Home » Melanotaenia » Will M. Boesemani eat Neon Tetras?

[jprime84]

I have decided that I really like fish that live in groups. My tank has a group of the M boesemani, a group of corydoras, and a group of pristella maxillaris.

I also have a golden wonder killifish who is a loner up at the top of the water. She is interesting to watch, but not much for hanging out with others. Also, I have read that she will eat the other smaller fish as she grows, so I am thinking of moving her over to my 20g with the pair of platys and getting some kind of small tetra, perhaps neon tetras.

Will the rainbows try to eat or kill the tetras?

[Adrian]

I have decided that I really like fish that live in groups. My tank has a group of the M boesemani, a group of corydoras, and a group of pristella maxillaris.

I also have a golden wonder killifish who is a loner up at the top of the water. She is interesting to watch, but not much for hanging out with others. Also, I have read that she will eat the other smaller fish as she grows, so I am thinking of moving her over to my 20g with the pair of platys and getting some kind of small tetra, perhaps neon tetras.

Will the rainbows try to eat or kill the tetras?

Generally no - but if they are small enough they probably will?

Adrian

[alex]

I seem to remember a thread on this subject. Including a pic with a boesemani with a neon in its mouth!

Alex.

[Gezza]

I have a group of cardinal tetras that are able to hang out succesfully in a heavily planted tank with large RBs including tri's and boesmanis.

A few years back I had another large display tank with a large number of species including duboulayis and neon tetras.

They were okay for a while, until the crimson spots got to a certain size... I remember sitting watching tv with my family, with one eye on the tank as the crimson spots now hunting ferociously. I had to place my hand over my eyes (and distract my kids) when they eventually caught a few of the neons and were half choking on them in their mouth. It was not what I would call family viewing... and I sold the doubalyis to a shop the next day - very unpleasant... Some species are definitely more aggressive than others.

[BertE]

I seem to remember a thread on this subject. Including a pic with a boesemani with a neon in its mouth!

Could it be this thread: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=933 ?

[jprime84]

I added 8 neons to my tank yesterday, and so far I just lost one and that was to the filter! It was a lot smaller than the rest. I am going to buy filter floss today to prevent that form happening again.

I have not seen any overly aggressive behaviour in my rainbows, but then again they are only around 2 inches right now. They might instinctively chase a fish if it flees. Oh well, it may end up having to be survival of the fittest for the neons.