Green Neon Tetras

So my first fish were neon tetras and they have fine until today. I went to my local fish store and got green neon tetras which are smaller than regular neon tetras and my neon tetras bellies have gotten bigger. Is it possible that my neon tetras ate my green neon tetras?

 

With fish the general rule is if it will fit in it's mouth it will eat it. Was the size discrepancy great enough that the neons could swallow the green neons?

TT

 

Are your greens missing?

I have never heard of neons eating other fish before. Females have rounder bellies, which sometimes don't show up right away.

 

Wish fish the general rule is if it will fit in it's mouth it will eat it. Was the size discrepancy great enough that the neons could swallow the green neons?

TT

The neon tetras are about two times it's size

 

Maybe they are constipated. Try feeding them peas (without the shell), that works with my Mollys.
I usually feed my fish peas twice a week to give them some fiber.

 

Are the green neons gone from the tank?

 

Are your greens missing?

I have never heard of neons eating other fish before. Females have rounder bellies, which sometimes don't show up right away.

I wish I could show you a picture but they move to fast and it wouldn't be a good picture. But it literally looks like my neon tetra is a live bearer and has a baby neon tetra inside of it and also my neon tetras and green neon tetras have been schooling together so I don't see why they would eat them

Are the green neons gone from the tank?

I got a lot so I can't really tell

Maybe they are constipated. Try feeding them peas (without the shell), that works with my Mollys.
I usually feed my fish peas twice a week to give them some fiber.

But they have neon colors inside of their stomach peas probably would help though

 

Shucked peas do help. I should do that more often. Pictures are also helpful, can you get us some?

 

Shucked peas do help. I should do that more often. Pictures are also helpful, can you get us some?

while I was replying I found another dead green neon.. I don't know what's going on

 

Green Neons are far more delicate than Neons, and prefer warmer temperatures like Cardinals do. Green Neons are generally wild caught, while most Neons these days are commercially bred, and may have unknown internal infections or parasites.

 

Probably died because of water parameters if he looked good when you got him.

 

Probably died because of water parameters if he looked good when you got him.

I put them in another tank with my live bearers they are fine now

 

Hello!

Picking up some green neon tetra (8 to be exact) next week if all goes to plan! Just wanted to double check everything is ok for them..

• 10g
• Temp 26ºc
• Ammonia 0
• Nitrites 0
• Nitrates 20 and dropping
• Ph ~8 last time I checked but will do another test this weekend
• Hard water (but I have no tests for this)
• Tankmates: 2 female guppies (and some shrimp in the future)
• Medium planted with tiny plants at the moment but these will grow soon to provide more cover.

Do you guys have any advice about acclimatising them, general behaviour, diseases etc

Sorry for so many questions I have never had any fish other than guppies and want to help them to thrive

Thanks!

 

Hello!

Picking up some green neon tetra (8 to be exact) next week if all goes to plan! Just wanted to double check everything is ok for them..

• 10g
• Temp 26ºc
• Ammonia 0
• Nitrites 0
• Nitrates 20 and dropping
• Ph ~8 last time I checked but will do another test this weekend
• Hard water (but I have no tests for this)
• Tankmates: 2 female guppies (and some shrimp in the future)
• Medium planted with tiny plants at the moment but these will grow soon to provide more cover.

Do you guys have any advice about acclimatising them, general behaviour, diseases etc

Sorry for so many questions I have never had any fish other than guppies and want to help them to thrive

Thanks!

The Ph is very high for neon tetras but quite good for livebearers. Generally, it's not a good idea to keep these two types of fish together due to their very different water needs. Are you thinking of adding RO water to lower the Ph and bring it to somewhere in between the guppies and the green neon tetras? I've known some people to do that. It sounds like you're already doing that with the temperature.

At any rate, if you're open to the idea, how about starting another 10 gallon for soft water fish and keeping the two separate? Of course, if you do that, you'll quickly go up to a dozen or so. My poor husband...

 

The Ph is very high for neon tetras but quite good for livebearers. Generally, it's not a good idea to keep these two types of fish together due to their very different water needs. Are you thinking of adding RO water to lower the Ph and bring it to somewhere in between the guppies and the green neon tetras? I've known some people to do that. It sounds like you're already doing that with the temperature.

At any rate, if you're open to the idea, how about starting another 10 gallon for soft water fish and keeping the two separate? Of course, if you do that, you'll quickly go up to a dozen or so. My poor husband...

That would be ideal yes, except that I only have my bedroom to work with and it is already full of a birb and two nano tanks

I heard (from this site) that any fish can acclimatised to ph a couple of numbers higher or lower than their preferred.. but I don't know how true that is. How can I lower my ph safely without hurting my guppies? Is a ph of 7 ok for both species?

 

The ph thing is a yes and a no. Most aquarium fish are farm raised and adapt to almost anything. However green neons are still wild caught and so are a little more sensitive to water perameters. You could try for 7 with things like peat moss in the filter or driftwood.

 

The ph thing is a yes and a no. Most aquarium fish are farm raised and adapt to almost anything. However green neons are still wild caught and so are a little more sensitive to water perameters. You could try for 7 with things like peat moss in the filter or driftwood.

Thanks! I will measure my ph again tonight and then make a move from there. Does any driftwood work or just the sort that releases lots of tannins?

 

Thanks! I will measure my ph again tonight and then make a move from there. Does any driftwood work or just the sort that releases lots of tannins?

While you can take a chance on lowering the ph to 7, keep in mind that the guppies could get very stressed out over time and any latent microbial issues could emerge that may very well otherwise not appear. The worst case scenario there is that they might then infect the neons. Then again, they may not have any such issues, and everything may turn out fine. That's a chance we take all the time when putting fish together that would never occur in the same area in the wild.

