# Neon Tetra Care?



## BettaStarter24 (Mar 24, 2014)

So I'm planning on getting some Neon Tetras for my 20g tall tank. It is cycled, Parameters as follows:

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 20-40 ppm (Planning on doing a couple more water changes on the tank before actually putting the fish in to get this down to under 20 ppm)

My question is pretty much what do I need to know about care for these guys? This is my first foray into a species other than Bettas in years. Not to mention my first foray into this as someone who has kept aquariums properly for over 2 years. 

Here are my plans for shoal. I'm planning on getting 10-12 neons to have a proper shoal for these guys to avoid them getting too nippy, although I know they might still get kind of nippy. I'm trying to figure out if I want to do a betta centric community tank with the neons and a betta but I'm not 100% sure. Mom wants to do Kissing Gouramis but they aren't really compatible with Neons and they get pretty big too so I'm really really trying to sway her away from them. 

What do they eat? I have NLS Betta formula pellets as well as Omega One Betta Buffet pellets. What food do I need to get for Neons? Will they eat the same stuff bettas will or do they eat something else? Live food? Frozen? I do have frozen bloodworms available. 

I've read that they're pretty delicate, what parameters should I look for as far as nitrates? I know mine are a little high currently but again, I'm planning on getting those down before the fish are in the tank. Any others I should be aware of? pH? I know my source water's pH is about 8. The tank as I said is cycled and has been for months, its heated, decently planted with silk plants and a couple plastic plants. I do have Salvinia Minima floating in the tank now. I've read something about driftwood for Neons but I'm not sure how true that is. 

Any help is greatly appreciated, I want to be sure I do this right.


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## Darius359au (Apr 12, 2014)

Ok not remotely expert but I've actually just set up a tank with 10 Neon Tetras in the last week:grin2: 
ph8 is a bit high for them they prefer around 5.5-7 ,ammonia ,nitrites and nitrates should be 0,0 and less than 20ppm, preferred temperature is a bit lower than Bettas at around 24-25c ,(sorry don't know what that is in Fahrenheit). 
They prefer a heavily planted tank so they've got shady areas to hang out in ,(they don't really like bright light but of course you need a bright light if you've got plants so catch 22:grin2 ,and a low flow rate for the water ,(I'm running a sponge filter in my tank ,had them hiding under it when I first put them in the tank.) , tannins in the water are good and it'll actually make their colours brighter ,I've got indian almond leaves for that ,they've been playing with the leaves and nibbling them a bit since the leaves sunk.

Food wise their omnivorous so a good tropical pellet or flake - I'm using API sinking tropical pellets ,NLS small fish is supposed to be good for them too and things like daphnia ,blood worms ,brine shrimp as well as some blanched zucchini from time to time - not sure if I'm feeding them right but what I do is drop their pellets in and leave them till the next feed ,that way the pellets soften up and they can graze on them when they want ,seems to be working and their all eating.


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## BettaStarter24 (Mar 24, 2014)

Thanks for the reply. I retested pH and it's actually 7.6. I picked up 12 neons yesterday and tested their water from petco and pH matched so that's nice. I have mopani wood soaking to remove excess tannins and get waterlogged as one piece is a floater. I got Omega one tropical fish flakes and then a frozen food medley. I love watching feeding frenzy

Mom insisted on getting kissing gouramis which I'm not too happy about. But so far so good.


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## BettaStarter24 (Mar 24, 2014)

Dang too late to edit. Oh well. 

Meant to add that I got my Nitrates down to 5 ppm in that tank. 

The Neons are doing great, have stopped crowding together at the bottom of the tank, they are venturing out more and using the length of the tank nicely and starting to get up to the top of the tank. The Gouramis as well are moving away from the bottom of the tank. Both species are eating, the Neons better than the Gouramis. I put in some of my mixed frozen food (Spirulina Brine Shrimp, Mysis shrimp, plankton, Bloodworms, Daphnia, etc) and fed them that with some flakes to make sure everyone got at least some food. The Neons are little piggies. I have 3 females and 9 males of the tetras. i don't know how to sex Gouramis though so no idea on that. They haven't been fighting much anymore. They did chase each other around the tank at first for a few hours. The tetras are still trying to figure out pecking order.


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