discus and neon tetras

[rytis]

ive seen in many tanks they keep discus and a school (usualy large school) of neon tetras... i figured theyre compatable and are beneficial since they eat up small crumbs which large discus can not pick up.... i bought 7 neons about a month ago, but each day 1 died till a week later i had none. i saw one discus (black one at the time) aggressivelychasing neons.... so i was wondering, any thoughts?

or are neons meant to be like a snack and are thrown in by those who either breed them themselves or are rich enough to keep buying them as occasional snacks?

[axelfaz]

rytis

i dont think people intentionally feed discus neons
i think people buy them because they are compatable with discus and dont relize that if it fits in the mouth its going to get eaten.
thats my 2 cents anyway

cameron

[sammigold]

Rytis, I think you may find that those people will usually have Cardinal tetras which look alot like a neon but grow a little bigger and their red stripe is more pronounced and longer. They are also more compatible with the higher water temps that discus prefer. You will usually find that they are also more expensive than a neon tetra. if you go to this sitehttp://www.whozoo.org/Intro99/farashidian/nuztetra.htm
it has photos of the cardinal and explains the difference between the neon. HTH

btw I have Cardinal tetras in my tank and they are fine with my 4 discus but they are not adults yet so I dont know what will happen then. It is a good idea to quarantine any fish for at least 2 weeks before putting them in with your discus as you risk transporting bacterial problems and diseases.

[Benny]

Amen to axelfaz on that...

Discus will eat them, if they fit in their mouthes.. Try some larger cardinal tetras if u like the blue red looking fish...

[sammigold]

Sammi Pats self on back as she finally learnt how to place links on posts ^
:lol: :lol: :book

[rytis]

thanx sammi, that was real helpful!

[electric molecular]

Hey Rytis,

I have a school of about 22 neon tetras, cardinals and rummy noses. They all happily school together, which might seem a bit weird considering all of these fish are meant to have their own schooling patterns. :D

Neons are good because of their price. My lfs offers like 12 for $13, whereas cardinals are $7 each. People usually say that neons are the poor man's cardinal for this reason! I think they still make a striking display in a discus tank.

Anyway, the upshot of it is that I haven't had any cases of neon mortality due to my discus eating them.

Maybe other people have found that discus eat the neons, but I personally haven't had any probs. The discus don't even look sideways at them. Maybe this was because my discus have grown up with the tetras, and are well fed... :?:

[Merrilyn]

This is a discussion we find comes up from time to time.

I think the secret is, that the cardinals or neons are introduced into the tank when the discus are small. They learn to grow up with them, rather than see them as a food item.

Putting small tetras in with full grown, or almost full grown discus, is just like offering them a snack. In fact, I found my discus worked in pairs to corner a group of cardinals, and took turns picking them off !

If you already have large discus, you might like to try some of the larger tetras, like congo tetras or something of similar size.

[electric molecular]

Ladyred,

Sounds like you have some crafty discus there lol!

I just hope my discus don't start getting ideas about the neons=food!!

Claire.

[nicholas76]

cardinals are chocolates of the amazon.

rytis they usually become snacks at night when the cardinals have slowed down for sleep.

[skoom]

Not about discus specifically but my goldfish at ten neons overnight once.....must be really yummy.

[rytis]

ok neons dont go with discus.

what about keeping discus and RASBORAS?anyone? they're a little bigger i think?

[Merrilyn]

Size-wise, they'd be fine, but most of the rasboras are sleek fast fish, and may stress your discus out.

Any of the deeper body tetras would be safe with adult discus. There are dozens to choose from. Just check out your local fish store.

[rytis]

most of the rasboras are sleek fast fish, and may stress your discus out.
e-eh, god thing you said that - i wont put anything in my tank that can stress out my discus... i already am trying to get rid of that pleco that may cause some problems

[sammigold]

Try some black widow tetras. They are nice and go well with our discus. they school together and ours have grown nice and fat.

[rytis]

my whole original idea was to have a school of SMALL fishes with discus for two reasons:
1. being small, they would pick up small leftovers, particles of food discus can not see that float around...
2. CONTRAST to big discus.... black widows seem to be too big for contrast AND to pick up real small pieces of food....

i think what i may end up doing is breeding neons as a snack/temporary thing for my tank... this way i can just keep adding...

HAS ANYONE BRED NEON TETRAS AND IS IT DIFFICULT?

[wifey of axelfaz]

Not about discus specifically but my goldfish at ten neons overnight once.....must be really yummy.

Wow I have never heard of golfish and neons in the same tank...

[Ben]

lol .....wifey of axelfaz,

i wont tell you about the time i saw gold fish and discus happy together!

[Ben]

HAS ANYONE BRED NEON TETRAS AND IS IT DIFFICULT?

I have not bred them.....

As far as i am aware a lot of neon’s are Asian bred, maybe kevkoi can fill us in here!

Whilst a lot of the cardinal tetras if not all are Brazilian imports.

A breeding tank would need to be set up correctly to breed neon’s as i suspect they would be notorious egg eaters!


Cheers,
Ben

[Merrilyn]

Breeding neons is not terribly difficult. They are egg scatterers, so a layer of marbles on the bottom of a bare breeding tank prevents them from getting to the eggs. You need very soft, and acid water.

Getting them to spawn is not the hard part, the difficulty lies in raising the very tiny fry. But, it can be done, and has been done.

Give it a try.

[sammigold]

My grandad used to breed neon tetras. I remember when I was a kid going out into his garage and seeing all his little tanks set up with various size babies he also had a little tank in the kitchen which always seemed to have microscopic little neons in it.. I remember him sitting with us trying to point them out.... Unfortunately he passed away a long time ago and I never actually learn't his tricks. I was only a young teenager... but I know he didn't have any high tech gear or anything like that, he must have just provided the right conditions...

rytis, black widows do grow, but i would still categorize them as a small fish in comparison to the size that a discus will reach. Have you thought about rummy nose tetras. they are not that different in size to the cardinals but they make for a nice spectacle. They are bigger than the neons at full size.

[rytis]

nah, i think i will do what your grandad did and raise tetras. i like contrast, look of group of small fishes, seen it many times in photos together w discus, meaning it must work.... i knowdanios are extremely easy to breed, i have, so how difficult can neons be, i wil jsut have that green water, separate parents feed wel, put back toghehter, take them out, add green water and watch the babies grow, once they're likea month i will put them in w discus semi food/semi show...