Tetra with livebearer fry?

**KingOfTheFeeshes** · 02-26-2013, 11:09 PM

Has anyone ever had success keeping tetras (Black neons, more specifically) with fry from livebearers? I'm thinking about keeping a breeding/nursery tank that's lightly stocked and heavily planted with small plant clippings such as wisteria, anacharis, and hornwort. I got a BN free from the LFS because he sneaked into the bag...
I'm looking, obviously, to get more so the poor guy has a school, and wondered if a small school would be able to co-exist with some livebearer fry. Thanks in advance!

**dr_lew** · 02-26-2013, 11:51 PM

NO. Tetras are lovely little fish, but they are hungry. And fast. They are way better at hunting livebearer fry than the livebearer parents, in my experience. They are a plus if you want population control, but I would not put them in the fry tank.

**steeler1** · 02-27-2013, 12:20 AM

Yeah anything they can swallow are fair game. Molly fry in a thickly planted tank might work with limited success.

**moghedan** · 02-27-2013, 01:40 PM

I don't think it is possible to plant heavily enough to sneak a fry past a Neon.

**talldutchie** · 02-27-2013, 01:57 PM

It is. I've had a guppy population once that, despite the presence of 6 gold tetras, still managed to expand at a steady rate.

**KingOfTheFeeshes** · 02-27-2013, 07:28 PM

Oh wow, I had no idea. This is my first time keeping Neons since I had a whole school of them die on me when I was 10... I don't think I'll take the chance.
Thanks, everyone, for letting me know. Now I won't have to wonder why all of my fry are disappearing... Lol.

**steeler1** · 02-27-2013, 07:35 PM

The parents are the worst of all. They look at their fry as a free meal.

**dizzydezzy** · 02-27-2013, 09:11 PM

I have platies, a platinum gourami and black neons in the same tank, and the black neons are the quickest, most verocius little fry-eaters I have ever seen. They will chase the fry through the thickest plants and into decorations, and they are FAST.