# Neon Tetras as Dither Fish in Sorority



## summersea (Jul 26, 2013)

Okay, so I am in the process of setting up at 29g soil based NPT tank (seen below). It has only been set up for 2 1/2 weeks (though it was previously cycled and my water paramters are showing zeroes across the board). Right now I have 20 RCS (babies), 2 nerites, and an untold number of pond/ramshorn snails :shock:. FYI - this tank is in my high school biology classroom.

The plan is to put in 5-7 female bettas come July (right before school starts so they have the chance to get settled before the chaos begins). However, I am wondering if it would be a good idea to get neon tetras to act as dither fish. I am planning on covering the sides of the tank (back is already covered) to help cut down on stress of my students being up and working around my room (plus some students sit near the tank). I am thinking the neons might help distract them from the goings on in my classroom....

Soo...would it be okay to put in a small school (5 or so)? I would probably put them in soon (though I need to check to be sure they wont eat my baby RCS first...:roll if that would work out. 

All thoughts are greatly appreciated :-D


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## DaytonBetta (Feb 4, 2014)

I love neon tetras. I have 9 in a 29 gallon planted tank with a male betta and 6 black neons and 3 dwarf frogs, an oto and a lot of snails. They are so small it's nice to have a good size school in a tank your size I would get at least 8.

The betta, frogs and the neons completely ignore each other.


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## scootshoot (Oct 11, 2010)

I have 10 neons that is sharing its space with a 5 female sorority in a 15 gallon long tank. One thing that's surprised me (which you don't see observing them for a few minutes at the pet display tanks) is how frisky neons are to one another. They battle hard for little fish and are far far more aggressive with each other than my female bettas.

Yes they are schooling fish but they like to show one anothers dominance....


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

The purpose of dither fish is to show shy fish in the tank that it's safe to come out. Typically they swim near the surface - seeing the fish swimming overhead gives them peace of mind about arial attacks, or attacks from large fish. Typically they are somewhat bold fish that are not easily spooked. Neons really aren't any of those things.

I don't think bettas are a fish that needs or would even want dither fish.


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## summersea (Jul 26, 2013)

Hmmm so sounds like I really don't NEED the neon tetras. If it will stress my girls out more I definitely don't want to do that. This will be my first attempt at having a sorority and was/am a bit concerned about the girls being stressed in a classroom environment. I thought "dither fish" were used to distract the girls and diffuse any aggression. Apparently I am incorrect on that one


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

A tank full of bettas is a high stress environment no matter what you do. It's not their nature to be kept together like that, but people do it anyway because they've figured out ways to make it "work". They borrow principles from other areas of fish keeping and incorporate it, such as overstocking and the use of dither fish. Many people include sacrificial fish as dither fish. Sacrificial fish are fish that are added to a tank for the purpose of being the target another fishs aggression. It's a high stress job. Neons don't really fit that bill either - they don't handle chronic stress well.


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