Red Eyed Tetras And Neons

[Snick]

i recently put in 8 neons in my 30 gal that already had 6 red eyed tetras. a couple of hours later, i look a the tank and one of the neons is dead!! are they compatible or did the neon die of another cause?

 

[sheree]

I've had 7 neons and 5 red eyes who've lived happily together for 6 months or so. I've added another 10 neons with no problems at all in the past month. They tend to shoal seperately and keep to themselves. If anything the silver tipped tetras chase both of the red eyes and neons and cause more hassle.

 

[fishwatcher]

That neon could have died from it's own problems, not related to any other fish. I think they should do fine together, but just watch them. If you see a lot of nipping going on, you may have to remove one or the other.
Hope it works out for you!

 

[Snick]

well i woke up this morning and found only 4 neons alive... out of the 8! the water stats are pretty good i think, amonia being 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates 20. Ph is of 7.8... my alkalinity is pretty high though, 300 ppm. so, why did half my neons die?

 

[seanc]

were there any obvious signs of damage on the dead fish? a ph of 7.8 is quite high for neons.. not sure as havent checked yet but dont they prefer in the 6.5-7 range? approx.. def the acid side of neutral.

 

[Rafael Dilone]

Is it true that neon tetras have a short life span of about a year. My question is what if you buy a neon that is old and it only gets to live 3 months or so due to old age.

 

[jpedersen024]

My lfs tends to sell teeny, tiny, weak little neons at times... was there a great size difference from the ones you've had for a bit? I never realise how much mine have grown until I head out to shop again.

That said - my pair of red eyes are quite large also (a good 2 inches), and were constantly eating up my neons. They kept 'disappearing' until one day I added the newest ones to the tank, and one little guy got snatched up in front of me before he even got to swim off in his new home. Apparently someone thought he was the newest snack!!!! Bloody hogs.

So beware. Perhaps if there's not a great size difference yet you'll have better luck keeping them together.

 

[nmonks]

Absolutely NOT true. Healthy neons can live 4-5 years in aquaria (though in the wild they die in untold millions during the dry season each year). Neons "appear" to be short-lived in captivity because of various factors:

• Aquarists keep them in hard/alkaline water, which causes harm to their internal organs, particularly kidneys
• Commercially bred neons are plagued with Neon Tetra Disease, which is essentially incurable
• They get harassed, often eaten, by larger fish.

A "large" neon in the shops is probably full grown, so about 6-9 months old. Fish farms have no profit in keeping fish for a day longer than they need to, so as soon as they are big enough to sell at a certain size grade (and price) they will ship them out. So even in the worst case scenario, a big neon should have 3+ years to live in aquaria.

Cheers,

Neale

Is it true that neon tetras have a short life span of about a year. My question is what if you buy a neon that is old and it only gets to live 3 months or so due to old age.