Tank Makes for Neon Tetras

[carttman]

I have a 30 gallon Eclipse tank with natural color gravel, two pieces of artificial Driftwood, one action air ornament, a bubble wall, and plastic plants. I was going to get about six Neon Tetras. (possibly more) I was wondering what other kinds of fish, and how many would make good tank makes? These are some of the fish I was looking at : Jellybean Tetra, Rainbow Shark, Red Tail Shark. Would these be suitable tank makes? What else would you recommend?

[famman]

Wouldn't the sharks eat the neons?

How about some nice corydoras?

:)

[mwood322]

I'd get as many neons as you think they tank will reasonable hold, as they look better in groups.

Jellybean Tetras would probably be fine as tankmates, but I would probably try to buy un-dyed fish. Naturally Jellybean Tetras are just White Skirt Tetras colored. The Dyes last a few months, then they fish fades to a whitish pink. Often these fish are also prone to disease.

Also a note on the sharks. A red-tail shark should not be kept with a Rainbow Shark as they are closely related and often aggressive to fish that look like them. They are also overall semi-aggressive, and recommended for tanks with slightly larger fish for that reason. They do very well with Tiger barbs.

Black Phantom Tetras, Lemon Tetras, and most other small tetras might make good tankmates. Also Corydoras Spec. Catfish, and Leopard or Zebra Danios would be good.

--Mia

[val]

Carttman, to Aquaria Central, home of the most neon keepers on the internet:)

I would echo the advice on the sharks, keep only one in a tank that small. While the RTBS is one of my alltime favorite fish, I would recommend that you not try to keep on in a 30g, they are big solitary and fast, and need more swimming room. I've had two RTBSs with barb tanks and they left them alone, so I would think these would work fine for your setup, if you had to have one.

I would also think that more neons is better than two or three schools of fish, so I'd think more along the lines of 20-25 neons. Maybe as a counterpoint, you could have have raspboras, which would be a different color and "shape" to the neons.

Val