# Neon Tetras hovering in one spot



## OrangeAugust

Hi! I bought my first school of fish for my 55 gallon tank last night. :-D
I got 6 Neon tetra. I acclimated them and then let them go in the tank. They stayed in a tight little group and explored the tank for a while, swimming around its borders. But eventually, they all congregated in the area near the middle at the bottom and have been swimming around in a tight little group, but don't leave that area. It's not like they're hiding because I have a pretty lush area of plants on the left side and some rocks and a smaller plant on the right side, but they're staying right in the middle out in the open. It's weird for them to be at the bottom of the tank too, isn't it? They were the same this morning just swimming around, barely, in their little group, in just one area like none of them wanted to take the lead to go anywhere. I actually couldn't find one of them last night before I went to bed, but he was back with the group this morning.
So, why are they acting like this? Is it just because they are in a new environment?


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## Crowntails

Yup. I'd get 6-10 more. It'd make them feel more safe and come out of the corner.


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## OrangeAugust

Ok, I'll try that. I think I will only get 4 more now because there are a number of other schooling fish I want to get and I don't want to overstock the tank. 

Here's a cute picture of when they were first exploring the tank.


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## Romad

Give them some time to settle in and they should be fine. Are they trying to get away from a strong water flow by any chance?


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## OrangeAugust

The filters do seem a little strong, and I have one on each side and they were at the bottom in the middle... maybe the filters are too strong...


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## Olympia

They do need to settle. But that's a little fish in a lot of tank. This sounds a lot like the behavior of my tetras when I had 5. Added 5 more and they really came to.


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## OrangeAugust

Ok, thanks everyone. I'll get a few more today. I just saw that they're on sale at Petsmart for $1.00 each! I got the other ones at a LFS and they were like, $2.50 each or something like that.


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## Olympia

Awesome. The more the merrier. 
I'm not sure what you're planning but I'd have at least a group of 10 in that size tank. It's planted so you could do a lot more in there, depending on what else you'd like. I'd be willing to help with that.


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## OrangeAugust

Yeah, I'm going to get 4 more.
In the tank I'm planning to also have zebra danios, glow light tetras, black phantom tetra, some kind of rasbora (harlequin, or those other ones that were renamed as danios... I think pearl danios used to be galaxy rasboras or something like that), oto cats, julii cory cats, an angelfish, and 6 female bettas.


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## Olympia

I would reconsider the galaxy rasbora, they are very timid and might not do well in that tank.

And drop the angel fish. A grown angel fish will eat neon tetras and anything similar to that size. :shock: They do get really big.


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## OrangeAugust

I knew Angelfish got big but I didn't know they would eat smaller fish! :shock:
Bummer.
Thanks for the info.


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## GoodMorning

i love neons.....ahhhhhhh, thanks for the info, i will check out that 1.00 special at my local petsmart


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