Question about Neon Tetras

[canuckaquarist]

Recently my fiancee brought home a lonely Neon Tetra that was all alone in his/her tank at the LFS. We added it to our tank (We have 3 Gold Dust Mollies, and 2 Blackskirt Tetras), and all it did was hide.

So we added 3 more, thinking they would form together as a school. Now one stays at the front leftside of the aquarium, another on the front rightside, and the other two just hang out in the back. All my decor is in the back, a sunken pirate ship and a bunch of plastic plants, the front is wide open for swimming.

Is there a reason why they seem anti-social with each other? I presume the two in the back are just hanging back there to stay in the shade. The other two seem to be social butterflies with the rest of the fish, but not each other.

Thank you for any feedback or information,
-Blake

 

[GouramiFanatic]

I've only had one school of Neon's, but they were almost never schooling together. They were pretty much doing their own thing and would just bump into each other from time to time.

 

[imrandome1]

I've only had one school of Neon's, but they were almost never schooling together. They were pretty much doing their own thing and would just bump into each other from time to time.

Same, you need about 10 for them to start schooling, although they will be happier now that they have some company.

 

[canuckaquarist]

Sweet thanks for the feedback, was getting worried there was something wrong with them because I read they were a schooling fish. Guess the problem is, not enough of them

I guess I got two social butterflies out in the front, and two that just like to hang out in the back and relax. The two in the back just kind of swim/float below the two Blackskirts, so maybe that is their school

Thanks again,
-Blake

 

[Cinder]

A school is usually considered to be made up of five or more fish (more being the key word here). When I had three or four tetras they hung out in different areas of the tank. When I added enough to have six to ten they started schooling together. My green Neon tetras (I have six together) almost never leave each other.
I have heard that adding a single fish or even two to an existing tank sometimes creates issues in that the fish there have already established a hierarchy and the new fish are overstressed coming into the ranking last. Thus it's better to add at least three fish (for schooling types like Tetras) at a time to make everybody work at the new hierarchy.
Thus, if you have room I would suggest adding three or more Neon's and see how that works.

 

[talloulou]

How big is the tank? You aren't going to notice schooling as much in a relatively small tank especially when there are no threatening fish around.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Another thing to think about. If there are no threats in the tank, they won't school much. If there's 0 threats, then no or very minimal schooling. How big of a tank are they in? Might want to think of adding a little more aggressive fish, but not something big enough to eat the neons. Maybe a rainbow shark, or something of that nature. Red Tail Sharks would be a little too aggressive I think, and would probably cause more problems with the neons. Rainbows are a little calmer. Not too big that he won't eat them. Could also do something like a pair of Bolivian Rams, or GBR's.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Or a gourami. My neons and glowlights stay together because of my 3.5in Opaline gourami. He keeps them in a nice little group.

I agree, in a tank with no threats, schooling fish don't really school. They do seem to stay together more, the more you have though.

What size tank is it?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

No gouramis with neons, lol. It's their regular food, lol. I put 10 neons in with a Fire Red Dwarf Gourami, and all but 2 were eaten, the 2 that were big enough not to fit in the mouth, lol.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I have 7 neons with a 3.5 inch Opaline gourami. They are all still there.

If the neons are big enough, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Alshain]

If I remember right from his previous thread, I think his tank is maxed out now.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Haha, i just realized that gouramis are ASIAN and neons are SOUTH AMERICAN. How can they be their natural food when they are from 2 different continents? Weird.

I think you are thinking of angels....neons are their natural prey.

 

[canuckaquarist]

Yeah I have a 12 or 15 gallon tank, its my fiancees.

The aquarium is maxed out, I was worried about adding these three additional neons.

I was just worried that there was something wrong with these Neons, because the two hang out in the back near the plants and ship with the two Blackskirts. The other two go back and forth from the back to the front, but at opposite ends of the tank. My Mollies are just all over the place, seems fitting since someone described a heirarchy within the tank, Mollies were the first ones in to work the tank in.

