This is "Lucky." He's about 4 years old. Why did I name him "Lucky" you ask? -- because he's Lucky to be alive. He's like a cat with nine lives...he survived several incidents which should have killed him.
* 2 years ago he survived a severe bout of ick in which I lost 6 of his tank mates. He lived through it.
* 1 year ago, the 35 gallon tall hex tank where he was living began leaking very fast. I moved all the fish--several skirt tetras, 2 neon tetras, and a BN Pleco to my 29 gallon Tiger Barb tank. The Tiger Barbs immediately began attacking the 2 neon tetras. I knew I had to act fast to save Lucky and the other neon tetra.
* I quickly moved the 2 neon tetras to a 9 gallon tote -- I installed a heater and a sponge filter that was cycled from the 35 gallon tank. All was good until, overnight, the heater failed and the tank temp dropped to 58 degrees. In the morning, I moved the 2 neons to a spare 5 gallon tank and added a new heater and the cycled sponge filter. Lucky survived. The other neon tetra died in less than a day.
* Then a couple of months ago in mid winter, the outdoor temps were at 0 degrees F with very high winds. The whole power for the house was knocked out. The temp in the house quickly dropped and by morning it was in the mid 40s. Tank temp had dropped to 52 degrees. Lucky was laying on the bottom of the tank, breathing heavily...he looked like a goner. I did a water change as the house hot water tank held it's heat pretty well and brought the tank temperature up to 64 degrees. Several hours later the power to the house returned. I gradually raised the tank temperature to 75 degrees F. Lucky was very weak but slowly started swimming again. It took several days of nursing him back to health but again--Lucky survived.
Why don't I get Lucky a few friends, you might wonder? I haven’t added any more Tetras as I've never had luck keeping neons in my moderately hard tap water. They would die off in less than a year. But Lucky is amazing....he not only survives the hard water, he thrives in it. He does have two roommates....two Amano shrimp - both are visible in my entry photo.
So there you have the story...Lucky is one lucky Neon Tetra. He's a fighter and has the will to live. He is very active now and has a great appetite. Being the sole fish in the tank, he is very spoiled and lets me know when he is hungry by coming out from behind the anubias and swimming side to side begging for food.
I never thought I could get so attached to a neon tetra...but Lucky's near death experiences have amazed me....I hope he lives for several more years.
