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Hopefully those of you with Neon Tetra schools can help me out. These fish are frustrating me to no end.

I want to build up a school of about 12 for my 25 G tank. However, these darn little guys are dropping like flies.

Over the past 2 months I have bought 11 Neons from my local PetSmart (Its all I've got.) So far out of the 11 Only 1 has taken and made it in the Main tank. I have two in Quarantine, but one has pop eye now and will probably be dead by the time I get home. The other one didn't eat this morning so it will probably be dead soon. So that's 1 out of 11 so far.

What am I doing wrong?
Do these fish just suck that bad?
Does my PetSmart suck?
Do I suck?

If any one has any good tips to keep these suckers alive, PLEASE HELP ME!!

Ahem. Anyway here is my setup for those that are interested.

I have a 25G Tank with 1 neon Tetra (Technically Cycled but with 1 tetra I doubt there are very good bacteria colonies)
I have a 2G tank that has been cycled for a couple of years that I am using to quarantine the tetras two at a time.
Both Tanks have a pH of 7.2. My ammonia and nitrite concentrations are 0, and my Nitrates are under 5ppm as I do a weekly water change. The temp is 77.5F give or take a few tenths.

Thanks
-Rick


Rick
See all my pictures at Google Web Albums

For starters... Can we get some more parameters on the tank in question. How long has it been running? What are the numbers on pH and such?
What other fish are you plannin gon adding to the tank?

Neons are quite cool fish if you get healthy ones to start with, which could be part of your problem. Also it helps if your tank is well established before you put them in the tank because they tend to be finicky in new tanks.
Please give us some more information about what is going on so we can give you a better answer.


Christina

The QTank has been running for 3 years (It used to have a fish but it died recently of old age so I was using to Quarantine the tetras since it was cycled)

The 25G Main tank has been set up since Aug, It had some swordtails to cycle but they died. It now has the one Neon that has been there since December, but that is it. My water parameters are above in the original post.

My plan is as follows.

1. Get the 25G to a small school of 6 tetras. (Adding two to three at a time)
2. Wait a couple weeks.
3. Get 6 small cories established (Pandas, Hasbrosus, Elgans, it kind of depends on what I can get)
4. Wait a couple more weeks
5. Added 6 to 8 more tetras, again adding two to three at a time.

The final stocking would be 12-14 Neons and 6 Cories.

After the fish are in the tank I would then try and replace the plastic plants with real low light plants like Java Ferns and Mosses

Am I going about this the wrong way?

Thanks
-Rick


Rick
See all my pictures at Google Web Albums

With neons they have to be a temp of 22-27 but i have found that at 25-26 they do best. I feed mine AQUARIAN Tropical Flake Food twice a day and they love it. But live or frozen food does help. In general they are very hardy. I think it might be your pet smart try going some where eles and see what happens. If nothing happens i dont know whats wrong

Sometimes it's not what you're doing wrong, but the condition the fish are in when you purchase them.

Sometimes it's not what you're doing wrong, but the condition the fish are in when you purchase them.

That is so true. I have not had any problems with my neons. Mine lived in my 10g (8 of them) for a week with ammonia at 3ppm...tough little guys. They are now in my 29g and very happy.

Try getting them from a different store, if you can. If they die then, it may be something in your water. If not, then you know the store had a bad batch...or keeps having...

If you are using a test kit, try taking some water to a LFS and have them check it against your findings...just to make sure your kit is right. That way you could definitely rule out anything you are doing.

Make sure they have good cover...preferably live plants. Mine used to hide alot, but now come out more in the 29g. If you already have cover, then just try a different store and see if they make it. Good luck! /:'

*Kristin*

Funny, I recently had a very similar problem and was going to ask about this too... I had bought 6 neons from my local pet store and within the first week or so 5 of them dropped (they would be perfectly fine one minute, then I'd turn around and see one or two laying on the substrate). I asked about it at my LFS and they said neons are known to be finicky; that I didn't do anything wrong, they just decide they don't like the tank and POOF. :-(

Within the last 8 months to a year it seems that problems with Neons (I had/have them) and their cousins the Cardinals (tetratech has them) are increasing.

I heard that one possible reason is the huge number of fish that are bread with the same stock and this would make the fish weaker and that would be why they cannot handle the transport that well and will die based on illnesses that they normaly should be able to fend off. But I have no proof of this.

One thing that seems to help, and it has been mentioned in this thread already, is to try to find a LFS that gets its stock from a different wholesaler. This increases the chances that the fish come from a different farm.

Hope this helps and that my thoughts are accurate,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks for the replies! It was just so frustrating yesterday. Fortunately both fish made it yesterday, and the one with pop eye seems to be doing better. They both started eating again. Although the one that had pop eye is still listing to the left at a 45 degree angle. It doesn't seem to bother him though so hopefully it will clear up. Tomorrow night will make a week since I got them so hopefully they will be out of the danger zone.

I also found a fish store that is reasonably close to me. Before all I had, other than PetSmart, was a really nice fish store that was over an hour away. I couldn't get down there much especially for a fish like neons. This new store is like 15 mins from me. I just have to go back when it isn't so busy and chat with the owners.

Thanks for the help.


Rick
See all my pictures at Google Web Albums

umm this is going to sound odd but what state are you in and when did you buy the neons, do you know what day of the week they came in? and what day you bought them? if you know i can probally help you.

petStoregirl80