bummed-last neon dies

[fisher_guzzi]

Well, my final Neon Tetra died. He lasted actually quite a number of months. I felt guilty that he was alone (except for some dwarf african frogs and a pleco). He didn't seem unhappy, but how would I really know. I kept thinking I should get him some school mates but didn't want to put them through it. I lost around 6 others before. So, am bummed but enjoyed his company this past winter. Here's to you buddy. Will miss you.
Pretty sure it was NTD. It happened within the past 2 days. He didn't have any spots. His behavior changed where he kept pressing up against the glass and wiggling. He didn't seem to have any fear. His spine wasn't straight, slightly bent.

Do Neon's have a short life span? What is the average life span? What is considered old?

Thanks.

 

[morgan]

I read in a fishkeeping magazine that Neon Tetras don't usually breed in captivity but it doesn't matter because they can live for 10 years.I had 6 and they all died, they are not very hardy and are sensitive to water conditions. I also have mollies, platies and guppies and they all survived when the water was not very good.Anyway, sorry yours all died too.

 

[Angry_Platy]

I lost fosh to neon tetra disease. I am very bitter towards neon tetras now, they are evil fish IMHO.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

From what i've heard, neons live for about 2yrs. And they are not evil fish.

It is quite commanly known that neons aern't hardy fish at all and are sensitive to deseases and water quality conditions and don't last long in shoals smaller than 8; in the wild they gather in shoals of hundreds which they use to depend on their survival so for a small group of neons, to them it is very stressful being in small shoals.
Its not in my profile, but i do have a 23 neon shoal and i have had them for 7/8 months now with no casualtys- they do make my main tank overstocked but water stats are always fine and they don't produce alot of waste or bother the other fish.

With keeping neons, yes they do prefer tanks that have been mature for 6months+ but this isn't that nesarsary as long as you can maintain good consistant water stats.

If you want to keep neons still i can give you some tips for keeping them alive;
a. The bigger the shoal the better; from my experience i have noticed neons do much better in bigger shoals and although they get along fine with most livebearers i have noticed very active fish like danios tend to stress them out with their high levels of activity; they don't like big fish in the tank although plecs are fine.
b. A mature tank is good but as long as you can maintain constant good water stats with no big fluctuations of things like ammonia they will be fine.
c. Neons like big open spaces to shoal in but they also like planted areas of the tank where they can go off on their own- if your neon shoal feels safe you will notice they won't shoal altogether so often and will go off in little groups around the tank.
d. Never use salt, it just doesn't work well with them.
e. When you buy your neons, buy 7 or so to start off with then add their numbers gradually over the coming weeks, it is also good to aclimatise them as much as posible when adding them to a new tank.
f. With feeding, i feed my neons powdered fry foods like TetraMinfry and hikari "first bites" to help ensure they get a nutritios diet and enough food and to help ensure they don't have to compete too much with the bigger fish for food.
Another sign that you have a happy/secure neon shoal is that they will start coming up to the surface away from the main shoal to eat with the big fish at feeding time.

Your neon probably died from stress from being on its own, they simply don't survive on their own.

 

[WILDER]

Neon tetra's can live up to 6 years, and need a mature tank, if they lost the red in there stripe it was NTD, you will need to strip the tank down and start again.
http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/neondisease.htm

 

[fisher_guzzi]

Thanks for all the comments. Unfortunately for them, I had chosen the neons as my first fish. The solo neon did come to the top when I entered the room and swam around a lot for now what I figure was almost 1.5 years. So, he didn't do too bad inspite of me. But now I see all the things I had done wrong. I believe for their sake I will not buy anymore neons. I have a larger tank with lots of live plants and hiding places which is about 1 year old now. I kept putting off moving my fish to that tank because I was so afraid of disturbing the neon. I should have moved him. Well now I will move the plecto and frogs and let it go through a cycle and can strip down the old tank. AFter that and reading more of this excellent website will determine the next fish to get.

 

[fisher_guzzi]

Neon tetra's can live up to 6 years, and need a mature tank, if they lost the red in there stripe it was NTD, you will need to strip the tank down and start again.
http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/neondisease.htm

Wilder.
Is there information on the proper way to strip down a tank?
Do I just empty the tank and rinse the gravel? I don't like using chemicals, but is that necessary in this case?
Thanks for the noting the website about NTD.

 

[WILDER]

Empty the tank, throw away the gravel and filter sponges, scrub with abit of bleach but you have to rinse it really well, and let it dry out for a couple of hours, bleach all ornaments and plants and rinse really well, filter i put mine in quite hot water and alot of salt in a bucket and then turn them on for ages to let the salt steralise them, then tip bucket of water away, refil with hot water then put filter in bucket again and let it rinse the salt away, let filter sit on side for a couple of hours, clean everything that was in the tank, then set back up i left mine set up for a couple of days with no fish in, and added some salt to be on the safe side, did a water change to remove the salt, then got some mature filter sponges out of my fancy goldfish tank to start up again, it instantly cycled it and took some mature gravel from there tank as well.