Neon tetras vs. Cardinal tetras (?)

[Tropical]

I seem to be hearing a lot about how unstable neon tetras are these days. Many people urge to get cardinals insted of neons, but cardinals also get a lot bigger.

Do you have any thoughts on this?

I have a 20 gallon long tank and want to add a school of neons, but I'm getting kind of nervous after reading some comments on them. I have pretty hard water, so that's a down side. I'm afraid if I go with cardinals that the tank will be overstocked.

Also, as a side question, can neons school with gold neons? I saw some gold (albino, I beleive) neon tetras the other day and thought they looked nice. Could I get 2 gold and 4 regular neons and would they school?

 

[HN1]

If you can find captive bred, tank raised neons, they'll be fine. Unfortunately the wild caught neons are cheaper so most stores stock those. They are fragile, but not much more so than wild caught cardinals. You would be fine (stocking gradually) with up to 8 cards or 12 neons. As long as your filter and schedule support it.

Yes, regular neons and gold neons will school. They don't discriminate.

 

[redruckus]

FishProfiles.com - Profile List alot more tetras then cardinals and neons most dont get very big and all school in groups of at least 6

 

[Crepe]

I had a 50% mortality rate over 3 months with my neons. Never kept cardinals though. The ones that do survive keep going and going and going though.

 

[JoeD]

Hello, not sure if I'm in the right spot for my question, but I thought I'd try...

I was just reading about Neon Tetra Disease as I have 7 of them. I lost one and was left with four. Today I got 3 more and noticed that 2 of the tank ones started going ape **** after each other, now that the 3 are in the tank they are all going wild relentlessly, fins up like Jaws and non stop. The older ones look duller in color than the new ones, but are non stop going after each other as well as the new ones.

Is this just normal behavior???

Are cardinals the way to go??

Much thanks.

 

[redruckus]

i was also just thinking what is your ph in your tank if you keep loosing tetras they like low ph 6.0-7.0 also neons get just as big as cardinal tetras if you feed them nothing but blood worm it just takes much longer to get them to the larger size but its posible in big tanks 30gal+ but its realy a matter of looks between the 2 both have the same temperment and basic needs just the cardinals have a full red stripe and the neons do not.. and JoeD the only reason your neons are chasing each other is they are either about to breed wich is unlikely but posible or you are under feeding them and they are starting to canabilize trying to get any food they can

 

[JoeD]

JoeD the only reason your neons are chasing each other is they are either about to breed wich is unlikely but posible or you are under feeding them and they are starting to canabilize trying to get any food they can

Thanks, I thought I've been feeding them enough, and they are leaving the smallest neon alone, only going after the similar sized ones. Is there a way to tell males from females??

 

[redruckus]

the only way you can realy tell is by the shape of the blue line one will be straight(male) and the other will be slightly curved up wards at the start of the red line(female) i would sudgest adding a large clump of java moss to the tank you might get some baby neons if your lucky