Why can't I keep neons?

S

slthoeny

AC Members
Feb 25, 2006
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I just cannot seem to have success with neons. I have a 29 gallon tank and had one surviving neon from a previous attempt at neons. I bought a dozen small neons, and lost some. My LFS replaced them with 3 slightly larger ones to see how they did. I have six left. I have my original one two of the larger new ones, and three of the small ones. My temps are at 78. Ammonia and nitrites are 0. Nitrates are 10. I have kept a close eye on the parameters, and have been keeping the water changed frequently to make sure I don't have any spikes. I use a liquid test kit, and it is maybe 18 months old. Tankmates are two dwarf gouramis, two black skirt tetras, two yoyo loaches, and two skunk loaches. Could the yoyos be killing the neons? I see them chase their tankmates occasionally. Not realy chase, but race up to them, and watch the other fish swim away. Or are neons just hard to keep? Oh yeah my ph is about 7.

Another thing, do loaches kill snails? Seems like I read that somewhere, but cannot remember.

Thanks for all of your feedback. Sherry
 
The Black Skirts could also be the culprit. Keep a close eye on your tank. Any obvious aggression you see is probably only the tip of the iceberg.
Do your surviving neons have ragged fins?
 
my surviving neons have ragged fins. I think it was my black skirt tetras. I saw one of them bite my guppies tail. Yes loaches will kill your snails, well at least clown loaches will
 
slthoeny said:
I just cannot seem to have success with neons. I have a 29 gallon tank and had one surviving neon from a previous attempt at neons. I bought a dozen small neons, and lost some. My LFS replaced them with 3 slightly larger ones to see how they did. I have six left. I have my original one two of the larger new ones, and three of the small ones. My temps are at 78. Ammonia and nitrites are 0. Nitrates are 10. I have kept a close eye on the parameters, and have been keeping the water changed frequently to make sure I don't have any spikes. I use a liquid test kit, and it is maybe 18 months old. Tankmates are two dwarf gouramis, two black skirt tetras, two yoyo loaches, and two skunk loaches. Could the yoyos be killing the neons? I see them chase their tankmates occasionally. Not realy chase, but race up to them, and watch the other fish swim away. Or are neons just hard to keep? Oh yeah my ph is about 7.
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Your skunk loaches are possible culprits. These are extremely nasty fish that should not be kept in the community. I'd switch your yoyos to 3 Botia striata or better yet, 6 Pangios. Yoyos are far too boisterous and will need plenty of swimming space considering they have a potential to grow to 5-6 inches.

When keeping loaches, always keep 3 as the minimum number. This is the general rule in their case. I will apply this to all schooling fish. Better yet, 5 depending on how fast and how big they grow.

Neons are not usually that hard to keep depending on your source, style of acclimation and water conditions.
Another thing, do loaches kill snails? Seems like I read that somewhere, but cannot remember.
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All botiine loaches relish invertebrates regardless of the size, species and personality.
 
I'll have to agree, and disagree, with lupin.

I've found skunk loaches to be extremely aggressive given their size, and would never keep them with a shy fish such as neons. However, I've had no issues with yo yo loaches in community tanks, provided that they are kept in trios or more as Lupin said. I used my 29 as a temporary home for them and then moved mine into a 45 with no issues. My last comment here is that I've also had numerous disappointments with keeping neons, even as a seasoned hobbyist. I think your success rate largely depends on the store that you are buying them from, and of course, tank raised fish are generally more hardy than wild caught fish of the same species. I think you should try buying neons from a different store. Maybe you'll get lucky and get them from a different supplier.
 
dude I totally agree with you. I tried keeping neons once but then all but one of them survived. In my case, they were all healthy, but they all just started to kill each other. so I just gave up. I would try checking on your hardness of the water, and try lowering the ph. I also think that some of your tankmates are bad like the black skirt tetras. they can be mean to the smaller species.
 
That's what I mentioned depending on your source, how you acclimate and water conditions.;) They usually are not hard to keep but it could only be my experience.
 
fish guru said:
dude I totally agree with you. I tried keeping neons once but then all but one of them survived. In my case, they were all healthy, but they all just started to kill each other. so I just gave up. I would try checking on your hardness of the water, and try lowering the ph. I also think that some of your tankmates are bad like the black skirt tetras. they can be mean to the smaller species.
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Tank size matters in your situation. As to why neons would kill each other, possible culprit: limited space. Killing each other is usually not the norm among tetras. I kept a lot of tetras and have yet to see them kill each other other than those that are almost dying. A lot of captive-bred tetras are tolerant of the various water conditions however they must be acclimated properly if the water conditions are far too wide compared to your lfs.
 
I got six neons 4 weeks ago and in the past 2 weeks I have lost two of them. It really does depend alot on how healthy they are when you get them. Also.. you got ALOT of them at once, I have heard many times over from people that every time they got a large amount of neons at one time, many died.
 
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