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Neon TetraFamily: Characidae
Latest Reader Comment - See More I have had my fish for 2 hours. I can tell it likes to school and it is fine with my angel.... (more) Claudia 2008-02-09
Despite having been in the aquarium hobby for many years, the Neon Tetra is easily the most popular fish of all aquarium fishes!The Neon Tetra was a very exciting addition to the aquarium hobby when first introduced in the 1930's, and is still sought after by aquarium enthusiasts today. A school of flashing Neon Tetras makes a brilliant display. It is an active schooling fish, one of the most peaceful tetras, and a very desirable community fish. Keep them only with other small fishes or in their own tank. Their small size can easily make them a qourmet meal for larger fishes! They are most comfortable and show their best colors when kept in a school of 6 or more fish. They like a planted aquarium and a dark gravel substrate. Their water should be soft, clean, slightly acidic, and changed regularly. The Neon Tetra can live 10 years or more with the proper conditions. Today the Neon Tetra shares the popularity spotlight with its close relative the Cardinal Tetra Paracheirodon axelrodi. The Cardinal Tetra, though similar in appearance, is a bit more gaudy. Its red coloring runs the whole length of the body, and it is also a bit more delicate. The Neon Tetra is much easier to keep and to breed than the Cardinal Tetra. For more Information on keeping this fish see:
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| Geographic Distribution Paracheirodon innesi |
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| Data provided by FishBase.org |
Distribution:
The Neon Tetra was described by Géry in 1961. They are found in South America, the Paraguay River basin; Rio Taquari, Pantanal of
Mato Grosso do Sul, and Brazil. Black Neon Tetras are now generally all captive-bred.
Status:
The species is not listed on the IUCN Red List.
Description:
The Neon Tetra is a small slim-bodied species of tetra. It is similar in appearance to the Cardinal Tetra with its horizontal stripe that seems to glow, but is a distinctly different fish. They can readily be identified, with each
fish having a very beautiful red stripe
next to an an electric blue neon stripe. The difference is that the red stripe on the Neon Tetra runs only halfway up the body while it runs the full length of the body on the Cardinal Tetra.
Size - Weight:
These fish get up to 1.5 inches (4 cm).
Care and feeding:
Since they are omnivorous the Neon Tetra will generally eat all kinds of small or finely ground
foods; live, fresh, and flake. To keep a good balance give them a high
quality flake food everyday. Feed brine shrimp (either live or frozen)
or blood worms as a treat.
NOTE: Neon Tetra Disease
- The Neon Tetra will occasionally develop ' Neon Tetra Disease'.
- This has been identified as a microscopic sporozoan in the genus Plistophora.
- It shows up on the fish as a spreading spot or blemish beneath the dorsal fin.
- There have been attempts to cure this disease with the use of Methylene Blue, but it is not always successful, so the disease is considered uncurable.
- This disease has also been spotted on the Glowlight Tetra Hemigrammus erythrozonus, and the Rosey Tetra Hemigrammus erythrozonus.
Acceptable Water Conditions:
The Neon Tetras are somewhat less demanding in their water
conditions than the Cardinal Tetras but they should have peat-filtered
water. These fish prefer some plant cover and a darker gravel.
Hardness: 2-10° dGH
Ph: 5.5 to 8.0
Temp: 68-79° F (20-26° C)
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Social Behaviors:
The Neon Tetra are ideal for a community aquarium with other
peaceful fish. It is best not to keep them with larger fish like angels. They are most comfortable and show their best
colors when kept in a school of 6 or more fish.
Sexual Differences:
The male is slender and the blue line is straighter. The
female is rounder producing a bent blue line.
Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom:
These fish will swim in all areas of the aquarium.
Breeding/Reproduction:
Recommended conditions: pH 5.0-6.0, 1-2° dGH, 75° F.
The Neon Tetras are egg layers. The female will lay up to
130 eggs. They are considered somewhat difficult to breed. Success has
been had, however, by using especially soft acidic water, intense sterilization
of the breeding tank and everything used in and on the tank, and making
sure that you have compatible pairing of fish. The eggs are especially
sensitive to light.
