Are neon tetras hard to take care of?

Thanks Chromedome52. I am confused because everything I read says just what you are saying. Even older posts on here say it’s ok. I researched before cycling my tank again and it looked like 10 was fine until I posted on Fishlore. We seem to be a little more conservative on here which is good for the health of our fish.

 

Nothing wrong with 6-8 Neons in a 10. Green/False Neons are invariably wild caught, and are very sensitive as to pH and hardness. They will not last long if not given proper water chemistry.

If you acclimatised them properly for an hour or more then they are ok

 

Yes, I always do a slow acclimation by adding water to bag over an hour’s time while bag is floating and then remove the fish from the bag to the tank. Thanks so much!

 

Ok, Gang. I got some yays and nays on putting neon tetras in a 10 gallon tank. I decided to go with the yays and try 6 neon tetras in my 10 gallon tank. So far, so good but the tank still looks so empty with just the 6 Neons in there. Is there anything else that I can add?I put a couple of plants in but it still looks empty.

 

You can add another two green neons and some livebearers (2-3 guppies of the same gender, 3-4 endlers of the same gender)

 

Ok, Gang. I got some yays and nays on putting neon tetras in a 10 gallon tank. I decided to go with the yays and try 6 neon tetras in my 10 gallon tank. So far, so good but the tank still looks so empty with just the 6 Neons in there. Is there anything else that I can add?I put a couple of plants in but it still looks empty.

How are your neons going? I'm planning on getting some and was wondering if you have any tips? I have high oh so I will have to acclimatised them over true course of a day or so but apart from that

 

Well, I bought 6. One died after getting stuck in the filter intake. I now have a sponge on that. They ended up coming down with a very mild case ich about day 4 from the pet store. Only a couple of spots on each fish. However, one more did die. I think it was from the stress and the heat turned up. Treated the rest with heat and all is well. Now they are living with 4 male guppies and doing very well. I plan to go buy 4 more as soon as my quarantine tank is empty. Everyone comments on them even more than the guppies. Everyone had me so worried to buy them. Losing 2 out of 4 wasn't too bad and the rest seem very healthy. Thanks for asking.

 

Well, I bought 6. One died after getting stuck in the filter intake. I now have a sponge on that. They ended up coming down with a very mild case ich about day 4 from the pet store. Only a couple of spots on each fish. However, one more did die. I think it was from the stress and the heat turned up. Treated the rest with heat and all is well. Now they are living with 4 male guppies and doing very well. I plan to go buy 4 more as soon as my quarantine tank is empty. Everyone comments on them even more than the guppies. Everyone had me so worried to buy them. Losing 2 out of 4 wasn't too bad and the rest seem very healthy. Thanks for asking.

Oh that's good then! I'm thinking I may just get 7 or 8 in one go to counteract for any losses I may have, but I am also happy to accommodate for 7 or 8 at one time too so that seems to be the magic number

 

In my experience the hardest part is getting Neons that do not have the Neon Tetra Disease (NTD).
As mentioned, stock is not great.
If they make it and get used to the tank, they are easy.
I lost two schools of Neons before, only 2 of the second school survived. I got 10 more and they were healthy so they are doing great.
They even survived a recent rescape I did in which I tore my aquarium down and had to put all my fish in a temporary 20 gal. They are back in the 46g and doing good.

 

Yep, I am purchasing 4 more thinking I will end up with a total of 6. If they all make it, then great. Keep me posted on how they do. One tip, mine don't seem to be able to eat even the small pellets so I highly recommend using flakes.

10g is doable. I've had 20 neons/glowlight tetras in a 10 gallon QT tank for a month. But 20 long tank is better obviously.

Neons are NOT easy to keep. I say this because the stock is bad where I am. I lose about 40% each time in QT.

Currently, I have 18 of them in my 55 gallon tank. Once they survive the QT period, they're relatively easy to keep. But finding good stock is pretty difficult (at least that's the experience I've had).

To give you an idea, the water in my town is high pH (8.0) and hard (7kH, 14gH & 388TDS).

If interested, here's what 18 neons look like in a 55g:

Beautiful!

 

UK stock is probably different though.. this one chain store in the UK called Maidenhead Aquatics is very reputable and healthy and rarely ever do I see a sick fish, invert or other in its stores. What's more, some of the stores only employ those with long-term experience and knowledge, such as one of the stores 1/2 hour away from me

Hopefully if they have healthy fish then they will have healthy neons right? I will still be super careful as I don't want any casualties but I mean we may be good to go..

 

My Neon Tetras will eat HikarI Micro-pellets readily.

Maidenhead is the only place I've purchased healthy Neons from. I did spot one dying of Columnaris in the store once and the lady fished it out pronto.

Before purchasing I would ask if they have pulled any dead or dying Neons out of the tank (and hope for the truth in their eyes!). There are stories from LFS staff of them taking out 50 dead fish before opening the store. My local store says shipments are either fine or they lose them all.

Disease is a big problem but I would say Neons (and Cardinals) are worth the hassle.

 

Yes, after far too much research and preparations and waiting I'm just going to go for it and if it fails it fails! (Just as soon as I figure out if Raspberry is sick though..)