The guppies are very short-lived in comparison to the green neon tetras (1-2 versus up to 10 years), so ultimately, making this tank a soft water one makes sense. I would myself rehome the guppies to someone else who is keeping a hard water tank, so that you won't have to feel guilty about not accomodating them.

While driftwood and peat moss do help to lower the ph, I wouldn't play a guessing game just because it would drive me crazy to have to measure daily and keep playing with the amount of media forever. It's just easier to buy some distilled water and cut your tap water with it, which is what I did when I kept tetras. Now, while the pH of distilled water is 7, you don't want to use it alone because your hard water helps to buffer and stabilize the pH. So if you replace about 50% of your tap water with distilled water and then stick to this ratio during your weekly water changes, you will be safe. I used to do this, and it made life so much easier. Plus, the fish were easy to see in the clear water. Tannins will make your water look like weak tea, and then the fish, green ones in particular, won't pop nearly so much.

 

While you can take a chance on lowering the ph to 7, keep in mind that the guppies could get very stressed out over time and any latent microbial issues could emerge that may very well otherwise not appear. The worst case scenario there is that they might then infect the neons. Then again, they may not have any such issues, and everything may turn out fine. That's a chance we take all the time when putting fish together that would never occur in the same area in the wild.

The guppies are very short-lived in comparison to the green neon tetras (1-2 versus up to 10 years), so ultimately, making this tank a soft water one makes sense. I would myself rehome the guppies to someone else who is keeping a hard water tank, so that you won't have to feel guilty about not accomodating them.

While driftwood and peat moss do help to lower the ph, I wouldn't play a guessing game just because it would drive me crazy to have to measure daily and keep playing with the amount of media forever. It's just easier to buy some distilled water and cut your tap water with it, which is what I did when I kept tetras. Now, while the pH of distilled water is 7, you don't want to use it alone because your hard water helps to buffer and stabilize the pH. So if you replace about 50% of your tap water with distilled water and then stick to this ratio during your weekly water changes, you will be safe. I used to do this, and it made life so much easier. Plus, the fish were easy to see in the clear water. Tannins will make your water look like weak tea, and then the fish, green ones in particular, won't pop nearly so much.

I guess I will look around for cheap bottled water sources (reverse osmosis or mineral) but I don't know how much of a sustainable source that would be.

Thank you!!

 

I guess I will look around for cheap bottled water sources (reverse osmosis or mineral) but I don't know how much of a sustainable source that would be.

Thank you!!

Around here, we typically get distilled water in car parts stores. The other possibility is machines outside grocery stores that sell local municipal water that goes through extra filtration. But you're right, the extra filtration means more sludge that has to be gotten rid of somehow. People don't like to think about that aspect. But you're only doing 1 little tank, so you're not contributing a whole lot to environmental ruin

 

Around here, we typically get distilled water in car parts stores. The other possibility is machines outside grocery stores that sell local municipal water that goes through extra filtration. But you're right, the extra filtration means more sludge that has to be gotten rid of somehow. People don't like to think about that aspect. But you're only doing 1 little tank, so you're not contributing a whole lot to environmental ruin

I suppose so

Still, I will scavenge for the best prices and locations around. I haven't ever seen water domestically available except in supermakets (which is highly priced of course) but then again I haven't really been looking

Thanks so much for all your help!!

 

So you're finally getting green neons?
I've seen you mention that a lot in the past couple of months.

 

So you're finally getting green neons?
I've seen you mention that a lot in the past couple of months.

Yes, I've had to wait up for so long trying to sort out the nitrates in my water source but that has finally cleared up in my tank, So I'm free now to start finishing my stock plans I just wanted to check everything was ok before I got them but it seems I have run into some ph issues.

I'm going to check my ph again right now.. does nitrates have a direct effect on ph? I heard the nitrates were caused by water hardness and water hardness also causes high ph... but I'm not sure.

 

Well that looks about an 8.1-8.3 if you ask me.

Is a difference of 1ph from the green neon's tolerable range really that drastic?

I will ask my lfs too if the green neons are wild-caught or farmed/bred too as that can make a big difference to their ph range. Don't fish shops use all the same water for all their stock though? Surely the ph there will be high as they are on the same waterworks system.

Sorry for asking s bunch of questions you probably don't know the answer to I will go ask them whenever I next get the chance..

 

Let's say for example that I can't actually get green neons..

What other fish would you reccomend which could live with my two female guppies?

 

Let's say for example that I can't actually get green neons..

What other fish would you reccomend which could live with my two female guppies?

Red dwarf rasbora, in the same temperature range as guppies and suitable for both hard water and high ph

 

Red dwarf rasbora, in the same temperature range as guppies and suitable for both hard water and high ph

Thanks for the suggestion! They do look pretty awesome and I will definitely consider them if green neons don't work out!

 

Alright... unfortunately their green neons are wild-caught (which I guess was to be expected)

I'm at a bit of a loss then as to what else I can stock my tank with.. I know neon tetra and other large tetra are out of the question... so apart from dwarf rasbora is there any other stocking options?

 

Pencilfish. N.Beckfordi?

 

Pencilfish. N.Beckfordi?

That's a cute little fish, thank you!

 

Green Neon is exclusively wild caught low pH low hardness.

API does GH and KH test kit.

 

You say you only have your bedroom to work with, but do you have a bit more space available where the tank is? If funds and space allow, you could consider swapping the 10 to a 20, which would give you more fish options.

 

You say you only have your bedroom to work with, but do you have a bit more space available where the tank is? If funds and space allow, you could consider swapping the 10 to a 20, which would give you more fish options.

Heh, when I say I have reached my limit I mean it! My 10 gallon and 5 gallon are in the only nooks and crannies I have