See a general description of how to breed these fish in Breeding Freshwater Fish and Fish Food for Fry for more information.
Availability:
The Neon Tetra is readily available.
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| Latest Comments |
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| I have had my fish for 2 hours. I can tell it likes to school and it is fine with my angel.
2008-02-09 |
| I have 5 Neons. I love these fish, they are so fun to watch. They are little schoolers. I 4 Glowlights, 4 Goldfish, and 1 clown loach. They all get along just fine. I love to sit in front of their tank and watch them for hours. The neons are good for beginners.
2007-11-16 |
| I love these little fish. i just got 6 of them today along with 5 black neon tetras and a blue german ram cichlid. They seemed to be a little scared at first and mainly stayed at the bottom of the tank along with the black neons, but after they got used to their new surroundings they are swimming all over the tank. The larger neons swim in pairs of 2 as the smaller ones swim in a larger group, the fish seem very happy and healty and are doing fine i plan to get more fish from the same family later on, nice additon to my community aquarium!!
2006-07-07 |
| I have 23 neons, and Ive added them to the tank with a really nice looking betta and a golden gourami and 2 other goldfishes. They seem to school together at first and were really pale but now they seem happy. I'm worried that the filter might suck them in though so I just bought a new one. Oh and note this when I checked my neons I found a cardinal tetra! Must have got caught in the local aquarium shop! And Ive noticed the colour changed if you put nice sand or pebbles for them. Good luck with your neon tetras!
2006-05-30 |
| i have quite an experience in aquarium fishes. My favourites are off course tetras and above all are neons. i have 90 neon tetras, 20 harliquin rasboras, 12 rummy nose, and 12 black neons in a tank with many varities of plants, rocks, and wood. My harliquins have bred once but neons havent. they spawn very much but i have not yet seen a fry roaming in my tank. Neons are the best fishes for a community tank. The white spots is a common disease in neons, some people say that it is not curable but when ever my neons are effected with this disease i have always get success in curing it. Chloromycitin capsules works brilliantly, much much better than methyline blue.
2006-05-10 |
| Some of the coolest comments: |
| We get neons by the dozens and we have to do it from time to time because they do not last as long as they should. Now I realize if we got the $4/each ones it would be more responsible, but the 50 cent/each ones allow quantities of 75 at a time. They do look so wonderful in large schools though. They share their 90 gallon heavily planted and filtered auto-c02 controlled tank with 9 Clown Loaches, couple pearl gouramis, dozen rummynose, handful of glasscats, handful of bleedingheart tetras, couple catfish and a handful of cories. Wish I could afford 75 of the $4/each ones! They are stunning. 2005-03-03 |
| I have 20 gal tank heavily planted with pigmy sword plant and dense valisneria spiralis alng the back side of tank. Tank has been runing for about 2 weeks but I introduced lots of aerobic bacteria to age my filter faster. Fairly slow water flow but incredibly well filtered by my trickle filter. So i decided to put a school of 55 neons and 5 marble hatchets with 5 japonica shrimps [to take care of algae that may develop later on]. All fish did really well and not a single fish was lost due to fairly newly setup tank. After about 10 days of feeding all fish with high quality flakes in the morning and frozen blood worms in the evening, along with 25 % water change 2xweek [they seem to love this treatment], to my amazement, i have seen at least half of all neons participate in a group spawning.It looked like they are all spawning. Males were fighting for little territories, females would swim into those territories while males would start their love play and entice females deeper into foliage where they would almost immediately commence with a spawning act. By the time i get home from work i can see all females much thinner than in the morning [before feeding]. This is repeating almost everyday. I can sit and watch these little fish for hours. They have their personality and charm. They are very little fish, but if treated well and if there is no real threat to their safety they relax and surprise their owner with their interesting behaviour.
The biggest mistake a beginner can make is to try keep these fish together with some bigger, stronger fish. They are happiest if they can run their own show without being chased by bigger fish [even dwarf chiclids]. Good luck and enjoy these breath taking little creatures. 2005-01-02 |
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