As long as this is normal behaviour for Neons, then I am happy. Although it would be nice to see the two hiding in the back more, they are beautiful fish.

Thanks again,
-Blake

 

[hc8719]

in my 55 gal, 4" moonlight gouramis and a 4" BGK as well as many others keep my 9 neons together.

if one loses the school they get frantic, looking for their buddies in my big tank

 

[canuckaquarist]

Just an update.

I was looking for my Neon Tetras, the past week, I could only find 3, at times couldnt find any but 1. Just thought to myself, they are just hiding somewhere.

Today, I could only find 2, kept looking every half hour. So I decided to move my decor around to see where the other 2 were. Moved them around, couldnt find them, I move the plants in the back hiding my filter, there they are, dead on the filter.

I presume these are the two that wouldnt leave the back of the aquarium, the other two that are always out in the front are still in the front.

I was looking at these other two, to see if its Neon Tetra disease, I dont notice any colour loss, or white spots. Although one looks like it has an indent on its bottom, from the gills to its mid-section, it almost like this ) shape. The other one, in perfect form. Could that be a disease on the one? Or just a birth deformation.

All my other fish are happy and healthy it seems, all swimming around like normal.

This is the first deaths I have had in this aquarium, the Mollies and Blackskirts have been in there for about 5+ months now, no problems with them. Could this just be a bad batch of Neons? or do you think NTD is responsible?

Thank you,
Blake

 

[imrandome1]

Dont think its NTD, if the fish starts to swim downwards in a darting action, and more little lumps come and it look kinda dazed then yes it might be, but atm i dont think its NTD, check your water, for nitrate nitrite and ammonia and tell us what the results are.

 

[joannde]

In my experience Neon's are just difficult to keep; others have noticed the same thing. Now that they are aquarium bred instead of wild caught it could just be bad genetics. I've had 12 over the past couple of months and I'm down to 1 now. I feel bad for him being lonely w/out other neons for company but I just can't handle the deaths anymore.

 

[canuckaquarist]

Thanks for the responses.

Havent had a chance to test the water yet.

Yeah I don't think I will be buying anymore Neons, maybe I will just add to be Blackskirts, they have been very hardy.

Anyone have any recommendations of any other Tetra's that are hardy?

 

[DarylF2]

Maybe I just have good luck, but I haven't had many problems at all with Neons. Before I knew about fishless cycling, I used 1 Cory and 2 Neons to cycle my 6-gallon Eclipse System 6 tank. No fish died, and those three are still doing fine (though I did move the Cory back to my 38 so he could school with his family there). I've since added 3 ghost shrimp (2 are doing great, one died right after acclimitization, but appeared to have been injured when caught or during transport), 3 Otocinclus catfish (which are all doing great), and 3 more Neons (one died within a couple of days of being added to the tank; I'm not sure why, but the others are doing very well). The tank now had 4 Neon Tetras, 3 Otos, and 2 Ghost shrimp and is very stable, beautiful, and appears quite healthy.

This is a tiny tank, but I keep it fairly heavily planted and perhaps that help the Neons stay healthy and happy?

 

[no_fin_nipping]

I have 8 neon Tetras. They school, sort of. Four were purchased from one store and four were purchased from another about 3 weeks later. At first they didn't school with the other for the first 2-3 weeks. They've been together about 16-17 months right now. There was a fatality shortly after the first batch, but I've gone over 16 months w/o a problem.

I once saw a tank with about 16 neons. 16 will definately school. I may be wrong, but there were some rummy nose tetras in the tank as well and they seemed to be schooling with the neons. Several white clouds were, several white clouds were more interested in harlequin rasboras. The tank had a corner filter. I believe the neons, rummy noses and some of the white clouds were fixated on the airstone inside, as they ofen were found huddled near the corner of the filter just staring at it. My friend said it was "the God of their religion", so it may not have been schooling, just a coincidence they all had the same fixation.