Feeling soo silly

[tootiemac]

Yet again I followed advice given by the LFS (a different one for the first twice)

I had bought 4 Eastern European neon tetra which are all nipping each other, I asked here and people advised to expand the group to atleast 6.

So off I went to the LFS to get 2 more minimum when I got there I was standing waiting to be served and spotted the glow light tetra.
I tried and tried to google if it was possible to put glow light and neons together but couldn't get a signal.
Several times and staff I asked all said the same, they'd be good together, so I came home with 3 glow lights.

I've added them to the tank and now I read they won't shoal together??? Is this right?

The neons are still nipping and the glow lights are grouped in their 3.

 

[FishyBusiness]

I think the sales associates were maybe saying they go good together as in compatibility...? But they are a different tetra, so they won't school together. Kinda like Cory cats. I have peppered and bronze and they keep in their own schools. If your tank is large enough, up each school to 6 (3 more each). If your tank isn't big enough, exchange one school for the other.

 

[tootiemac]

I specifically asked if they'd shoal together due to the nipping issue. I said it several times.

Think I'll return the glow lights and get more neons since they were there first.

I've only got a 19L (5.5 gal)

I knew I'd seen something about it online as well soooooo annoying. I just feel really bad for the poor fish.

 

[FishyBusiness]

Sorry about the bad LFS advice (again)! And I'm sorry to bust your bubble here but a 5 gallon tank is too small for those fish... Tetras are quite active. If you keep them I strongly suggest a 10 gallon minimum. In the 5 gallon, you can easily do a betta. Mine is loving the 5 gallon space! Or some celestial pearl danios or maybe some chili Rasboras. But the tetras need bigger space IMO.

 

[FishyBusiness]

Try this link out and scroll down to "what about the animals" section. This is a good article on nano tanks. The Badis would be my personal choice of fish. My betta will live forever (lol), but if he doesn't that's what I'm going to do.

http://www.tfhmagazine.com/freshwater/feature-articles/aquatic-gardening-nano-style-full-article.htm

 

[azmodan]

Agreed -- the tetras definitely need more space. Your best move is probably to rehome the tetras and then research nano fish which are more appropriate for a tank that small. You could look into...

Betta
Celestial pearl danios
Chili rasboras
Emerald rasboras
Clown killies
Scarlet badis
Dwarf puffer
Betta
Ember tetras