# Would bettas eat neon tetras??



## OrangeAugust

I have a 55 gallon tank that has been running since the end of March. Neon tetras are the first fish I got, and eventually, female bettas are the last fish I got. I've had the bettas for about 3-4 months now (there are 6 of them. There used to be 7 but I removed one because she was getting picked on really badly). Anyway, I noticed this past week that three of my neon tetras are missing. I used to have 9, and I counted 6 the other day. I looked all over the tank and counted a few more times and I only counted 6. I did the same thing the next day. There are only 6. Three of them totally disappeared!! :shock: They're not stuck to the filter intake or anything.
Would bettas eat them? My bettas did eradicate my large population of pond snails within a few weeks. I know pond snails are much smaller than neons, but my bettas seem to enjoy eating living stuff. I doubt the 3 neons all died around the same time (and therefore their bodies were eaten by the bettas). Since I had all of the neons for about 5 months they wouldn't have been carrying a disease that just killed three of them off now, right? Is it possible that the bettas killed them and ate them? The other fish I have are zebra danios (which are small but I think way too fast for a betta to catch), julii cories, and oto cats (i just got those about a month ago). And I don't think any of them would have killed a neon.
What if, because I moved out the smallest betta that was getting picked on, the rest of the girls needed someone to pick on, so they started killing the neons?? Because that's when this started.
:question:


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## lilnaugrim

If the Neon's died, it is completely possible that they ate the bodies. Fish are opportunistic eater's, they don't know they are guaranteed a meal everyday and sometimes twice a day so they'll eat whenever they can. And sometimes they will kill if they can. It's not unheard of that Betta's male or female, killing and eating smaller fish.


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## JustinieBeanie

I also think it's possible the neons died, and then the bettas and other fish ate them, but it is interesting that after you removed the sorority girl who was getting picked on, the neons went missing. Of course that could be a complete coincidence, and maybe something non betta related happened to those three. While you might never know for sure what happened, the only ways I can think of to try to find out would be to A) Set up a video camera (a camera that takes pictures at regular intervals should work too) next to the tank and check the footage to see if anything happens or B) Remove all the bettas, and if more fish disappear after removing the bettas, you will know for sure it was not the bettas. Of course, if you remove the bettas and nothing happens, that doesn't mean it was definately the bettas, it could just mean something happened to those three, and the other fish ate them. You'll have to play fishy detective and try to unravel the mystery of the vanishing fish! 
Is it possible they maybe got sucked into the filter, stuck in some crevice somewhere in the tank, or escaped out of some tiny space? If a fish or two ... or three escaped (which sounds improbable to me but I guess it could happen) I wouldn't put it past a hungry pet if you have any, like cat, dog, ferret, etc. to eat a fish that lept from the tank, which might explain how fish could just disappear.


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## lilnaugrim

Also Neons will eat each other as well, actually all fish even if they are herbivore will eat other fish/inverts. It's just something they do lol, rather sucks but it happens. So it might not necessarily be the girls, it could have been any of the fish.

Also since Neons are not as hardy as they used to be, many die for just no reason or rather they do die for a reason; mostly weak immune systems or Neon Tetra Disease and stuff like that. And then when they are close to death, the other fish know it and will basically just kill them from there and have a tasty snack :-/


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## OrangeAugust

Ok, thanks, guys. 
If all three died within a short amount of time, what could cause that besides getting eaten by another fish or getting stuck in the filter or something (I checked the filter intake and there's nothing in it). Since I've had them for so long, it's probably not some disease that they've had since 5 months ago when I bought them from the pet store, could it?

Oops, I just saw your reply. We both replied at the same time.
Thanks.


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## JustinieBeanie

lilnaugrim said:


> Also since Neons are not as hardy as they used to be, many die for just no reason or rather they do die for a reason; mostly weak immune systems or Neon Tetra Disease and stuff like that. And then when they are close to death, the other fish know it and will basically just kill them from there and have a tasty snack :-/


Are the neon tetras not as hardy as they were in the past to due bad breeding or something? Also what is neon tetra disease?


