Is there ANY way to keep Neon Tetras alive???

L

lanoit

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Oct 14, 2004
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I swear, I'm about to give up on tetras altogether. I've tried and tried to maintain them, but they just have no will to live.

I have a 42 gallon, fully cycled tank with two extremely healthy neon tetras (and more fish, but that's not terribly important). Yesterday I bought three more that seemed quite healthy. They immediately schooled together, were eating fine, etc. Today, I get home from work, and one is almost dead. He is swimming upside down and on his side, he's pale, and it looks like his skull has turned dingy brown. I tried to stimulate him a little bit but nothing worked, he died. The other two are looking fine, still schooling, still looking healthy. The water quality is good.

So what is my problem? And what killed this fish? This is the fourth new tetra that has died in this manner in just the past 2 weeks. I don't understand it. It doesn't seem like neon tetra disease, ich, or anything like that.

Maybe they just hate me. Unless someone sees something blatantly wrong with how I'm doing this, my days of neons is over.
 
Well, how different are your water params from your LFS? Could be pH... anything. FWIW, neons are just not as stout as they were when i kept them as a kid. My neons lived well and I knew nothing about aquaria and had bad water conditions, I assure you. All I hear now is how bad neons are and how easy they die. I've even referred to them as indicator fish; when one dies, it indicates you need a water change... I dunno, maybe inbreeding?
 
Hey, I'm from Alabama, don't talk to me about inbreeding...

Correction on that dead fish... He was NOT pale. His color is pretty good. It's the brown/black spot that showed up on his forehead just before he died that confuses me... It's not Hole in Head disease, I don't think, because that's usually on bigger fish and it's not a hole, just a discoloration. I've seen the same thing happen to a couple of Green Fire Tetras I tinkered with.

Water should be about the same as my LFS, but regardless, when I bring a fish home I acclimate him very slowly over a period of a couple of hours, slowly adding tank water... So I don't think it's a water shock issue.
 
Ask for the source of the neons. If they do not know, or say SE Asian bred, don't buy them. If they are Florida-bred or imports, they should be okay. But all new additions should be quarantined before being moved into an existing tank - cheap insurance.
 
Q tanks saved my fish! even though i hate going through the q period it is SO worth it! I had some mysterious disaster hit my q tank nearly a year ago and there are only a few fish left in that tank but i will never move the survivors to my main tank
 
usually neons I,ve had live forever, I agree, check out your seller or try another one. Also maybe move up to cardinals, they cost more....but they are larger. May be your other fish are really eating them since they lay on the bottem at night they are easy prey....or is your filtration too strong?.....
 
I have come to expect a few floaters when buying Neons. From what I gather, the breeding and fry raising conditions they are raised in is less than exemplary. But yes, whenever you buy fish you should ask the LFS what the water parms are that THEY keep them in. If they are too far out of whack from yours, try going somewhere else. Even if YOUR tank params are what is called for, if the current tank is too far off you will shock your new arrivals.
This holds true to any fish.
 
i'm new at fish keeping almost a year neons were my first fish i've always been lucky with them its not because i know what i;m doing i have well water its very soft its high in p h and alkinity i've always done partial water changes weekly i have 14 neons in my 55g and they are doing great
 
Were there only 2 neons in the tank? I find that the schooling fish tend to be much more healthy when I get at least 6.

Neons are actually not that hardy. Due to the demand when they first hit the market, there has been a lot of inbreeding and poor breeding conditions. You could try Cardinal tetras as they are very similar but have not been on the market as long and have not been subjected to such corruption of the gene pool.
 
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