i love neon tetras

[funchi777]

hi, ive only had betas in the past, they lived for quite awhile but mine are never
very active. we wanted a new tank that can be enjoyed by guests in the living room and dining area. it is a 5 gallon freshwater. i bought some neon tetras but only 2 of 5 have survived. they dont seem to eat, and they dont seem to like the troical flakes, dried bloodworms or granules ? ive ordered some brine shrimp and im hoping this will save them. what do you feed tetras with, their little mouths are so small, they seem to take a piece of food in but then spit it back out.

 

[King Fisher]

Is your tank cycled? The fish sound like they're sick.

 

[Delapool]

Welcome!

Generally I’ve fed mine flake or pellets or they nibble on bigger food. One to watch, sometimes spitting out can mean illness or parasites.

 

[funchi777]

do you feed them live brine shrimp? do they like it?

 

[Delapool]

Not from memory - probably frozen and they just scout around for the scraps. Sometimes they don’t do much for a week (like us changing to another time zone / climate) and a month later they’re charging around stealing food off catfish

 

[Autumnsky]

Hikari makes some Fancy Guppy food which are tiny pelleted food which mine go crazy for. Also Micro Pellets are very small.

Also your tank probably isn't cycled, often they are ill from or in addition to the stress of traveling and changing parameters.

10 gallons is the minimum recommended size tang for them. A 20 long tank would be better. They enjoy swimming horizontally in the tank.

Check out the article for getting started in my signature line. It helps with understanding the nitrification cycle, and how to keep fish in general. Good info for a firm foundation. Also has links for cycling with fish in the tank - aka Fish In cycle.

Flakes work too for feeding, not my favorite overall, they often pollute up the tank fairly quickly and it is pretty easy to over feed and get a spike of ammonia. Can make things harder for a new tank/keeper.

 

[funchi777]

i got my check sticks in the mail yesterday, every thing seemed ok but i read tetras like a ph of 6.5, my tank was 8, so i added some water for a quick fix but will clean it and adjust it before i buy more fish. i need to read more about cycling, i dont know about that yet

 

[Autumnsky]

The article in my signature is a good source of information (don't recall if I mentioned that

Tetras will be fine in 7.5 ish water. They can get used to higher pH.

here is a pic of my neons in my 72G. lol - I love them too!

 

[funchi777]

your neons are awesome, how big is your tank?, the info that came with my dip stix said 6.5-7 for tetra ph, i was thinking thats why i lost mine the ph was almost 8. im trying to learn this website.........so sorry for any mix ups ahead of schedule, ill check your advise article

 

[Autumnsky]

The tank is 72 gallons.

The Neons come from more soft/acidic water. Many Neons are captive bred now and are used to medium pH.

If you leave a sample of water out for 24 hours then test it and see what it is.

What substrate and rocks are in your tank?

Getting a large piece of DW can help with water parameters and lowering pH. In that case you would be better for 2 smaller water changes in the week than one larger one so time can help lower the pH in the tank if the tap water is harder.

Also you can use RO water and add say 1/4 (or more) to each water change. Use RO water to fill the tank for evaporation as well not tap water which adds more minerals to increase pH and TDS.