Neon tetras

[belmont0182]

so im looking for a schooling fish for my 5 gallon, i want to get a small school of fish for my tank and thats it...no other fish... my local petsmart is selling jumbo neons on sale for one dollar, and they seem like a good fish for the 5 because they are so small. i am a little bit apprehensive about getting neons because i have heard that they are hard to keep alive. does anyone have any comments or advice about how to keep them healthy for me??

thanks all

[Lauren]

tetras like soft water. That's about all the special care they require. If you keep them in a nice, warm, clean tank they should live for ever. If you have hard water, though, you may experience deaths. I use RO water to keep it livable for my tetras, they seem to like it just fine.

[TKOS]

Be careful. Many of the fish you see at your LFS are babies or young fish and end up getting much bigger. A school of 5 regular neon tetras would rpobably work in a 5 gallon. The problem with neons isn't strict attention to a particular water type but strict attention to a stable tank. With a 5 gallon that is much hartder to achieve. If you are the kind of person that is willing to do a lot of work then they should work fine. But just because it is a small tank doesn't mean less work on your part. Water changes may need to be done more frequently as food waste can easily accumulate. And filter systems tend to make a big current in small tanks so you have to watch for that as well.

[belmont0182]

i have 4 ghost shrimp and an apple snail as my cleanup crew, i did have a problem with my filter being to powerful and pushing my molly that is in the temporarily, but i lowered the flow rate. would black skirt tetras be better? also i am considering another type of tetra, i cant remember the name, but its about the size of a flame tetra

[lostris]

My favourite tetra is the bleeding heart tetra, i love them, but i don't have any at the moment.

[snakeskinner]

I always hear this about neons but I must be incredibly lucky. the only time I lost neons is when I added some ich medicine that was not as safe for tetras as it was said to be. Other than that they've been fine. I have however had a problem with rummy nose tetras mysteriously croaking with no warning. We had neon's when I was a little kid and we were way undertrained for aquariums. I can remember that our "maintenance" included dumping the fish into a tupperware bowl and washing out the tank only when it got covered in algae, no regular water changes. We never really lost any neons. The only time we lost any was when my parents would get tired of maintaining the tank and give our fish away to someone and put the tank in the attic. I will admit though that glowlights seem to be tougher. I didn't lose any of them to the ich medication but did have one die a month before that with no warning. I have 3 cardinals that I have yet to lose. My bloodfins and Greenfire tetras are about the same hardiness as my glowlights have been. One other fish you might consider is Harlequin rasboras. They aren't as colorful being silver/black with a redish hue sometimes but I like them just as much. They aren't scared of larger fish and they are supposed to be very tolerant of water. mountin minnows have a bad reputation as well but mine are doing wonderful. They are listed as a coldwater fish but I have them in my warm water community tank and they are thriving. I think most of these temperature and PH requirements are not all that mandatory as long as you keep them somewhat stable because in the wild, the temperature changes unless the fish are from the tropics where the temps prettymuch stay the same year round. I think any fish would adapt to any conditions as long as they are gradual. Neon's usually run about $2 here so that's not a bad deal. have fun, Kyle

[TKOS]

White clouds are very hardy fish. While they will do fine in a warmewr tank, they won't thrive per se. They do require higher oxygen levels, being coldwater fish. So if you keep them in a warm tank then I suggest doing more water chnages.

But a group of 5 in a 5 gallon with shrimp and a snail would be great. Do a search on the internet for a picture of them. The ones in the store are babies and don't look like much.

But if they were the only fish in the tank you could easily keep the tank at room temp. The like the temp around 67-72F

[belmont0182]

i would love to get some white clouds in the 5, but i already have a school in my 10 gallon...i love the fish and they are quickly becomming some of my favorite, i just dont want two tanks full of them. ill prob go with some type of tetra, i really like black skirts, they school well and look cool, i just think they are too big for the 5.

[boyohboy]

Originally posted by belmont0182
.... black skirts, they school well and look cool....

Long time ago, like when I was still living with my folks, I once bought 2 dozens of the black skirt tetras. They school ok when they were really small < 1/2". But they grew really fast and once got bigger, they just seemed sorta marking a spot each and stay somewhat idle.. thus becoming abit un-interesting. But they were VERY hardy tho, just never seemed to die or sick even other fish in the tank was dying once in awhile :rolleyes: YMMV

[TKOS]

Black neons and glolights are cool choices as well. I think they get a tad bigger than a traditional neon but not by much.

[Lauren]

I back up the rasbora idea. Rasboras are some of the most fun fish to watch. They aren't as colorful as neons, but they are much more active. I can watch my rasboras chase each other around, and play under the current of my filter all day long. I have tetras as well, which are more vibrant, but they don't swim around as much as the rasboras.

[belmont0182]

im not sure how much rasporas cost, but i think that they are a little over my budget, im thinking along the lines of a schooling fish under $2 per fish. also will i need to get an aggressive fish to ensure that they school well?

ive also thrown around the idea of some zebra danios, they're about a buck a piece, i dont know how well they will stick together, and from my experience they are more like a shoal than a school

[LMOUTHBASS]

just something no one else mentioned here -
your prob not going to get any schooling action in a 5g

[belmont0182]

thats why i thought if i got some sort of aggresive fish in there the fish would be more likely to school

[lostris]

I have 8 black neons in an 11 gal, they arent rummynose, but at least they stick together. The thing that bugs me is that I tought they were middle to upper level, but they r more of middle to bottom dwellers.

[Lauren]

I got my rasboras for less than 2 dollars a fish. You said neons are about a buck a fish? Wow, that's expencive. They are a popular fish, my lfs store sells them for something like 3 or a buck fifty or something like that.

[LMOUTHBASS]

even with an aggressive fish in the tank they haven't got the room to properly school - they'll prob just bunch together n sit in a corner and move from one corner to the other occassionally

[belmont0182]

even if they didnt school as good as they would in a big tank, it would still look pleasing to see all the similar fish swimming around the tank