Why can't I keep neons?

[EmmanuelJB]

Every single time I have tried keeping neon tetras they die on me. I first tried them 2 seperate times in my 46 gallon aquarium, and both times they died within a couple weeks or sooner. A week ago I added a couple to my 10 gallon planted aquarium, figuring it would be easier to keep them alive in a 10 gallon, with plants... Well it is EXACTLY a week later and I only have 3 out of the 15 left, and the 3 left don't look great at all.

I don't get it! I am keeping rams, rummy nose's, and various other "less" hardy fish with WAY less trouble or no trouble at all.... What could be wrong?? What perimeters are great!

I really want the neon tetra look in my 10 gal planted, are cardinal tetras any better?

[toddnbecka]

Neons tend to be delicate fish, and not as adaptable to different water conditions as most other commonly sold species. Hatchet and pencil fish are similar in that respect, seldom last long w/out just the right conditions.
Soft water is best for long-term care, but ironically moving fish into softer, acidic water suddenly is likely to shock and kill them, while moving them into harder, more alkaline water doesn't seem to bother them. It also depends on how stressed and/or generally healthy they are to begin with before you even bring them home.
I've never had any luck with neons either, so I simply keep and breed fish that are easier to work with in hard, alkaline water.

[funkman262]

Try some cardinal tetras instead. They're generally more hardy and don't suffer from neon tetra disease which can also spread to other species of fish. Petsmart has them on sale for $1 each from time to time.

[Pleco380]

I've had neons a few years back when I actually listened to everything the LFS employees told me. I cycled the tank with them. One died during the cycle and the other 3 were fine. Eventually 2 others died of disease. The one remaining I ended up selling about 2 months ago. I guess I just got lucky and mine were hardy. I also recommend you get cardinal tetras instead. They should do better than the neons did.

[kurly]

I've had 10 Cardinal Tetras for 2 years. I started off with twelve but two died shortly after I put them in my tank. I just think it was due to stress. I haven't had any problems with the remaining 10 that I have.

[rich311k]

I have never had any luck with neons either. Try embers, cardinals or glo-lights.

[Lady Hobbs]

Cardinals are not available in my area so always end up with the neons but I would get cardinals if I had the choice. The neons I bought last week are still with me and already the size of my existing neons and already I can't tell the new from the old. I didn't even acclimate them. I just tossed them in my hospital tank and turned the lights off. My water is on the hard side with a pH of 7.6.

Bugs me that my store never has many of them so trying to fill a tank with them takes forever. By the time I get my hospital tank emty of them, it's time to add a few more. Would be much easier to quarantine 20 at a time rather than 6 or 7. *sigh

[FullMETAL]

Hi Emmanual,

I have most of my neons that have made it through their moving process. My water is fairly hard and pH stays at around 7.6-7.8. Since LadyHobbs is about the same, maybe these conditions are still suitable even though most sites recommend softer water??? Outside of an occasional one dying within a week of stress (or something else) when I buy them, my school continues to grow. (I use the drip acclimation to be sure they are not stressed when they are added to my tank.)

Are these fish just disappearing or are you fishing them out? Maybe some of the other fish are picking on them? I will have to worry about this soon as we had purchased a pictus catfish and I found out they are predatory :scry: (Hopefully the sinking shrimp pellets will keep him/her full).

I need to do more research before I just head to the fish store and buy fish! Best of luck to you cause I think Neon's are awesome too!

[mermaidwannabe]

I also read that neons are touchy, and that it's not unusual for a whole bunch of them to die out at once after being purchased. I also read that they like soft, acidic water. But if they do better in harder, more alkaline water, that's probably what you should go with.

Not all the research is that accurate, and there does seem to be exceptions to the general rules of thumb.

That's why researching is fine, but personal experience is even better. I go by what works, even if it may contradict something I've read.

Maybe other species of tetras will do better for you ...

-- mermaidwannabe

[dbosman]

Since they can be caught by the millions each season, tank raised neons aren't common.
The collectors take the fish from a nice stream to a packer who, if you're lucky, passes them on to a shipper. The shipper sells and ships them to a wholesaler in the states. The wholesaler, if you're lucky, ships to the store. No one feeds during the transport as the waste would foul the water. If you're not lucky, there are more intermediaries in the journey to you.

When you get them on sale - shortly after the bag has been emptied - they are stressed and starving. The average purchaser takes them home and dumps them into a community tank where the water is very different. Where they get harassed by even guppies. Then the owner tosses in some flakes that bear no resemblance to food from the stream.

Take the same sale fish, put it into a single species quarantine tank, offer a a variety of live and frozen foods, and watch the survival rate go up.

