Neon's not eating

[Think]

Hey guys,

I'm new to the world of aquariums and this past weekend I bought a 20 gallon long tank and 5 neon tetras. They have been happily schooling, hiding behind rocks, etc... But when it comes feeding time, they don't even notice the food and they are scared of my hand, so they hide. I am feeding them Wardley Tropical Flakes. A few of them have eaten the flakes that sunk, but they won't touch floating flakes. Perhaps it is the food, but aren't these guys supposed to eat anything small quite well. I read somewhere to feed them twice daily, and I have been trying to get them to eat at morning and night under good light, but no such luck.

My current setup is a 20L tank with a Aquaclear 30 power filter with BioMax, I have a Hydor heater at 78*. The tank is always the perfect temperature.

As of right now, they are schooling on the bottom of the tank... which is also strange according to what I've heard. They seem energetic and happy and they all swim well... What's up with my fish!!!

[Mark Lathrop]

Get some semi-sinking pellet type foods. They make some especially for the mid-tank swimmers like the neons.

You mentioned having a newer tank. Have you cycled it yet?

[troy]

they're either stressed or just getting used to the tank.

[NeonJulie]

Neons are notoriously sensitive fish now, in most cases. At one point there were hardy, but most people agree too much breeding has taken it's toll.

We're really missing a lot of information here, so I'll just cover some bases.

*Your neons could be ill from the fish store.

*Your neons could be suffering from high Ammonia or NitrIte levels. What are these parameters?

*Your neons could be stressed from the stress of purchase and acclimation, if the acclimation was not carried out slowly enough.

*Your neons could be taking their time adjusting to the new environment - dimming the lights in the room/tank may assist them in feeling more secure.

*Your neons may feel that there is not enough security or shelter in the tank.

*Your neons may not have been fed the same type of food - most neons don't actually come to the surface, they are midwater dwellers, (although some courageous ones later learn to.) Their mouths point forward, which is how they typically eat. My neons do fine with flakes that have sunk. You can put flakes in some water for a minute before adding to the tank, so they sink right away.

*There could be some nearby high noise levels or activity with people that during their acclimation, is stressing them.

*If there are any other fish in the tank, they could be stressing the smaller size fish.

*They could be dealing with some type of illness that has overtaken them since being put in the tank, and subjected to the stress.

*Or they are simply non-used to that way of feeding, and will take a week or so to learn where the food comes from, etc.


If your tank is as new as you say, you are probably hitting the beginning of what could be a stressful Fishy Cycle. You should read up about the Nitrogen Cycle and prepare to do water changes.

Do you have a testing kit, or at least an Ammonia Alert for the first phase of the cycle?

Also, to be honest, I think Neons are notoriously mild fish. Only at feeding times do mine ever really move around. They float here, they line up over there, drift over here. They aren't like Zebra Danios or others of the minnow familes which zoom all over. They just kind of... bunch up and drift... and one heads off to explore this area... the others drift to follow... rather relaxing I find.

Again they are mid-bottom dwellers... you won't see them up at the top much if everything's ok.