steveangela1

For my sons room I am going to set him up an aquarium and I will be stocking it w/ tetras, he went through our fish books and thats what he likes, so.. Please tell me what mixes best together, etc.... plants... It will be a couple weeks before we get the tank to set up and cycle and then a month before the fish but we need to get a "gameplan" on the fish first...

miker

Size of tank?
Light Strip Wattage?
pH?

MissMTS

Most tetras will do fine together as long as they are all in schools of 6 or more. These are some of my personal favorites:
Gold Tetra
Black Neon Tetra
Congo Tetra
Emperor Tetra
Flame (Von Rio) Tetra
Black Skirt Tetra
Pristella Tetra
Rummy Nose Tetra
(I know that I listed a lot, but there are just so many beautiful fish to pick from).

If you can list some specific info about the tank, I can suggest some stocking schemes

Jim

People... do you see this.... here we have someone that's THINKING!! They're actually formulating a gameplan!! Oh how I wish i had a dollar for everytime I've told people to plan ahead...lol.

Anyway, Tetra's are Central or South American, primarely Amazon fish, so you'll most likely be shooting for a soft water, slightly low pH tank. What species of Tetra does he like, and what size tank do you plan on having? And you sort of mention plants... are you planning on opening that can of worms? Take it from someone with 2 heavily planted tanks, unless you're somewhat mad, or very experienced, don't go there. I can recommend all sorts of species of plant spicific to the region of your tetras if you want. Look around and you'll find some killer silk replicas that'll look fine.

steveangela1

We are talking about a 20-29 gallon tank at largest for his room.. nothing huge (I have 4 other tanks to care for and he is 6 at the time so I will be doing all the tank care) Its for his enjoyment.
Yes, I do plan ahead before I start up a tank it took me and my husband a good few weeks before we got our african cichlid tank going for the simple reason we didn't know what fish we wanted we just wanted a big tank for the living room, we researched and started to do a south american tank, well our tap water is hard water, and the ph is higher than normal...
It was easier to do african cichlids for us... so thats what we did.. and it turned into a great decision for us.. now we have 4 tanks w/ them

I have been dying for a reason to have something different though... my sons room is a reason, and I am letting him pick and he loves tetras, and I do think they are beautiful fish myself... I have kept tetras before.

I do need ideas on getting my water softer and ph down eaiser for the tank, its perfect like I said for the cichlids, but I don't want to hinder the health of the tetra....

Shawnie

Sometimes just cycleing correctly brings it down...but I have heard others suggest driftwood for lowering ph...awesome job planning as others have said..what a lucky lil boy he is!

steveangela1

Thanks.. I actually do have a peice of driftwood that I was going to use in another tank.. so I had planned to put it in his tank...He has been so good w/ helping me w/ water changes/feeding the cichlids he also has 2 adfrogs in a tank in my kitchen right now that is well taken care of... he loves my fish, so for him to have his own he will be proud of them I think. He is a super smart kiddo! and a true animal lover. (we have a cat and dog thanks to him lol...)

TFA101

Some good starter tetras I've experienced are Cardinal and Neon tetras in a group of at least ten (this should fit in your tank, if not, seven to eight members will be fine), Glo-light tetras, Black Widow tetras, Albino Black Widow Tetras, Black Neon, Congo Tetras, and bleeding hearts too.

All fish except for the glo-lights (which need a group of at least 7+), neons, and cardinals, will need a shoal of at least four members in a group. These are some of the most easiest fish to keep and are just as beautiful as they are hardy.

Other suggestions that aren't tetras are harlequin rasboras, numerous corydoras species, and other small species. Stock carefully, and good luck.

Trio123

I dont know how high of a pH you are talking about but I have heard from others on here and elsewhere that many of the tetra species have been rared in higher pH's than thier normal habitat and have acclimated to it. Most fish stores and whole salers run high pH's of 7.4 from what I understand (someone correct me if Im wrong!!!). I've been told that it is more dangerous to mess with the pH than it is to just acclimate them to your higher pH (to a point of course). My tank at home with Congo Tetras is 7.6. Whatever you do though, dont use pH down... I accidently knocked my pH in my 10 gallon down to 6.4 from 7.4 in two days! Scared me!!!! But everyone survived it they moved out of the killer quarentine tank to the big tank and are happy at 7.6 now Good luck, sounds like your a very good fish keeper!

Lucy

I've got neons and serpae. I did read somewhere they shouldn't be mixed, but mine have never bothered each other.
For me it's a nice mix because their movements and shapes are different from each other.
I should mention I have the shorter finned serpae, I've heard the longer finned ones are nippers. (sorry can't remember the different names)

mcdonald.kk

If you really want to add plants without breaking your wallet on lighting fixtures I'd go with water sprite and lots of java moss. The java moss can be rubber-banded to driftwood until it gets a good hold, and will provide a nice cover for your fish. Both of these plants do well in low light. Avoid cabomba, sword plants, and microsword. The first two need lots of light and the third doesn't do well with gravel substrate. When I first started researching I too wanted an amazon blackwater themed tank. It can be tricky to mess with your pH. Mopani wood is great for lowering pH and adding that natural tanin color to the water. Before I had fish I dumped a piece of mopani in my tank without soaking it. Over the next couple of weeks my pH got as low as 6.2.
This website has good info on amazon river biotopes. It lists all the native fish and plants by country/ecosystem:
http://fish.mongabay.com/

Some people put peat in their filter to adjust pH and color the water. I have read a lot of favorable reviews of Keta Peat. You could play around with pH while you are waiting for your tank to cycle, that way you wouldn't have to worry about hurting your fish. If you do get plants be wary of snails. I've ended up with a yo yo loach in my tank because no one warned me about snails on plants you get from LFSs. If you do go with live plants you'll probably want to get some iron supplements. Be careful about adding plant food if your tank is still cycling/newly cycled because all of those nutrients can trigger a mini cycle. This is a great site for checking plant needs:
http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide.php

As long as your tank is cycled you should be fine with tetras. They are really neat little fish. Mine greet me at dinner time now. I feed them a wide variety of foods. Tropical flakes most often but also brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, live bloodworms (which is a kick to see. The first couple of times I fed them my neons were like 'What?! you mean this food fights back?! Now its one of their favorite things to eat), dehydrated shrimp, and tubifex worms (they aren't too crazy for them, I think because the bloodworms taste so much better). I don't know if any of this helps but enjoy setting up the new tank! I'd try to get at least 5 of 6 neons since they are a schooling fish.

Allie

Glowlight are boring tetra...they seem to stay down low around too much for me. Neons are active as are black neons. Silver tips are super aggressive with their own kind.
Lemon tetra are really pretty and calm.

sirdarksol

Unless your son particularly wants something else, I would suggest a school of neons/black neons. Because of their size, you could pull off a larger group of them in a 20-29g.
Java moss, Java fern, and wisteria (or water sprite) would all be good for cover.
If your son wants different types of tetras, the only other info I have is that the skirted tetras can get violent, particularly with the neon-sized ones.

Jim

I had a schoal of like 16 neons, and in a schoal that big they definitly move like a pack, it's great to watch. If you get some VERY non-agressive fish ONLY, might I suggest a fresh water shrimp or 2? I have a couple dozen of 5 species (I think..lol), and all are not only facinating, but plain fun to watch!

TFA101

cardinals and neons are another I like. Their movements as they school lazily around the aquarium are spectacular. Granted, they can be inactive, but overall they are pretty, energetic (most of the time) fish