Lemon Tetras or Neon Tetras?

[paulioo]

Hi,

I've just bought my first aquarium. Its 12 Gallons and im wondering what fish to put into it.

Should i have....

6 Neon Tetras only or

6 Lemon Tetras only or

3 lemon Tetras and 4 neon tetras or

2 lemon Tetras and 5 neon tetras.

I want my aquarium to be active and nice to look at.
I also want my fish to be as happy as can be. Thats why im not sure if i should just have a large shoal of the one type of tetra or a mix of tetra but smaller shoals.

Advice please.
p.s Im a student and dont have money to buy a bigger aquarium.

Thanks Paul.

 

[tstenback]

First to the forum.

Next ensure that before you add your fish that you cycle your tank. If you are not sure what that means then read this article. There are other as well at the top of this forum.
For your question...always keep tetras and other schooling fish in larger groups. So pick one type and go with 6. HTH

 

[Fish Buddy]

I'd go with the large shoal of neon tetras as the bigger the shoal the better and neon tetras have two colours instead of a one light colour and a red eye. Ultimatly it is your decision so go with the fish that you think is most beautiful and get a large shoal of it.

 

[paulioo]

Thanks for the quick reply....

Ive just been reading up on the non fish nitrogen cycle thing. It'll probably take me weeks before i can buy fish. I Dont want to kill any of the wee fellas.

I'll probably go for the one shoal of Neon Tetras. I had been reading about the lemon tetras and how the males do a dance or something, which i thought would be quite good to watch. Nut sure if the dance was for mating purposes or territory.

Do Neon Tetras do anything thats good to watch? Ive searched the internet and bought a book but it doesnt say anything about the neon tetras characteristics.

Paul

 

[luxum]

I'd vote for all neons personally, and you could have more than 6 of them in a 12 gallon if there weren't other fish in there, they have very little biomass. They look really nice in species tanks, you could do 12 of them in a 12 gallon tank and not have an overstocking problem with normal filtration.

 

[millym]

hi
we have 6neons + 6 cardinal tetras & theyre both beautiful fish. as for 'doing things' well they have little dominance fights with eachother every now & again - 2 will sort of 'flick' back & forth at eachother very fast, dont seem to do any damage to eachother which is good!!!
just be aware if your neons/lemon tetras feel safe in their new little home they probably wont school together all the time, ours dont unless im fiddling around tank cleaning or stuff. when they feel happy & safe they tend to potter off by themselves a lot of the time, but theyre still stunning little fish to have in a tank.

 

[paulioo]

Id prefer my neon tetras to school around together.
If i had 6 neon tetras and say 3 lemon tetras would this be a good setup?
Would the lemon tetras cause the neons to school?

Paul

 

[tstenback]

only if the neons felt threatened by the lemons. which isnt too likely. Schooling is a defensive mechanism and as mentioned by millym most fish wont tightly school unless there is danger about. HTH

 

[paulioo]

Ahh ok. I think i'll just go with all Neons.

One last question... Once i've done the fishless nitrogen cycle thing, could i add say 10 neons into the tank at once? or would i still only be able to add about 3 tetras every other week.

Thats my last question.... promise

Paul.

 

[luxum]

If you cycle the tank hard (i.e. use the recipe that calls for dosing the tank to 5ppm, not just a few drops) and do it correctly, then you can add the entire fishload at once. If you were to just add a few fish all the extra bacteria would die off and you'd have to go through the slow laborious process of adding fish slowly over time. I've done this personally, fishless cycled hard, added a full load of fish and never saw a minicycle or anything.