# Neon fry care



## Captain Jim Dandy (Oct 30, 2011)

I'm picking up a new "used" aquarium tomorrow--make that today-- in Ocala, Florida. The woman selling it offered me nine young fry (neon tetra) with it and I just realized I'm in the dark on keeping them. Can anyone give me some (any, simple, basic, none too basic) advice on housing,acclimation, food, temperature requirments and so on? Please?


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

Captain Jim Dandy said:


> I'm picking up a new "used" aquarium tomorrow--make that today-- in Ocala, Florida. The woman selling it offered me nine young fry (neon tetra) with it and I just realized I'm in the dark on keeping them. Can anyone give me some (any, simple, basic, none too basic) advice on housing,acclimation, food, temperature requirments and so on? Please?



Neon tetras are hardy, but do prefer soft, slightly acidic water. What is your ph out of your faucet? If you can get the women to give you some water from what they have been raised in, that would be nice. You could than acclimate them with your water. I'm assuming you all have the basic same water, in regards to ph. If you check the profile section here, you can read more about them, but a good temperature is 78 degrees. They like clean water (like all fish) so always keep your nitrates below 20ppm. If you don't have a cycled tank for them to go in, your going to have trouble, as they are not likely to withstand that process. If your tank is not cycled, than get some filter media from the person who is giving you the fish and put that in your filter. If you can get enough from her, you should be fine, as little fish don't have much of a bio load. Good luck, and congrats on getting baby fry!

Gwen


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## Captain Jim Dandy (Oct 30, 2011)

*Respond to Gwen*

Very sorry so long in answer. Picked up neon fry Saturday afternoon. There are eight little gold buggers. Eating ,darting doing pretty well. They are in two gallon "Mini-bow" with filter clogged.Right now they are a little warm--about 81... working on that. I have well water that is high.. I beleive a shade over 8. Not great but the water I got them in(seller's two gallons) is almost identical. The water from two of my other ten gallon tanks are higher yet. Maybe evaporation combined with cycling not finished but cycling should be done. I wonder decayed plant material? So I'm not positive about what to do. Since this little filter isn't doing right I need to do something soon.


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

Captain Jim Dandy said:


> Very sorry so long in answer. Picked up neon fry Saturday afternoon. There are eight little gold buggers. Eating ,darting doing pretty well. They are in two gallon "Mini-bow" with filter clogged.Right now they are a little warm--about 81... working on that. I have well water that is high.. I beleive a shade over 8. Not great but the water I got them in(seller's two gallons) is almost identical. The water from two of my other ten gallon tanks are higher yet. Maybe evaporation combined with cycling not finished but cycling should be done. I wonder decayed plant material? So I'm not positive about what to do. Since this little filter isn't doing right I need to do something soon.



Decaying plant material, won't raise ph level. If they are "gold" are they black neons? Neon tetras are blue and red. I thought well water was usually soft?:-? I'm surprised you have a ph of 8, but I guess that is possible. I'm no ph expert 

First off, a 2 gal is waaaay to small for any amount of tetras. Are you putting them in a larger tank soon? The motor on the filter could be bad, more than it would be clogged, IMO.


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## MaisyDawgThirteen (Dec 7, 2011)

And, it's impossible to hold a stable cycle in something under 5 gallons.


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## Captain Jim Dandy (Oct 30, 2011)

No-no... my ten gallon tanks are cycled. They are empty of fish because I was going to get some guppies soon-maybe. Yes the tetras are gold and I said the same thing to the lady who gave them to me(blue and red) where she said they get those colors later. So I don't know. But got the filter workingToo much intake baffle) alright. Yes I have a ten, a twenty-nine, and a forty gallon to put them in soon. They are about the size of these parentheses!


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

Captain Jim Dandy said:


> No-no... my ten gallon tanks are cycled. They are empty of fish because I was going to get some guppies soon-maybe. Yes the tetras are gold and I said the same thing to the lady who gave them to me(blue and red) where she said they get those colors later. So I don't know. But got the filter workingToo much intake baffle) alright. Yes I have a ten, a twenty-nine, and a forty gallon to put them in soon. They are about the size of these parentheses!



I forgot you said "fry", so they are tiny  Glad you got things working with the filter. It would make sense as fry they would not look anything like an adult. 

Gwen


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## Captain Jim Dandy (Oct 30, 2011)

Glad you feel better for them--I still will get them in a bigger tank soon. The aquifer here has a lot of stone and metals (in some areas) that "pollute or tinge" the water. I wish it were softer. They say don"t mess with PH but I'm tempted. Thanks for your time and input Gwen--it is appreciated CJD


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

Captain Jim Dandy said:


> Glad you feel better for them--I still will get them in a bigger tank soon. The aquifer here has a lot of stone and metals (in some areas) that "pollute or tinge" the water. I wish it were softer. They say don"t mess with PH but I'm tempted. Thanks for your time and input Gwen--it is appreciated CJD



They do say that, but I went ahead and messed with Ph too. Don't regret it, but it's an expense. I have hard water here, so I bought the powder to lower ph, called Neutral Regulator, by Seachem. I double the dose suggested, each time I do a water change. The longer your tank has been running, ph naturally lowers a bit, and driftwood helps as it releases tannins. My ph runs at about 7.4 with the double dosage of this product. Because it takes more than the called for dosage, I'm understanding that means the tap water has lots of buffering in the water, to keep ph stable. That is why it's not recommended, because of the buffering agents that make it difficult to keep it stable. It's been working for me, the fish color up nice and have had no problems from it, but it's up to you. I would put some water in a bucket (say 5 gal) and test it without the product. Than add the product, and test again after 24 hours. That will give you some idea if you choose to try it. 

Gwen


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## Captain Jim Dandy (Oct 30, 2011)

*Worth it*

Neutral Regulater by Seachem eh? Sounds excellent to me. I will give that a try I think. By the way... your avatar with the ram-- they didn't do well for me, so I kept yellow labs for awhile.(water problem?- don't know). Thanks again-- must eat lunch now...talk again later?


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

Captain Jim Dandy said:


> Neutral Regulater by Seachem eh? Sounds excellent to me. I will give that a try I think. By the way... your avatar with the ram-- they didn't do well for me, so I kept yellow labs for awhile.(water problem?- don't know). Thanks again-- must eat lunch now...talk again later?



My German Rams are in another tank, and with using RO water, I have a ph at 6.3 which is what they need. Mine had fry recently, but learned they usually don't eat anything but live food, so hopefully next time they spawn, I'll get it right and have babies that don't die.

Gwen


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## Captain Jim Dandy (Oct 30, 2011)

GwenInNM said:


> My German Rams are in another tank, and with using RO water, I have a ph at 6.3 which is what they need. Mine had fry recently, but learned they usually don't eat anything but live food, so hopefully next time they spawn, I'll get it right and have babies that don't die.
> 
> Gwen


 That must've felt crummy,eh?Rams are really interesting to me, I don,t know why. I don't think I will try them again until I master my water's levels some at least. I'm fairly sure I'm going to get a few (or couple) of Kribensis soon-- I like them too. Of course I really watch for and consider snow white bettas sometimes!....Thanks Gwen...CJD


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