Neon Tetra / Tetra Tank

[Snake42490]

I have a 55 gallon aquarium that i am slowly adding fish into. i currentally have 6 neons in the tank. i would like to add glowlight tetras gold tetras lemon tetras and black neons. anyone have any ideas how many of each i should add without going over my limit? if there was any room i might also want to add some harlequin rasboras. how many of each fish should i get? ive heard 6 is a good number but what would you guys recommend?

would doing 6 of neons, glowlights, golds, lemon, and black neons be ok?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

How long has the tank been set up and is it just the 6 neons you have in there right now? Are you testing the water for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates at all and are you cycling the tank with fish?
You should read this article on avoiding and treating new tank syndrome;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099

For a 55gal, you have a lot of space to play with when it comes to small fish like black neons and glowlights etc, but adding fish at this point in time may not be the best idea depending on how you are cycling it and what point it is in the cycle and what water quality test results you are getting etc. Neon tetras are certainly not the hardiest of fish and are prone to dying at the first sign of nitrites or ammonia, so you should be particularly careful with them if the tank has only been set up relatively recently .

 

[Snake42490]

the tank has been up for a year and a half. i just moved it from upstairs to downstairs and saved all the water. water has been tested and everything comes out good. about three weeks ago my heater went out and woke up to cold water with ich covered cichlids. i think the heaters went out during the move. once the cichlids died. i boosted up the temp and added a bunch of salt and let it run for a a week and a half. then did a water change. got the salt levels down. added some cycle to make sure i didnt lose to much beneficial bacteria. right now i just have neons. i will eventually be adding the other fish in but im just seeing how everyone will be acting.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

What did you test the water for and what results did you get exactly?
Salt is not good for neons, by using it you were risking their risks in a serious way as they can't tolerate it well (you're lucky they survived), chemical based anti whitespot meds are much better, but at only 1 and a half weeks into treatment its unlikely you have completely ridded the fish of whitespot and it could still come back to your tank at any point;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=7092

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=128879


What type of salt were you using and how much exactly? How long has it been since you treated the tank for whitespot?

 

[Snake42490]

ammonia = 0 ppm

nitrite = 0 ppm

nitrate = .25 ppm inbetween the 0 and .5

ph = 8

that was the reason i added the salt. guy at pet co said to add it as neons love salt plus it will help lower my ph.

my tank was fishless for 3 weeks after they died from ich. i did a treatment put the temp up and added a ton of salt. ran the tank for a week then brought stuff back to normal and let my tank cycle through. i used doc wellfishs aquarium salt. i used one tablespoon per 10 gallons instead of one tablespoon per 5

i used the api master test kit.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

ammonia = 0 ppm

nitrite = 0 ppm

nitrate = .25 ppm inbetween the 0 and .5

ph = 8

that was the reason i added the salt. guy at pet co said to add it as neons love salt plus it will help lower my ph.

my tank was fishless for 3 weeks after they died from ich. i did a treatment put the temp up and added a ton of salt. ran the tank for a week then brought stuff back to normal and let my tank cycle through. i used doc wellfishs aquarium salt. i used one tablespoon per 10 gallons instead of one tablespoon per 5

i used the api master test kit.

Nope, the guy told you wrong, neons do not like salt at all;

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article5.html

As far as i am aware, neons come from the amazon basin which has pretty much no salt at all in the waters there whatsoever, neons thus have quite limited abilities when it comes to tolerating salt due to this in comparison to other fish.
So if you ever encounter whitespot or other parasites like velvet again, chemical based treatments like "anti whitespot" or "anti velvet and slime" by Interpet for example are far safer to use with fish like neons, you are lucky you didn't lose any during the salt treatment .

