Rainbows and Neons Tetra mix

[gar1948]

Anyone have experience mixing a school of neon tetras and several Rainbows together in a 29 gal tank?

 

[thatmagicguy]

It really depends on how you go about it. They may or may not get along. If you have a sparsley decorated 29 gallon with a school of full grown boesmani rainbows swimming about and you start plunking in small neons then they will probably look at them as food. On the other hand, if you set the tank up with some plants and decorations and have a well established school of healthy neons swimming about you could probably put in some young rainbow fish and have them mature out with very little problems. It is all about how you go about it. On the other hand yet, just remember, the fish have not read any textbooks and while there are guidelines to follow, you can always have just about anything happen in a tank. Which means, 6 people could come in and say they did great. And then you could have a disaster. Vice versa. Bill

 

[CTD]

I had Rainbows and Neons together in the past in a 120 Gallon Tank, Both seemed to me to do best in planted Tanks with Dark Substrates (A dark substrate shows their colors best too). both fish are from soft water, BTW Rainbows will enjoy a Algae Wafer from time to time. Neons are less hardy than the Rainbows but they both got along well with each other. just dont put baby Neons in with Full grown Rainbows.

 

[gar1948]

Thanks for the advise. I'll give it some thought..

 

[dimmy32]

I have a 2 rainbows in a 30 gal tank with 10 neons , they all get along great.

Mind you I have a lot of plants and hiding spots, but I never see any evidence of aggression.

 

[gar1948]

Do the neons school? what kind and how big are the rainbows?

 

[dimmy32]

they school ocaisionally. If they felt threatened, they'd tighten up and school closer and more often. They seem pretty relaxed.
I feed them daily though.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

I have 2 large rainbows with a school of blackline rasboras, and they seem fine. Not really the same thing as neons, but similar in size. THey are in a 56 gallon heavily planted tank.

 

[gar1948]

Anybody have experience with different types of gravel for neon tetras and neon rainbows? Light or dark gravel?