Opinions on neon tetras

[Ichthys]

The thing I love most about Neons and Cardinals is that when seen from the side the blue stripe is… blue. When seen from lower down its green, and when seen from higher up it’s purple.

FYI, a lot of people think Neons got their name from the blue stripe. In fact they got it from the red stripe, as neon gas burns with a red light. Remember all those red neon signs from the 50s and 60s ?

 

[MuddyWaters]

That's the interesting thing about their coloring. It has a couple of purposes. One is it allows them to see each other for schooling purposes. The other is believe it or not sort of a camouflage. Only they aren't trying to blend in with their surroundings. They're blending in with each other. A predator see them in a group and can't distinguish them from each other. Other animals do this too. Thing about zebras. Their environment is brown and beige with some green. And they're a distinctive black and white. But when you put a bunch together...

View attachment 333365

A predator sees that and just sees a big mass of stripes.

That's a great point, Sharkweek178. That zebra pic drives home the point for sure. Amazing what nature does.

 

[outofwater]

I haven’t bought the neons yet, I still just have the one. So I’ll definitely consider starting with the hatchets. And yes, having all blackwater fish is unfortunately sort of the point I’m going for an Ucayali biotope, although I might have to shift that slightly because I’m becoming a bit more sold on cardinals…

Last week I went to get plants at petco, the last couple of times I went there they have good ones at reasonable prices. There was a lone neon in a tank, couldn't resist, took him home. Guy actually "threw him in" with the plants as a Christmas gift . Being just one, and looking healthy to me, I just went home and plopped him right in. Gang of 13 is now gang of 14.

 

[sharkweek178]

In answer to the third question in the OP, I would not recommend them to others. Irresponsible breeding and shipping and caused these fish a lot of health problems. It's a crap shoot whether or not you get healthy ones. I like to think I know what I'm doing. I quarantine before adding to the main tank, keep them in an appropriately sized tank, have live plants, feed them high quality food and live foods, and do regular large water changes. And I *still* encounter health problems with my neons. I don't have any problems with my other fish. Just too much heartache and frustration with neons.

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

I like them quite a lot, they are very pretty.
Yes, it is quite true that they are quite inbred, but as far as I know that only affects them in the way of deformities but as far as making them less resilient, not quite. As far as my experience goes.
And yes, I would recommend them to everyone who can give them a suitable home (big enough tank, no predators or bullies and a good size shoal)

 

[GaryE]

I wish we wouldn't repeat the inbreeding line for these fish. They are bred in the millions, from a large founder stock. The problem isn't inbreeding. It's poor raising practices necessitated by the need to constantly make them cheaper. Every corner is cut to make the fish buyer happy while making the sale of the fish remain profitable.
Shipping from farms is the same for all fish. It's highly stressful and unhealthy, but it's a short duration thing. It's the extreme crowding and often the use of antibiotics to force growth that give us unhealthy fish.

People report healthier cardinals. They cost a wee bit more, and a large percentage come from a sustainable wild fishery. The Amazon doesn't have shareholders.

If your fish have come through the system healthy, and you keep them well, they live for 5 to 10 years. If they arrive ill, they'll die in the first 3 weeks and the industry will tell you it's the cycle.

 

[Aqua67]

I love neons and plan to breed them this summer in small black water containers on my sun porch. I keep 8 of them in my 30 gallon long. I would love to have 50 of them swimming around my tank.