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[safire_eye]

Do most peoples tetras not do much? I have 6 black neons at the moment and they only really utilise all the tank space when when I walk by the tank.

 

[KittyKat]

Do most peoples tetras not do much? I have 6 black neons at the moment and they only really utilise all the tank space when when I walk by the tank.

It depends on the tank size, feeding, set-up, water parameters, etc. Personally, I expect most of my fish to spawn at regular intervals or at least have the males show off for the females and if this is not happening, I would assume that something is wrong with the tank or at least not perfect. In your case, the first thing I would think, without knowing more information, is that the groups is currently at an absolute minimum number of fish, so it would benefit from an increase in numbers to at least 10.

Having said that, most tetras don't spend their whole time zipping around the tank, that's what danios do, which is why they require longer tanks for the same length of fish.

 

[safire_eye]

125litre tank. Fed every other day and occasional daphnia as treat. There's 5 live plants which have grown very well, and 3 plastic, a building ruin and some driftwood. Temp is 24, there's also 4 guppies in there. Tested water at weekend and no trace of ammonia or nitrite, and nitrates low.

I'm not really worried they don't seem ill or anything, just less lively than when we got them a few months back. How often would you normally expect them to spawn? I assumed it was unlikely for them to spawn at all, haven't heard much about tetra spawning.

 

[creeker]

Why fed only every other day?

 

[safire_eye]

Less mess and they don't seem to mind.

 

[creeker]

I've always thought that a fish's body was designed to feed often in small amounts, so that is how I've always fed. They eat it all at each feeding, so no messier than one feeding every other day. Also, even my Neons rush to the front of the tank when anyone approaches, hoping to get fed. This might work to get your Black Neons a little more bold.

 

[safire_eye]

Hmm ok yes that does sound pretty logical. I will try feeding less, more often.

 

[KittyKat]

Can you post a photo of the tank? And full stock list?

There's 5 live plants which have grown very well, and 3 plastic, a building ruin and some driftwood.

If you can count individual plants, you can probably do with some more.

Temp is 24, there's also 4 guppies in there.

What's the pH and water hardness?

Tested water at weekend and no trace of ammonia or nitrite, and nitrates low.

…have you ever had any ammonia or nitrite in the water while the tetras were in the tank?

I'm not really worried they don't seem ill or anything, just less lively than when we got them a few months back. How often would you normally expect them to spawn? I assumed it was unlikely for them to spawn at all, haven't heard much about tetra spawning.

Spawning is usual for most species which are happy with their environment, surviving or hatching fry is not. Most egg scatterers spawn anywhere from every day to for a few days every couple of weeks. Does the tank allow you to

I've always thought that a fish's body was designed to feed often in small amounts, so that is how I've always fed. They eat it all at each feeding, so no messier than one feeding every other day. Also, even my Neons rush to the front of the tank when anyone approaches, hoping to get fed. This might work to get your Black Neons a little more bold.

It is, but we do not feed the fish small amounts of food: we feed them larger quantities of food in one day that they would naturally be able to find in one day. But being hungry should only encourage the neons to search for food anyway, and given that they are not searching all the time, they are not hungry. There is no downside to feeding tropical fish every other day and this is most likely not the cause of the problem. There is also no downside to feeding less (as much as the fish can completely finish in 30 seconds) once per day.