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i was wondering if neons were delicate because i want some but people tell me theyre extremely delicate

Nah. They're usually fairly easy to care for, as long as you perform water changes at least bi-weekly. Neons have been churned out of fish farms for so long, that they're getting really used to the rigors of captivity. People might tell you that neon and cardinal tetras are delicate, but they tend to be the same people that killed their neons or cardinals through poor tank maintenance. That or it was just bad luck, because stores every once in a while get in shipments of these fish that are just bad; they die much more readily than usual.

Last edited by sirbooks at 11-May-2005 04:58

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Put them in a nice clean aquarium and condition them up with live foods upon arrival, and they soon settle in and become quite hardy.

Trouble is, after being shipped 7,000 miles from Singapore, and suffering who knows what rigours along the way, then being transferred to wholesale tanks, then again to retail tanks, their osmoregulatory systems have taken quite a battering. Switch them again to a poorly maintained aquarium, and it's a case of the last straw that broke the camel's back: they've nothing in reserve to cope with yet another transfer. Of course, this goes for many fishes, but remember, one of the factors with Neons is small body size. A shock that would be uncomfortable but tolerable to a larger fish can quickly overwhelm a Neon simply because its body volume is smaller, and a change in surroundings will have a correspondingly larger effect upon the fish. Remember that there is a pretty intimate connection between the fish and its surroundings: water migrates osmotically into a freshwater fish's tissues from the surroundings because its internal salt concentrations are higher than the surrounding water, which it deals with (among other mechanisms) by excreting large quantities of dilute urine. The osmotic load on a small fish is governed by two factors: the surface area of the fish influences how much water enters the fish, and the volume has an impact on how quickly it removes the excess. For a small fish, the surface area to volume ratio is higher, one reason why fry tend to me more delicate than adult fishes - they are more susceptible to environmental changes and have a slower response time.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

i think a great number of people on this site would have started their tropical days (daze?) by keeping neons. they are quite an easy fish to keep. like all fish, they like to have good water, just like humans like to have good air.

Good water quality & healthy food will keep your Neons happy & healthy.


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I must agree, you can always get a bad batch of anything...but for the most part neons are getting much better than they were years ago when i first started I also think those that are wild caught are a bit sturdier than those that have been inbred and inbred over and over again...my 22 are doing great in the 125, and what an awesome school they form heidi michelle



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I have gold neons and 1 cardinal in my 25g, and they're very hardy, especially the cardinal. I find them one of the easiest fish to keep.

I havent found neons to be delicate. The ones I buy here are bred here. Apparently the LFS guy tells me they breed pretty easily. He gets 200 a month from this local breeder.
I bought 12 of these guys just about 2 weeks ago, acclimated them for 20 minutes, tossed em in the tank, fed em about 1 hour later. They colored up right away, and I havent lost one.
Great fish. Eat anything, school together in the morning hours when the sun is up, rest of the time they sort of break into mini schools or become loners.
I have 15 in total.


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