The Neon Tetra is basically made up of 3 different colors. As the name implies, the fish is characterized by its neon blue horizontal strip on its upper body, an iridescent red stripe starting from the mid-body until the end tail and its silver colored abdomen. The fish is native to the Amazon River located in Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Similar like its cousin in the wild, the neon tetra is generally a hardy fish and will propagate well in waters with temperature within 24-27 degree Celsius and pH in the region between 6.0-7.5.Neon tetras are shoaling fish and generally prefer heavily planted aquarium with driftwood, which provides hiding place for its propagation. Because of their size, they should only be mixed with other smaller fish such as rummy-nose tetra or zebra danio and usually they are the most preferred community aquarium tank mates. Never under any circumstances should they be mixed with Goldfish, which creates a lot of waste and fouls the water easily or Koi, which is notorious for eating smaller fish. Pleco should also be avoided at all cost.
Aquarium maintenance for neon tetra is not that difficult because only small amount of waste is generated and provided that the tank is not overstocked. If you have a good filtration system which is able to treat large volumes of water and coupled together with heavily planted setup, that should create a stable natural environment that can sustain itself without much intervention. Just be sure to periodically check on the water quality, in case there are unforeseen fluctuations in water parameters.
Similar topics:
» Types of Aquarium Fish
» Other Community Fish Species
