Neon Fish, otherwise known as neon tetras, are among the most popular of all tropical fish. They are a hardy fish but over-breeding has weakened them to the point that you should buy more than you need because you are going to lose many of them before they adjust to your tank. In the wild, neon tetras originated in the tropical waters of South America.
Neon tetras are schooling fish and need to live together in multiple numbers. They are small and take up little room, plus their bright blue, red and silver colors brighten up any aquarium, especially at feeding time. The perfect number of neon fish to keep would be a group of around fifteen. They are very peaceful fish that get along among themselves and with all the other fish.
Don’t put neon fish in with any sort of aggressive fish, or they will be quickly eaten. If they are kept with compatible fish and given proper care, neons can live a long time, even as much as ten years. They need to have a water pH of between 5.5 and 7.8 and the perfect temperature for them is between 60 and 75 degrees.
Neon tetras like to live in tanks that have lots of vegetation to hide behind, be it real or plastic. They also like to dart under driftwood and logs, and to chase one another around rocks and other aquarium structures. Putting in a substrate that is dark in coloring will help show off their bright colors as will lighting that is not overly bright.
Most people have some trouble breeding neon fish in their tank environments. This is usually because the water conditions are not just right. The water temperature cannot be above 75 degrees. You should separate the breeders from the other fish. The eggs of neons are sensitive to light so they need to have their breeding tank placed in a darkish spot before spawning takes place. They need to have two to three inch layers of rock and some finely textured plants as a spawning medium.
Two or three days before breeding, give the neons live food to eat. Leave them in the spawning tank for a day. If they produce eggs, these will be released in the early morning. They more or less spray the eggs onto the plants. You can barely see the eggs as they are transparent. As soon as you do identify eggs, remove the breeders from the tank. It only takes 22-30 hours for the eggs to hatch. In three or four days the baby neons will be free swimming. They should be fed infusoria as soon as they can swim.
If you have good luck with your neon fish breeding, you should end up with 40-50 young ones.
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