 

[three-fingers]

Another thing to add is that salt INCREASES not lowers the pH, the strange combination of lack of knowledge and willingness to give advice in the staff at these big commercial pet stores never ceases to amaze me .
Although 1 table spoon per 10 gallons will make little difference to the fish, especially if your not using marine aquarium salt. Usually people advise you to add aquarium tonic salt, which IME makes no difference to anything apart from the weight of your wallet . It can be useful for treating parasites though, only in higher dosages (too much for most FW fish to handle for anything other than a short period of time).
If you want to lower your pH, add bog wood, indian almond leaves and black water extract.

Although personally, if my pH was that high out of the tap, I would just keep fish that are more suited to that kind of water, it's safer .

 

[Griz]

would doing 6 of neons, glowlights, golds, lemon, and black neons be ok?

I would much rather pick 2 of those species and have 15 of each.

 

[three-fingers]

I would much rather pick 2 of those species and have 15 of each.

And the fish would generally be happier that way too, but they should still be happy with 6 of each species. It depends on lots of things to how safe they feel, but the more of the same species the better.

 

[Snake42490]

i wonder if i should start using my ro water. it has a ph of 6.0? should i start using that on the tetras.. our water sucks lol... 8.5 ppm city water and 6.0 reverse osmosis.. at least my ph is stable. i would gladly lower the ph and make it more acidic if thats what you would recommend. i had african cichlids before and they loved the 8.5 ph haha... if i do anything its going to be at least a week before it goes down. ive learned my lesson on doing things to fast.

what group size do tetras like to be in? i was wanting to do 6 of each of those but if they wouldnt be happy then ide rather not? im wanting to turn it into a small tetra community tank. any advice greatly appreciated! i think i might try that tetra black water extract just to slowly get the ph down. then start using ro water? the only thing ive heard is that the ro unit takes important nutrients from the water that the fish need? is that infact true?

 

[three-fingers]

It is in fact true, so you will have to buy or make re-mineralised RO water if you want to use RO water. I know you can buy additives for RO water that add all the minerals for discus, I don't see why you cant use this same stuff for tetras, since loads of people keep tetras in their discus tanks too.
If your using pH 6 water, make sure you adjust those tetras to the water VERY SLOWLY.
If they are commercially bred rather than taken from the wild, they will have never seen such acidic water .

 

[Snake42490]

i talked to a few stores and some breeders around town that do some supplying. they said these tetras have been bred and raised in the 8.5 ph and recommened to keep it as is. so i dont know haha.. it makes since what hes saying. all the stores keep there ph at 8.4 mine is registered as 8.5 but yeah...

 

[three-fingers]

He has a point, but their physiology is designed for a lower pH, and they will do better in it.
However, keeping them at the same pH as tap water is safer if you have an emergency, and you wont have to slowly acclimitize them as they are alreadyliving in it.

However, I seriously doubt they are bred at a pH that high...
Maybe they are bred at pH 7-7.5, but breeding loads of them at pH 8.4 just isn't that practical. Of coarse, it depends on what species he was talking about too. Some tetras don't come from the Amazon and like a high pH.

 

[Snake42490]

would each of those fish be ok in groups of 6 ? why would you not recommend doing that

 

[Snake42490]

well i now have my neons up to 13 . a couple i think are in shock.. the only thing is.. they swim around.. but seem bored if that makes since... 9 of them will just stay in one spot and swim around a plant all day... any ideas on getting them more active? water conditions are all in check except for my ph... the only thing is that ro water takes way to long..

i want to lower the ph for the fish. i think im going to start using the ro water in the tank. but my question is. could i somehow use a little bit of the tap water to get the minerals in the water or is that to risky to make my ph get off.. what would you guys recommend to get the ph at for neons? i would rather not use chemicals to get my ph where it needs to be.. but would 6.0 be to acidic for them? what i was thinking is to take my 5 gallon bucket which i put my water in before adding to the aquarium and figure out how i can mix the ro water and the tap water to get a ph of around 7 or what you guys would recommend so they can get the minerals... im open for any ideas! just would like to get them the right environment