Dee

Hello,

Im Dee,

I came across this site, I am thinking to get a 10 Gallon Tank, with 12 Tetras, as I heard that there need to be six of each at least?

6 Neon
6 Red Eyes

Are they easy to take care of? as I know that they live in warm water.

And what sort of things do I need to know if they are healthy, as our local petshop is a disgrace, all the fish look really ill and some have no eyes and floating every which way but straight fish must feel pain?

Dee

agabr123

for a 10 gallon i think that having those two schools would be too much of a bioload, you'd probably be okay with a school of 10 or so of the neons, but the red eye tetras get to about 3 inches, a school of those in a 10 gallon would definitely be too much.

tetras are not a very difficult fish to take care of, but they are pretty sensitive to water conditions. if they are healthy, they will be pretty active and moving around the tank, they won't be hanging out in a corner or at the bottom, they'll also either come up to you when you go to the tank, or at least not hide at the back.

that's horrible about your LFS........i definitely wouldn't buy fish from there.....

tetras do live in warm water, about 78F is best. and also, you should cycle your tank fishless. here are some links about the nitrogen cycle and what your tank will be going through on a regular basis
http://www.fishlore.com/Articles/TheNitrogenCycle.htm
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

please dont hesitate to ask more questions, and welcome to fishlore!

NUMB3RS

I would get 3 neons to start and grow from there!

cerianthus

Wehter How many can go in any tank depends on not just what tyes but how familiar the owner is with fish keeping.
If never had tank before or pretty new to hobby, start w/ few. Take this into consideration. You should leave some rooms for cory cats.

As far as Red-Eye Tetra as other member mentioned, it may be small at lfs but it wont stay small (biggest red-eye from SA that I grew was about 2" in large tank (125G and took some time). How about the following fish w/ Neons or Cardinals when you are more comfortable with fish keeping.
6 x Rummy nose OR
6 x Asian Rummy Nose (Tetra? but I think more Cyrinids but still pretty) OR
4 x Black Wedge/Pretty Tetra; Hemigrammus pulcher (2 male/2 female if possible): Awesome Fish when you can find them. Seem to be more sensitive to shipping long distances thus very very seldomly seen even in NYC (May be easily avail in Europe; Germany). But once settled, not much different from Head & Tail Lite Tetra as far as care
AND
2-4 smaller size Corys.

As they get larger and you have bit more hand-on experiences, you will probaly find the way to accomodate them in more spacious and luxurious environments. lol

bodieman

i have a 10 gal with 5 neon tetras. i had six in there but one died of fin rot. other than the one death ive had no problems with them at all. im pretty new to fishkeeping as well and found them fairly easy to manage. personally i think 10 would be to much stick to i school of 6. cycle fishless and good luck