Newbie With Neon Tetra Questions....

[Mr Bee]

Hi, I'm new to the site, and new to tropical fishkeeping.

I've had a Goldfish and a minnow for about 2 or 3 years, until the Goldfish ate the minnow! Then he got too big, so i donated him to another home. Anyway, its a 60L (with 51L of water) tank, and the filter is well established.

I recently - friday 3rd Nov - bought 7 Neon Tetras, with a view to adding 3 Guppies in a week or so. I have a couple of questions about the Tetras.....


1) They seem to be picking on each other a bit, kind of darting at one another, and chasing a bit, watching them, i don't think they are nipping, just getting very close to the tail and kind of scaring and chasing. There's mainly 2 in particular that seem to do this chasing, and they will chase any other fish, not pick on any one in particular. Is this just some sort of dominance thing, to sort out who is the boss?? And do they stop when they've decided who the boss is? Will this get any better or worse when I introduce some Guppies?


2) Sometimes I see that there is one Tetra on its own, away from the others. This morning, it stayed on its own and didn't eat morning food. But then throughout the day, sometimes they are all quite seperate, sometimes all in a group, sometimes groups of 5 and 2, and sometimes one on its own again.
But obviously, I cant tell if its the same fish on its own all the time, as they all look the same!

I was worried this might be NTD, but the colour looks fine and normal, and looks generally as healthy as any other, and the seperation isn't all the time - as I say sometimes all 7 shoal together, and at the evening feed, all 7 were eating, so I'm not sure at all.

Could this be NTD, what are sure-fire symptoms to look out for? If it is, will all others have it, and will they all be affected? If it is, should I remove the fish immediately?
Also, can NTD affect Guppies? - or indeed can Guppies bring NTD into tank with them?


3) Food - I am feeding Tetramin flakes......do I need to supplement with anything extra? I have frozen daphnia cubes which the Goldfish liked, are these ok? (though I think a whole cube would be far too much), I thought of getting freeze dried bloodworm as a treat - good idea?. Do Tetras need vegetable flakes?

4) Food again - when I add Guppies, do I need any specific diet for them, will Tetramin and daphnia/bloodworm treats be fine?


Sorry, I know its a lot to read, and a lot of questions, but I'm new to tropicals and am eager to learn about them, and take good care of them!

Any help and advice is really appreciated

 

[Lateral Line]

1. When moved into new quarters, it is common place for fish with a naturally tendency to form heirarchies, (tetras, barbs etc.), to spar amongst themselves to establish the pecking order in the new tank. Quite normal, and usually does no real harm. Tends to die down after a few days to a week.

2. NTD is prtty uncommon. It is caused by infestation of sporozoan parasites, there is no real cure. It can affect many species, including other groups, (barbs, cichlids etc.), so is poorly named. It is not something that develops in a week. The parasites for cysts in the muscle tissue which in Neons, initially tend to show up as small roundish areas where the colour is lost. As the parasit grows, it tends to bend or kink the fish, in bad cases, they develop a corrugated look, (but note, there are other causes of this, and not all bent fish have NTD - birth defects from intense breeding is more common). In the early stages, the fish eat and behave quite normally. In general, Neons can be quite delicate fish, and losing 1-2 after installing them is not uncommon. Keep your water quality high.

3. A varied diet is always better then a staple flake, although TetraMin is good stuff. Over feeding is a problem. Break small pieces of the frozen food and serve that. Tetras are omnivorous tending towards carnivores, so vegetable flake is not really hoing to have great appeal.

4. Yes.

 

[millym]

hi
as said neons will have little dominance scraps with each other, we used to have neons & ours did the same. we now have cardinal tetras & also rummy nose tetras & they spend a lot of the time during the day staking out a little corner of the tank as their own 'patch' when one of their own kind comes near they will chase the intruder away & scrap in a sort of flicking back & forth motion. over 4 years ive never seen any damage to eachother & at lights out or if im cleaning the tank they will always gather together again in a little school.

a varied diet is the best thing using your tetra min as the staple with the odd treats like you've suggested. i used to worry about our cardinals eating as i never saw them eat & we have tiger barbs in our tank that are real pigs & scoff the food very fast, but our cardinals have been with us for over 3 years now & all look healthy so must be eating, i do however try to crumble some of the food small & sink it near where the little fish hang out just to make it easier for them in the feeding frenzy that occurs when its teatime for our mob.

 

[Mr Bee]

Cool, thanks very much for the info


I will keep a look out for NTD symptoms you described, but is one or 2 being seperated quite normal then. I was worried the lone Tetra wasn't eating, but this morning all 7 were up and scoffing in a big group before spreading out again.

I like to watch them eating, the way they attack and pounce on the flake is quite entertaining, and its surprising how much they can fit in their tiny mouths in one go!

I'm following, as always, the 2 minute rule for amount of food, and they're only eating about 5 flakes a day between the lot of them. I've read somewhere recommending to not feed them one day a week and force them to look for any food thats escaped - does anyone recommend this approach?

Also, is it best to crumble the food, or feed as whole, big flakes? I've been giving them a mixture, and they don't seem to prefer either. Just wondering if biting big flakes is hard work for them, but then they are more easily seen.

Just out of interest, if Tetras are same family as Piranah (characin), do they have teeth?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yep its fine that they spread out into smaller groups or alone.

With regards to food I do occasionally have a "purge" day where they dont get fed (normally the day after I give them a big feeding of frozen food). Not sure if it actually helps them or not. As I have manged to get most of the tetras I have kepts to spawn I'm pretty sure it it not hurting them.

I break my flake down a little bit for tetras as it stops so much falling to the bottom. They do tend to "attack" it with some gusto though so large flakes are not a problem for them either.

I believe they do have teeth (I'm sure I remeber seeing little teeth on some of my tetras) and when you feed them you really do see how they are related to piranah's