Floating plants

[Greentoads41]

I have 3 flame tetras, 5 neon tetras, and 5 black neon tetras in my 30 gallon community tank. My neon tetras never come near the surface, my flAme tetras rarely do, and my black neons swim in a school at about mid level. I would like to show off my neons more by having them go more next to the surface. Here are some reasons I have thought of why they don't swimm at upper level.
1. I don't have floating plants, so they want to get as far away from the light as possible.
2. The bigger fish (2 Australian rainbows, 1 blue gourami) will chase them and boss them around.
3. Neon tetras just aren't top or middle swimmers.
4. There is no room at the top for them to swim around as this space is occupied by my black neons, gourami and Australian rainbowfish.
5. All of these reasons are causes why they won't come to the top.
Which of these reasons is it? Thanks for your feedback.

[mermaidwannabe]

Probably all of them. You might try some floating plants. Couldn't hurt ...

-- mermaidwannabe

[domjd05]

In my experience the neons prefer mid to lower levels in the aquarium.... thats just the way it is.

[korith]

Have to agree, it's probably a combination of those factors you mentioned. I know when I first started using floating plants it really helped, fish feel less out in the 'open' and a bit safer. You can try dwarf water lettuce, or frogbit, both should be fine with stock lighting, especially since they will be at the surface. You don't need a whole lot of either plant either, they will both grow fairly quick.

[kurly]

I've noticed that my tetras tend to swim in the upper strata of the tank moreso in the evening hours. Mainly my Black Neons and Cardinals do that. The Black Neons like to ride the wave of my filter..lol...

I don't have floating plants but was thinking about getting some just to see if they would swim in the upper strata a little bit more before I turn the lights out and head to bed. I do realize that they are more mid to lower level swimmers but still I am curious to see if adding floating plants will make a difference or not.

[EddyC]

You might also want to consider increasing the size of the school a bit. Neons feel safer in numbers and are more likely to swim all over the place if there are more of them. I've got 8 neons in my tank along with 8 cherry barbs and they all swim throughout the entire water column all day. Actually, now that I think about it, there are 2 or 3 neons who stay down lower and hang around the woodwork for the most part or drift in and out of the plants.

Having lots of plants and hiding spaces will also encourage the fish to explore all the levels of the tank, though as others have said neons do prefer the mid-to-lower levels of the tank and yours may simply not be inclined to venture higher.

[Greentoads41]

Ok, I'll check my lfs ASAP and when I have enough money for floating plants and a larger school. :) thx.

[korith]

Ok, I'll check my lfs ASAP and when I have enough money for floating plants and a larger school. :) thx.
Should be able to get a handful of frogbit for free or a few dollars at most. A small handful should turn into a lot in a few weeks anyhow. Once you have a good amount of it in your aquarium, you'll probably find that you'll need to scoop out some every few weeks to thin it out. Basically you'll have more than you know what to do with given time.

[3dees]

the fact is those tetras are mid level fish. I have 25 lemon tetras with only floating plants and they never swim in the upper part of the tank. I think that brazilian pennyworth is awesome as a floating plant. if you want some activity at the surface get some hatchet's. just make sure you have a cover as the can fly out of a tank.