If instead of picking them up on sale, you purchased neons from a good fish store that quarantined them for a couple of weeks and made sure they were eating well, the cost will be a couple of dollars per fish.

******************************************

A fish like the zebra danio is raised by the hundreds of thousands per pond in Asia. The pond will probably be owned by the shipper. The babies have only known tank foods.

[Lady Hobbs]

$2.89 here for the tiniest of them and $3.29 for the Jumbo's.

I consider them sensitive fish. They often die to medications in a tank where other fish are not bothered with it at all. Ick medication should only be used in half doses for neons, for instance.

They are very hard to breed and spawn and why they are imported. There die out rate compared to african cichlids shipped is far higher so that shows they are more fragile.

[30gallongal]

they are the only species ( other than 2 java loaches *i'm thinking of another loach) in the tank. The biggest trouble ive had is ich, but havent lost a fish yet. i had cardinals too (6 i think) and they all got ich and got pale and died. :( I've had way better luck with the neons, but it might also be that they dont have any other tank mates that bother them???

i also had a question, when turning up the tank temp to 82 degrees in order to fight ich, if the fish seem to like it, and you've got a humongous air bubbler, can you leave the temp set to 82?

you may want to try adding a background to the back and sides, it made mine more secure.

[dbosman]

Tank temperature is up to you and the fish. Tropical fish will usually thrive in warmer water, up to a point. Quickly lowering the water temp with a water change can be used to simulate the rainy spawning season. To save some cash, back the temperature down to 75 degrees after the ich is cleared up.

Don't add cold water fish to that tropical tank. White Clouds are mountain stream fish and thrive in what most of us would say is cold water. They don't do well in the summer in homes that lack an air conditioner or a water chiller.

[Lady Hobbs]

I'm at 23 now. Stopped at the store today and they had them on sale......first time EVER......buy 10 for $10 and get one free. Going back tomorrow. I didn't acclimate them. They've been in store water for 5 days already......same as mine.

[Lady Hobbs]

And now I have 33! yeaaaa......only lost 1 the last 3 days.

[NeedleNose3]

Not sure if this is true or not.... I work at a pet store and run the fish departement and I was having lots of problems with neons last year they were dying like crazy! (i got so fed up with it i quick carrying them for a while) but I talked to a guy who worked for a pet store in a different town and he said that neons were so mass produced that it was commom or them to die and that they were not at hardy because of genetic problems... again not sure if thats true or not? any one hear of that

[dbosman]

The vast majority of Neon Tetras and Cardinal Tetras are wild caught.
Tank raised would be special enough to be labeled as such.

The lack, or delay, of torrential rains affect Neon health and abundance.

[Lady Hobbs]

Just copied this bit from Wikipedia.....

Most neon tetras available in the United States are imported from Hong Kong ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.]), Singapore ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.]), and Thailand ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.]), where they are farm raised, or to a lesser extent (<5%) from Colombia ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.]), Peru ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.]), and Brazil ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.]), where they are collected from the wild. During a single month, an average of 1.8 million neon tetras with an estimated value of $175,000 are imported into the United States for the aquarium trade.[3] ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.]_note-chapman1997-2) With the exception of home aquarists and a few commercial farms that breed neon tetras experimentally, captive breeding on a commercial scale is nonexistent in the United States.

I found this interesting because I thought they were all coming from the wild.
Interesting that so many are farm raised there but none in the US. If they can do it, we sure should be able to.

Not sure how mine will fair since my heater went out last night and the tank is only 70 degrees right now! grrrrrrr

[dbosman]

Obviously life and technology move on. It was just a couple of years ago that the university in Florida that specializes in learning how to farm finicky fish, found the trick to Neons. The Asian fish farmers apparently followed the advice, quickly.

Thanks for the update.

[sallywally]

My LFS says cardinals are more delicate than neons. One guy there (the folks have different responses to different questions) says you can't keep cardinals in any tank where the water starts as tap water, no matter whether you condition it and parameters are ok...

I prefer cardinals, for some reason I think they show up more and even though the neons seems to have more blue on their bodies, the cardinal blue seems to me to be much clearer.

I've lost a lot of neons, too. My last group of 9 is down to 3, but they seem to be doing pretty well....about 1.5 weeks since I lost the last ones, even though I over-vacuumed the gravel about a week ago and sent the tank back to pre-cycled parameters. (now improving)

[reef12]

Cheer up have been keeping fish on and off for 45 years and still those neons are like well never could keep them around long.

Try the cardinals cause I never had much luck with them neither.