Neon Tetra Care

Neon tetra, a kind of freshwater fish belonging to the family Characidae, formerly known as Characinidae, is mostly found in clear water or black water streams of western Brazil, eastern Peru and southeastern Colombia. The neon tetra fish is one variety which is easy to maintain. Neon tetras are excellent community fish and they prefer living in large groups of six or more. They are a peaceful lot, and in very rare cases they behave aggressive. Neon tetra lifespan is usually 5 to 6 years, but they may live for about 10 years if you take proper care.

Black Neon Tetra Care
The black neon tetra, belonging to the family of Characidae has its origin in Brazil and can grow up to four cm in length, an ideal length for small aquariums. They are peaceful by nature and the usual lifespan is around five years. They sport a silvery-white stripe with contrasting black stripe underneath. Due to its peaceful nature, they can be an excellent addition to your aquarium with other varieties of fish.

Similar to other neon tetras, these fish favor soft acidic water. However, they can also adapt and tolerate hard neutral water. The ideal surrounding conditions for black neon tetras include dark substrate, open swimming space, live plants, subdued lighting and water current in the upper surface of the water in the aquarium where the fish would prefer swimming. Since, they love to live in groups, make sure that you keep at least six fish together. As far as the diet goes, these fish are undemanding and eats any fish food offered. However, for a good health a varied diet of brine shrimp, small live worms, freeze-dried foods and flake are necessary.

If you observe the body type, the sexes are easy to find out. Males are slim compared to the females which are stocky and full bodied. While breeding, it is recommended that you provide a separate fish tank with dark substrate, water plants, dim light along with soft acidic water. In case the room is too bright, you can dim the light by placing a cardboard on the sides. While selecting breeding pairs ensure that they are healthy and are at least one year old. Even though the fish younger than a year may lay eggs but the best outcomes are attained by mature fish. Usually, the female fish lays eggs early in the morning and the sticky eggs are spread out on the substrate or on the surface of the plants.

Neon Tetra Disease
As the name suggests, neon tetra disease is an incurable infection which effects neon tetra fish. It is Pleistophora hyphessobryconis, a sporozoan which causes this infection. The major symptoms of this disease are restlessness and dull coloration in the fish. Feeding your fish with live food and introducing new fish are the main reasons for the fish getting infected. As the infection starts spreading, cysts form thereby, forming bumps in the body of the fish. Whenever bumps are formed, neon tetras would it difficult to swim.

As there is no available cure for this disease, it becomes necessary to prevent your fish from getting infected. Preventive measures like cultivating live food and refraining from feeding live food should be applied so as to keep your pets healthy.

Neon Tetra Breeding
In the wild, neon tetras can proliferate in large numbers, but when kept in captivity, it can be difficult for the fish to spawn, as it becomes difficult to achieve natural water conditions. If the conditions are ideal, neon tetras can breed after every two weeks. When a female neon tetra is ready to spawn, her body would bulge as it's filled with eggs.

For breeding neon tetras, ideally they should be kept in a separate aquarium. Sterilize the items of the aquarium, lest they increase the chances of illness in fry or eggs. Some aquatic plants and rocks of about two to three inches should be provided at the bottom so that it looks similar to the natural habitat of neon tetra. Temperature of the surrounding should ideally be not more than 24 C. Unhealthy or old fish should not be breed and only adult healthy fish should be kept for breeding to obtain fry of the highest order. A good quantity of live food like mosquito larvae should be feed so as to induce spawning.

Thus, neon tetras are easy to care for, but make sure that you provide the ideal surroundings so that they live as long as possible. Hope, this information on neon tetra care would help you in providing the ideal conditions for your new friends.