getting ready to add 20-30 neon tetras

[mikemou]

hello~
after closely monitoring my water for three weeks (and after adding 3 small koi angels) without incidents or concerns, i'm ready to take up the biggest challenge so far - adding neon tetras to my 55 gal. my last experience with them ended in tragedy - ich attack.

i read it on this forum that keeping a LARGE number of tetras may be a key to success, so i'm planning to add 20-30 of them(if not overstocking). currently i have:
7 zebra danios
3 male fancy guppys
3 koi angels
2 CAE
2 male tiger barbs (one in isolation jug)

some plants. marble substrate. no driftwood or rock.

in fact, i went to my LFS last weekend but all their tetras were under Q and won't be avaialble for sale until this weekend. they're kind of small in size... going for 10 for 4.99.

i can bring back some of danios/barbs if need to make room for tetras.

your advices?

 

[krap101]

thats a great price. i dont know what'll happen if the angels breed though. they might get agressive. anything else i wont know

 

[Endgame319]

How big are the angels? Neons in the wild are a big food source for angels. Maybe consider cardinals instead?

 

[mikemou]

the biggest angel is smaller than a quarter.
the neons are about 1/2 inch.
originally i wanted to get bigger neons but all the LFS have is baby neons.... maybe big number would fend off angels?

i though angels are not good swimmers and neons have great speed, how could angels catch neons???

 

[Endgame319]

With the fish in an enclosed area for their whole lives, the angel would eventually sneak up on a sleeping neon and eat him. But its less likely if the fish grow up together.

 

[Menagerie]

Aside from the angels, I would be worried about the barbs. Why is one in isolation?

 

[mikemou]

the free barb has a mild temper and gets along with everyone so i don't expect to see any problems.
the isolated barb is mean and a barb murderer and i wanted to get rid of him for the longest time but couldn't do it because he's been with the tank from the get-go. he's confined in a floating 1 gal holed milk jug in the tank right now. don't know where destiny will take him in the future....

 

[mikemou]

bought 30 'medium' neons this evening...., and 1 hour later I have 29 neons... *sigh*

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Keep us posted on how they are doing. As you can see from many others here, neons are notorious for dying for no reason right when you buy them.

 

[Punkymom]

Keeping the Tiger Barbs in groups of more than 6 usually curves that aggression. Maybe find someone who has a school of them and give him to them. He'll be happier than floating in a milk jug!

 

[Mr Burns]

i'm not too wild about the milk jug idea. that's like keeping a dog in a small kennel 24/7. 10gal tanks are cheap...you'd probably be able to set one up for $50 maybe. a tiger barb tank would be sweet.

 

[krap101]

yeah 50$ sounds about right. a penguin 100 12$ (im just guessing on most of the prices) the tank 10$ hood 20$ heater 15$

 

[mikemou]

alright guys.... i just gave the two barbs back to the LFS. i didn't think i could handle more than one tank yet, and i also didn't want to forever keep them in the jug, so i figured giving them back was the best for everybody...

this evening when i got back, i lost another neon. it's front half was chewed off.... by the angels, i assume.

 

[pkremer]

I would say if you can keep 28 out of 30 neons alive you are doing better than average.

I talked to the manager of my LFS and I was telling him I thought they were so cool looking, and he mentioned that when they show up from the vendor, he can lose anywhere from 20-40% of them in the first 24 hours. Then he says that when people buy them, they usually come back with a similar percentage dead from the number they bought!

So I wouldn't be shocked if I were you if you lost another several! Also, I've been told that neons are the 'canaries' of a tank. Any parameter changes and they'll be the first to go. Too bad, because they're one of my favorite looking fish!

Paul

 

[vega]

Currently i have 2+ neon and 12 Cardinal in my 20 gal.

I found out that Cardinal are more immune then neon not mentioning they also look more stunning but you have to more for them too.



After several tries on neon myself, i think you made a good start by buying whole school in one short.

Right now probabily you need to look for any sign of neon tetra diseise for the 1st few weeks as they are very deadly to your neon.

HTH

 

[mikemou]

well, i guess i'm not better than average... i just lost two more on Sunday. 4 down, 26 left as of this morning.

one downside of having a big school is that it's hard to keep track of how individual fish is doing or to look for signs of trouble. they all looked fine when feeding but still i loose them one by one without a clue.

many thanks for the support, though!

 

[mikemou]

happy to report no neon has died in the last 24 hours. keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Menagerie]

Me too!

 

[mikemou]

2 more deaths yesterday.
4 out of 30 i could accept, 6 out of 30 is bad...
apparently this is not going very well...

 

[webmoose]

30 out of 30 is bad.. I have my fingers crossed that you end up with really strong ones of the ones that do survive. My personal preference is for Cardinals. I have 4 cardinals that are far more active than my 2 neons.