Neon Tetras!

[happyhillbilly]

So petco was having a 5 for 5 sale. I impulsivley bought Neon tetras, and they were good, schooling toghter until the next moring. I found one dead. No biggie, I flushed it. The next day, one is missing. I'm worried that this will keep happening. I have a 55 gal thats been going since may, and has guppies, platys, a keyhole chichilid, 2 plecos, and a chinese algae eater.

 

[Guest]

the keyho0le chichlid.. how big is it??? Neons are easy prey for a lot of fish.

 

[IceWind]

Neon's seem to be the popular choice for bully fish to pick on.

 

[jgc8fan]

I could never get neons to last long... Either they die, or something eats them. I gave up trying to keep them, and usually get rasboras instead... They seem to last longer.

 

[jrp1588]

Neons...my old foe...lol. I never had luck with them either.

 

[TomK2]

I had to go to 3 LFS before I had a batch of neons that survived. Like you, one would die ach night, until there was one left . Since they were the only fish, no predation could be blamed. The last lfs I went to told me to float the bag for 20 to 30 minutes, which I did, then I did about a 5 to 10 minute period of adding tank water to the bag. Since every lfs has the same water supply I do, parameters are the same, so I spend most of the acclimation time bringing the bag up to tank temp gradually. It was either better neon stock, or the longer bag float that made a success.

 

[Scottm]

my bet is better stock, most breeders just throw the fish in a large tank at the right parameters and tempratures and let them do their thing after a while the gene pool can get shallow if you don't mix it up a little.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Dwarf gouranis ate 9 of my 12 neons. Guess the last 3 were just a little too big, as they are still in the tank.

 

[mattrox]

As mentioned in another thread I have had trouble with them. There was one particular time I bought some and they lasted well, but I have no idea why I have had bad luck.

I use the dump method for introducing fish. I only float bags for any length of time if I know there is a huge temp diff. IMO getting the fish out of the 500ml of festy ammonia ridden water asap gives them a good chance. I don't tell people that is what they should do, but it is what works for me. This could be the cause of neon deaths for me I guess, but it didn't kill discus, rams, cardinals or rummynose tetras.

 

[TomK2]

mattrox -

The three lfs near my house are minutes away, and get the same tap water I do. Except for the neons, I have always freed the new fish rather quickly. But after loosing 10 or 12 fish, I had to try something else. I can't see how a short acclimation period would cause a fish to die 4 ot 5 days later, even after it was eating, but I really wanted some neons and was willing to try anything. That meant going to lfs#3, my least favorite lfs, with the goofy, unfreindly owner. Of course, now that it has worked, I am obligated to follow the exact same steps each time I bring home some neons, or risk breaking the spell

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I use the dump method for introducing fish. I only float bags for any length of time if I know there is a huge temp diff. IMO getting the fish out of the 500ml of festy ammonia ridden water asap gives them a good chance. I don't tell people that is what they should do, but it is what works for me. This could be the cause of neon deaths for me I guess, but it didn't kill discus, rams, cardinals or rummynose tetras.

Shame on you, lol...
Kidding....
I float mine for about 15 minutes, then pour half of the water out in a bucket, then slowly fill it back up by quickly submerging it to let some water in and pull back to surface. I will usually do this 2 times, takes about 20 minutes, then empty contents of the bag into a net sitting across the top of my bucket and put them in the tank. I never dump lfs water into my tank.

 

[jgc8fan]

The only bit of luck I've ever had with them was when I bought larger ones. Usually the tanks are stuffed with tiny neons, and I've never had a one survive. When buying the larger ones I've had some luck (kept 5 alive for over a year once).

One idea... Don't know if it will work or not, and some in here will shudder at the mention... Check your local Wal-Marts. They sometimes have fish that sit for a LONG time. If you can find some larger neons that survived in their tanks they could probably survive anything.

 

[bigtard]

I have a 55...[that]has...a keyhole chichilid

The only day I saw my keyhole cichlids be aggressive was the day I tried to put neons in the tank. I put in a school of 7 neons, and the keyholes immediately ate 3 before I could get the other 4 out and take them back to the store.

 

[imahawki]

I also tend to use the dump method. I have ~20 fish all added to my tank over the course of 1.5 months and zero deaths. Of course I think this works well because I also live very close to the fish store and we have the exact same water. Growing up this would have been a bad idea as I lived on a farm with well water which would have been drastically different than the city water the fish at the fish stor 30 miles away would have been in.

 

[Derek015]

omg that sounds like me, i saw that exact same sale, but i bought 10 male guppies and a gold capped veiltail angel

one of my angels died because he was sick, i tried medicating him but nothing worked

 

[TomK2]

Well, the spell has been broken. I bought another batch of five Neons from the same tank at the same lfs that my first 5 survivor came from. The same old pattern, one death a day....... down to 7 from 10.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I lost 21 in 1 week all MIA, but the congo's were growing so fast, not sure what was up with that

Neon's are very hard to keep, I picked up black neon's for my daughters tank after 5/6 died (and #6 just hung on by a thread), the black neons are doing fantastic.. not sure of the new Diamond head neons tho.. look pretty, probably just as tasty for my fish..