Adding Neon Tetras

[cor2008]

I am hoping to add a shoal of 10 neons to my 110l tank that contains 4 peppered corys. I have done quite a bit of research on neons and have read some different views. Some sources say that they are weak and hard to keep and some say they are hard and will live for years. I also read that they should only introduced into a mature tank. The book I read this in is a few years old so I dont know do they mean mature as in fully cycled or do they mean a tank running for a year.

The reason I am asking is that I plan on adding 4 to my 60l quarantine for 2 weeks before adding them to my bigger tank. Then repeating with 3 & 3. Is this the right way to go or should I do 5 each time. Also its almost impossible to add them to a mature tank as i doubt most people keep a quarantine going constantly.

Mine is almost fully cycled again with ammonia after i transferred most of the filter media to my 110l to fully cycle that tank 3 weeks ago.

Would appreciate any advice as neons are most of the reason I got a tank.

Thanks

 

[pippoodle]

I am hoping to add a shoal of 10 neons to my 110l tank that contains 4 peppered corys. I have done quite a bit of research on neons and have read some different views. Some sources say that they are weak and hard to keep and some say they are hard and will live for years. I also read that they should only introduced into a mature tank. The book I read this in is a few years old so I dont know do they mean mature as in fully cycled or do they mean a tank running for a year.

The reason I am asking is that I plan on adding 4 to my 60l quarantine for 2 weeks before adding them to my bigger tank. Then repeating with 3 & 3. Is this the right way to go or should I do 5 each time. Also its almost impossible to add them to a mature tank as i doubt most people keep a quarantine going constantly.

Mine is almost fully cycled again with ammonia after i transferred most of the filter media to my 110l to fully cycle that tank 3 weeks ago.

Would appreciate any advice as neons are most of the reason I got a tank.

Thanks

you should only add neons to a tank that has been up and running/fully cycled for at least 6 months else you'll be wasting your money and will most probably lose them
Hope this helps
QUARENTINE/HOSPITAL what a lot of people do is only set up this tank when needed and then when they strip it down again they put the filter from this tank running in their main tank along side that filter so the filter is constantly cycled and alqays ready to use
Maybe go for some other sort of fish instead and then add the neons later - maybe golden or long fin white cloud minnows that will get on well with neons when you can add them and are also fun and very hardy little fish

Sarah xxx

 

[ALW]

you should only add neons to a tank that has been up and running/fully cycled for at least 6 months else you'll be wasting your money and will most probably lose them
Hope this helps
Maybe go for some other sort of fish instead and then add the neons later

Sarah xxx

Rubbish! As long as the tank is well cycled for at least 2 weeks and dosent have aggressive fish already in then you should be fine to add the Neon Tetras. Although the Neon Tetra has been mass bred it is still a hardy fish, and can adapt well to a new tank. Just make sure the tank is cycled before adding any fish, if not then as said above you are likley to lose some fish!

 

[Lateral Line]

There is some truth in both of the above posts.

Neons and blackwater fish in general tolerate any kind of Nitrogen pollution VERY badly, and since newly cycled tanks are apt to be a little unstable, for a long time, the advice was never add blackwater fish to a tank until it has been running trouble free for "n" months. This is still good advice for many of the blackwater fish because these are wild caught and hence have no tolerance for pollution. They will quickly succumb.

That said, most Neons, and some other blackwater fish are not wild caught these days. Rather, they are farmed in the far EAst, in quite dreadful conditions where Nitrogen pollution is a fact of life. The least tolerant fish die off quickly at the farm or in transit. So those that make it to the shop are usually more tolerant of Nitrogen pollution and inclined to survive.

The mass production, however, tends to generate a lot of in-breeding, and these are generally weaker fish, particularly when it comes to disease. Diseases like the dreadfully named "Neon Tetra Disease" which can affect many species, used to be so rare that you probably would never see a case. Today, due to the appaling hygiene in the fish factories, it spreads and you see it somewhere or other at least once a month.

My advice is to be wary introducing any blackwater fish into a real new setup. Only you know how well you have done your cycle however, and many patient and careful people have no trouble at all.

Adding fish all at once, or over a period tends to, again, depend on your cycle. If you have been diligent, your tank should have enough bacteria for a reasonable load from the start, indeed, putting just a few fish in may lead to a very slight die back of bacteria due to malnutrition. However, in most cases, adding fish over time is better as any small spikes that their introduction causes are dulluted by volume, and the bacteria quickly adjust.

 

[cor2008]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies and the help. Initially I set up a 60l tank nearly 3 months ago and fully cycled it using the pure ammonia method. The cycle took about a month with the help of some added mature filter media. I then purchased a 110l a month later after realising that a 60l was too small. I cycled the 110l in about 5 weeks with ammonia by transferring some of the filter media from the 60l and then when the cycle finished added the remainder of the media and the 3 corys. They have been in the 110l now for about 2 weeks which i have monitored carefully. The reading have always been Ammonia=0; Nitrite=0; Nitrate=5 at most according to my nutrafin test kit. Then added another cory during the week as I read 4 or 5 is a good number.

By the test results so far i am thinking i did a pretty good job cycling the tank Just joking as I know that things can still go wrong pretty quick.

I guess what i am trying to ask is a shoal of neons a bad choice for a fairly new tank that looks to be pretty well cycled because by the time i quarantine them for 2 to 3 weeks the filter media will be nearly 4 months old or so. Getting a shoal of neons was one of the reasons I got a tank but i definitely dont want to endanger my corys or go through weeks of hell with dying fish. Should i take a chance or maybe think about glowlight neons?

Thanks again

 

[Lateral Line]

after realising that a insert size here was too small

Bad news, I'm afraid that feeling never goes away!!!

You certainly sound like you know what you're doing and have had the patience to cycle properly. I wish more people entering the hobby had done as you had. I think you will be fine with the Neons. Glowlights, are not Neons by the way, they are, these days, in a different genus and are a lot tougher little fish.

 

[cor2008]

Meant to write glowlight tetra

Yea iv read that glowlights are easier to keep so maybe i might get a shoal of them instead. Any other suggestions on a good easy tetra to keep. I thought about the silver tip but i read they fin nip and bully fish?? What about the rummy nose tetra, they a really cool tetra but im not sure that my tank is long enough, 80cm long (110 liters). Are they also hard to keep.

Thanks again for the replies, very helpful forum

 

[Lateral Line]

I think you will be okay with Neons. Glowlights are a good deal easier in many respects. It's whatever floats your boat.

I like Silver Tips, they certainly don't take any aggro from other fish, even those much larger than themselves, but they are not an aggresive fish. Nice greoup of them is elegent. Black Neons are also cracking fish, easy to look after and also, elegent.

There are 3 species, (at least!), of fish that are sold as Rummy Nose Tetras, I posted some on them a few years back in this thread. What I've stated above with regard to blackwater fish applies. Most "Rummy Noses" you see are actually the hardened survivors of the far Easts Firehead Tetra crop.

 

[stevewhite]

i have 10 neons and 6 blue emperiors they live happy together with my platyies and my plec, and the tetras look great under a night light