Wiggles24
Aquarium Advice Addict
If fish are kept in water too warm for them it shortens their lifespan. I have this issue in one of my tanks. ( i don't have the temp set high or anything. It just retains heat for some reason)
Well is a Discus tank and I see neons are kept with Discus. If the temperature is high for them I might go with Cardinals. I will look this up...
Its not about stress. Higher temps increase their metabolism essentially speeding up the aging process.
The OP has their tank this hot because discus prefer the hot temperatures.
As far as neons- I've had some last for years and survive several moves with no issues at all and some die the day I bring them home. I think it really depends on the batch you get.
I agree with Tracy. 86F is too hot especially since they were probably raised at between 76-80F. Try keeping them at 80F and see if it helps survival rate. OS.
Really? I have had the opposite experience. Cardinals almost always do better for me, so I simply stopped buying neons (since IMO cardinals are much better looking anyway).Cardinals will be far more sensitive than neons - I can tell you that from a lot of experience with keeping both.
AqAdvisor is wrong. 82 is not warm enough for discus. I have a friend who breeds big beautiful discus and I was fortunate enough to volunteer at the North American Discus Association convention in 2012. None of those folks would keep discus at 82 and based on the fish I saw there, I am a believer in their methods. 85-86 is pretty normal for discus actually.I thought the 86 was a typo. That almost has to be the problem. Three sources say too high temp:
From wiki:
Neon tetra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
are best kept in a densely planted tank with subdued light and an ideal temperature of 21–27°C (70–81°F) to resemble their native Amazon environments.
aqadvisor.com says 68-82.
Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Neon Tetra Jumbo
says 68-74F.
For Discuss:
aquadvisor.com says 82 degrees
Wiki is silent
Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Green Discus, Symphysodon sp.
says 79-86F.
Thus ...... temperature wise ....... the two fish appear nearly incompatible at anything over about 80F.
I keep my tanks 75-76F. All fish including 8 neons are vibrant, healthy, & unfortunately growing fast !!!!!!!!
80 is not warm enough for discus.The warmer the water the less oxygen it can hold as well. Don't go above 80 unless treating ich simple as that, it costs more to keep your water that warm too....
I mostly agree with you, it's just that the margin of error that discus can tolerate is lower than for most other fish, lol. 84-87 is standard practice among serious discus hobbyists.