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## lilnaugrim

JustinieBeanie said:


> Are the neon tetras not as hardy as they were in the past to due bad breeding or something? Also what is neon tetra disease?


Yeah, it's all the inbreeding they've done of them and just over breeding in general. I don't remember exactly what the NTD contains but you can do a google search to look it up. But it's the same idea in Dwarf Gourami's as well, too much breeding and chemical injections (in the DG's case) which has made them weak and vulnerable to many things so they now have their own diseases.


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## JustinieBeanie

lilnaugrim said:


> Yeah, it's all the inbreeding they've done of them and just over breeding in general. I don't remember exactly what the NTD contains but you can do a google search to look it up. But it's the same idea in Dwarf Gourami's as well, too much breeding and chemical injections (in the DG's case) which has made them weak and vulnerable to many things so they now have their own diseases.


Chemical Injections?!?! :shock: What are they giving the gourami's those for? I've heard of certain fish being given chemical injections for enhanced color or something like that, are neon tetras and dwarf gourami's also subject to this practice?


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## jaysee

No, neons are not injected for color and I have not heard that of dwarf gouramis either. GBRs are the ones that are supposed to be pumped up with hormones to make them more colorful. I am skeptical about all that though, as it is just SOOOOO easy for someone to just say something without any evidence to back it up, and others that don't know any better repeat it until it becomes "common knowledge".


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## finnfinnfriend

JustinieBeanie said:


> Chemical Injections?!?! :shock: What are they giving the gourami's those for? I've heard of certain fish being given chemical injections for enhanced color or something like that, are neon tetras and dwarf gourami's also subject to this practice?


They will inject femal DGs with male hormones so they look more like males and sell better. I don't think they inject NT or DG with color.


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## JustinieBeanie

finnfinnfriend said:


> They will inject femal DGs with male hormones so they look more like males and sell better.


That's awful. And I don't suppose there's any way unsuspecting customers would even be able to tell the difference between natural born males, natural born females, and the hormone injected females?


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## OrangeAugust

All this talk about fish injections makes me not want to have fish. :| I don't want to support breeders who are basically torturing fish just so they can make them look better.


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## jaysee

finnfinnfriend said:


> They will inject femal DGs with male hormones so they look more like males and sell better.


Do you have anything that you can share with us to support this?


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## jaysee

After a quick search, the only legitimate information I could find on injecting dwarf gouramis had to deal with increasing fertility. Such a practice would likely be detrimental to the overall health of the species, and I can see how the fact that females can be injected with fertility hormones to produce more males could become "injected with hormones to look like males". We've all played whisper down the lane...


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## finnfinnfriend

Don't see why it makes a difference...It is still cruel and this is getting way off topic so I am going to stop here with this.


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## jaysee

It only makes a difference if one cares about the validity of the information they propagate. Not trying to start a fight or anything, but this is like the 3rd or 4th time I've seen you make that claim and was just curious if there was anything of substance backing it or of its just hear-say. Is it cruel to get hormone injections to increase fertility? Lots of people do it, so that I do not know. Is it cruel to overbreed? I'm sure it's physically taxing, and I agree that overbreeding hurts the species on the whole. Are DGs the only species that are injected to increase fertility? Probably not.


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## Chesh

Interesting debate, but back on topic, guys!

August,
It _is_ possible that they became a snack. 

I've seen a (male) Betta eat a JellyBean Tetra (similar size to a Neon). The poor Tetra wasn't fully grown yet, but close - and definitely much too big to fit in the Betta's mouth. I don't think this issue is very common, because I've read many accounts of people keeping Neons with Beta with no problems, but my Betta was pretty aggressive, and also a snail hunter! (the tetra were put in the tank by a well-meaning, if clueless, husband who was trying to help *cries*) 

Hopefully it wasn't the Betta who took your poor little Neons, but I just wanted to chime in that yes! From experience - it _IS_ a possibility! Hoping you have no further problems with the little guys. . .


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