If you start seeing fin damage to the betta it won't work and you'll need to switch out one or the other.

Depending on where you bought them, LFS generally do not have an issue with taking back live fish.

I would also suggest a decent amount of live and/or soft fake plants for the betta to play/hide in.

You could also bump the school size up to 8 with no problems, provided you're cycled and all that.

I have 7 glowlight tetras, 2 ottos and a male betta in my tank and have absolutely no problems with any of them, but I designed the layout of my tank with this stocking in mind.
 
I have wintnessed neons picking on a betta in one of my own tanks before.. but kept bettas and whiteclouds together in perfect ignoring-each-other harmony. So i would keep the whiteclouds. Plus they are both Asian fish, so you could make a cute little biotope with a few asian plants like cryptocorynes, java fern, and java moss.
 
Another option may be to take them all back and look at one of the other tetra lines if you want more color in the tank.

I find that neons tend to be the nippiest of tetras, and that most other tetras are fine with a betta.
 
I would keep one school or the other but not both. It will look better this way and the fish will be happier and less likely to bother your betta if thier school is maintained.

Marinemom
 
I'm one of the people who had a terrible Neon/Betta experience. The neons were a little too "interested" in my betta, and my betta apparently had a craving for neon parts. Keep an eye on them if you should decide to go the neon route.
 
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