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Is their any type of tetra out there who are not shy, as I keep black neons, and neon tetra's, and find them to be extremely shy little fish.

I have some lemon tetras that dont show any fear at all......

how many tetras do you have? what else do you have in your tank with them?

I had some neons in with zebra danios and the danios bullied the neons. So i put the tetras (well the couple left) in my fry tank and there not so shy any more.

Well the neon tetra's are on their own I only have six left out of 20, NTD, 12 black neons, with platy's and guppys.

Try blood fins. get about 6 and they will be to interested in thier "social" lives to care about people walking by.

Even piranhas are 'skitttish'. Something about the characin family. Buck-tooth tetras are reasonably gregarious though.... but evil!

weird, isn't it - mine aren't shy at all - i've got my face pressed up to the glass most of the time watching my apistogrammas, and if i stay in one place more than a minute, all my tetras come down to see what i'm doing. we're talkin a dozen each of rummies, cardinals and diamonds, all dipping down to see me - the apistos don't like it! the only fish which are 'shy' in my tank are the hatchets - and i think of it more as 'aloof'.

While I do note that Glowlights and Red Phantoms seem to be somewhat shyer than other tetras, I can't say that I've noticed any serious shyness on the part of any of the swarm of tetras, rasboras or barbs -- indeed, I have to watch the little devils while I'm vacuuming the tank because they casually swim right up to the inlet of the tank vacuum. I would imagine that if they're shy now, they're simply still getting used to you.

black phantoms are prretty outgoing. They are always out and about in my tank. the only time they seem timid is if I move my hand quickly toward the tank, then they scuttle off.

I think a lot has to do with the individual fish, size of the school, and tankmates. When I had lemons and cardinals I found them to be quite shy; my black phatoms aren't shy at all.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Hmm, well, I have a school of six black neons and while they are a bit timid when I first come up to the tank, they soon come out and lose their shyness. Sudden movements startle them, but if I move slowly, they're quite unafraid. I've had to PUSH them out of the way when cleaning the tank because they're so interested in what I'm doing.

Perhaps they've learned from their tankmates, which include six betta girls. The girls are insatiably curious and just love attention. I've never tried to pet the neons as I do with my betta girls, but the neons don't come up to nudge my fingers or nibble at me while eating food from my hands. Actually, the neons aren't adverse to eating from my hands, but they do so very cautiously.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Yeah, I just got a school of 8 Cardinals and they are very shy.

When I had my black neons in my QT they were petrified of me. Whenever I went near the tank they would scatter. Sometimes one of two would go into a corner and wildly try to flee the tank.

Once I put them in my 75 gallon tank with my other fish they were fine. I can walk right up to the tank and they just hover like I'm not even there.