Newbie needs advice on neons.

[harryc]

Evening all (afternoon for all you americanos)....

I want to get some neons for my tank. It's a small tank (26l sorry not sure gallons maybe 7-8ish?) and I currently have 3 platys and 2 dwarf peppered corys. I've heard that some don't like the water as warm as it is (26c). Is there more than one type, and what would you all recommend? Wanna get about 6 I think. Also, I have some brownish algae lookig stuff on the gravel, what would you recommend as a good cuc for this?

 

[subliminalanarchy]

That would be ~7 gallons . I haven't heard the term cuc used much in freshwater, do you have a saltwater tank too?

Is the algae slimy, dusty, or just regular algae that happens to be brown? No matter what it is the problem is probably water quality (ammonia / nitrates / phosphates) and can usually be solved by doing more water changes. Try to get as much of it out when you gravel vac your tank as possible. If that doesn't work, you could either try getting a new light, or 'blacking out' your tank for a few days.


Anyway, with 3 platys and 2 corys I don't think you have room for anymore fish in that tank especially if it's a tall tank. Neon tetras are particularly sensitive too so I'm not sure they would be able to deal with the water quality of an overstocked tank, even if you were doing lots of waterchanges. I'm done with them myself, they just don't seem to last. If you're set on getting more fish I would just upgrade the tank.

Good luck

 

[siva]

Hello harryc...I have to say I really don't think it's appropriate to keep neons in less than 20gal...maybe 15. Even in a 10 gal they do not have enough room to really exibit their natural behavoirs. After substrate and decor you might have little more than 5 gallons of water in that tank...Honestly your tank is very overstocked. Platy get pretty big...I wouldn't even keep them in a 10 gal. They also have a pretty hefty bio-load for their size so you'd be hard pressed to keep your parameters good with that much fish in that small of a tank. I would guess you would have to do 30% water changes 2-3 times a week to keep your nitrates from exceeding 20 and keep your ammonia at zero with your current set up. If I were you I would get a larger tank for your current fish that allows you a little room to add some more diversity if you would like, and give that smaller tank to a few african dwarf frogs or a betta..they would be much better options for a tank of this size With the frogs or betta the bio-load of a snail would be acceptable to add, and a nerite snail would be a perfect option as clean up crew for algea. They do not reproduce in freshwater so you'll never have infestation, and they are plant safe.

 

[jinchi]

I thought we were called Yanks by the Brits, hehe

 

[harryc]

Yanks, septics, there's lots of names we have for you guys, but i thought americanos would be unoffensive enough to get a response

Thanks for the advice guys. Up to this point I have simply been going on my lfs's advice - they advised me on the platys so I went with that. This is my first ever tank, bought it for my daughter for her 3rd birthday, she's got cerebral palsy and loves fish / visiting the London aquarium etc so was an ideal pressie. I am really enjoying it so will defo be getting another tank at some point and will prob move the platys in there. Daughter will love the betta (Siamese fighting fish, rite?) and the snails too so that could be a plan.

As far as readings go, nh2/3 have been at zero every time I've checked since 6 weeks (9 weeks now, wth 20% weekly water changes) no chlorine probs either so I must be doin something right!

Thanks guys that solves that one then....

 

[doogle]

platys like 72-76*f...lower end of tropical heated fish...

 

[harryc]

Ok cool I'll turn it down a bit cheers