Neon Tetras Schooling?

[adammorrill]

Hi, i have 3 neon tetras in my 36 gallon tank and was wondering if i could put in 3 black neon tetras and they would school together???

 

[LyndaB]

They should.

 

[Critterlvrok]

I have found that they tend to stay in specific groups. My glowlight tetras; Hemigrammus erythrozonus do not school with my neon tetra; Paracheirodon innesi. And my black tetra; Gymnocorymbus ternetzi school separately as well. IME they school as species only. At least in my tanks. However I have never had black neon tetras so maybe someone that has owned both will help.

 

[LyndaB]

I have found that they tend to stay in specific groups. However I have never had black neon tetras so maybe someone that has owned both will help.

Your response makes no sense to me.

From what I've experienced, neons tend to school together.

 

[Batt4Christ]

I'm not sure anyone can say for certain what will happen in YOUR tank, but - in my experience - similar size and shape tetras often DO school together. Black Neons do typically get larger than regular Neons.

Foot - when I had a pair of true Siamese Algae Eaters (and when they were smaller) - they would school with my black neons!

 

[NoMoreGoldFish]

Smaller fish will school together when they're scared, when I first added my praecox rainbow, they were schooling with my tetras, that lasted about two hours. But black neon tetras and neon tetras are different species, they won't school together unless they're scared.

You're better off buying three more neon tetras. If you absolutely have to get different fish to fill out a school, I'd at least go for the cardinal tetras or green neon tetras.

 

[Rozdab]

I have diamond and Cochu's blue tetras in schools of 8 each and they all swim together. They will break away into little groups of course, but it could be a couple diamonds with a blue or a couple blues with couple diamonds breaking off main shoal. It is awesome to watch em swim together and weave in and out.

I have read/heard there are some tetras that can be a little nasty like buenos aires tetras. I heard these get a little crazy and also have heard/read/experienced that it is better to keep similar size tetras together. But it is gonna vary for everybody. It seems like the bigger ones are the crazier ones IMO and the little ones are fun and nice to sit and watch get in a big shoal and just glide back and forth together. Hope this helps somewhat.

 

[sniperfreak]

I've had Cardinals and neons school together, and my Bleeding Heart tetras will sometimes school with my cardinals, and if you get oto's, they'll try to school with just about everyone...so from my experience, fish of similar size and shape should school well, I mean, black neons aren't all that different proportion-wise from cardinals.

 

[HN1]

Tetras will school loosely with other tetra in the prescence of a risk, but tend to school more tightly species specifically. Black neons (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) are a different species than neons (Paracheirodon innesi) so I wouldn't expect much with that small of a halved grouping. I'd recommending adding one species or the other up to 8-10.

 

[Critterlvrok]

Your response makes no sense to me.

From what I've experienced, neons tend to school together.

I apologize that my wording of my answer made no sense. I was attempting to say exactly what HN1 stated above. I was speaking of my tank experience Glowlight and neons which are roughly the same size and in my tank they remain separate unless frightened.

 

[LyndaB]

gotcha........

someone mentioned similar sizes..... my rummnose tetras school with my white cloud mountain minnows

 

[Reygan2]

Tetras will school loosely with other tetra in the prescence of a risk, but tend to school more tightly species specifically. Black neons (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) are a different species than neons (Paracheirodon innesi) so I wouldn't expect much with that small of a halved grouping. I'd recommending adding one species or the other up to 8-10.

This described my neons and black neons perfectly. I had 5 of each, and they would only school together if they were frightened. They generally stick to their own species. I had one black neon that was larger than the rest and he acted like king of the tank. He relentlessly charged at members of his school as well as the neon school.

 

[adammorrill]

Thanks for the esponses everyone!!! I think i will just get a couple more neon tetras to make sure they have a proper school

 

[mr.waffles1842]

Ive never kept neon tetras, only cardinals. however, when 2 cardinals died, the cardinals schooled with my black neons.


Foot:shouldnt black neons be called black cardinals?

 

[HN1]

Ive never kept neon tetras, only cardinals. however, when 2 cardinals died, the cardinals schooled with my black neons.


Foot:shouldnt black neons be called black cardinals?

Great question. One of the many reasons why common names generally are terrible.