[maggot]

Hey does anyone know how neon tetras like their water? My wife bought 15 last Saturday and three painted glassfish. Now there are nine tetras with all the glassfish surviving. What water temp, ph ect. should we maintain? I am going to test the water this afternoon for ph, ammonia, and nitrites. I have been maintaining the tank as I do my p's tank and m p's happy and healthy. Any info appreciated.

 

[RhomZilla]

If im correct, PH for community fish are 6.0, 6.5 for tetras, 7.0 for Ps and 7.5 for cichlids. I have the forms and graph somewhere. But as soon as I find it, Ill be sure to post it ASAP!!

 

[Innes]

neons should be fine with almost any pH, but I would suggest about 6.8
they are most likely being eaten or they might have white spot as it is very commen on neons in fish shops.
look out for any symptoms of illness.
Test your water conditions, and a water change won't hurt either.
Ironically I bought 10 on friday and put them with my piranhas and large severum, and I still have all 10!

Also painted glassfish are not good, many of them die while being "painted" - shame on you for supporting this technique and buying the fish

 

[Judazzz]

Also painted glassfish are not good, many of them die while being "painted" - shame on you for supporting this technique and buying the fish

I don't think everyone is aware of that: I learned it after I kept my piranha's and friends for quite some time already, but since painted fish usually look pretty unnatural, at least in my opinion, I avoid them anyways...

About your neons: did you acclimitize them properly? Introducing them in their new home too fast has killed many, many fish so far, since the differences in tank water and transport water can be quite substantial!
Other than that, I think Innes has brought up some valid points.....

 

[maggot]

Hey guys, thanks for the great info. If I had been aware that the glassfish was not "painted" naturally, I never would have let the wife get them.

My apologies Innes. I thought it was similar to the bright coloration of the tetras I have seen. How do they actually "paint" them? Are there any other types of fish that are "modified" so? As to acclimating them, I put about a cup of the established water in the bag that we brought them home in. I then let it float on top of the water for about six hours. Does this qualify as being properly acclimatized? I'll post the water parameters after I test them.

 

[Judazzz]

As to acclimating them, I put about a cup of the established water in the bag that we brought them home in. I then let it float on top of the water for about six hours. Does this qualify as being properly acclimatized?

Sounds like over-acclimatizing them......

J/k: the idea of acclimatizing them that long was fine, but I think you forgot something: a sealed plastic bag only has a limited amount of oxygen in it (especially when the lfs employee blows in it first to balloon it: when he does, he is adding carbon dioxide to the bag, instead of oxygen!), and after a while fish may get not enough air, and get weaker. Maybe that was the cause for some of your tetra's to die. And maybe they were already weakened or ailing, and this became fatal to them...

As far as painting fish: I'm not sure, but I think people inject die with a syringe (sp?), just under the skin.....

 

[pcrose]

The neons are cool and yeah tetras are very temperamental about their PH it should be pretty low I would say 6.0

 

[Innes]

as far as I am aware, to colour galssfish, they scrape off some scales and place the fish in some dye for a little while - as you can imagine this causes many of them to die

 

[maggot]

I tested the water last night. The PH=7.0, ammonia = .015 ppm, nitrites=.25 ppm. I think this is a little high for the nitrites so I am doing a partial water change tonight. Also, I read that having low oxygen content in the water can cause the nitrites to be high. Anyone know if this is true? I am using the same set up as my p's and none of the fish seem to be laboring for oxygen.

 

[Innes]

you would know if it was oxygen as the fish would be gasping at the top, or floating around like "stoned fish" or just plain dead.

what lives with them other than those poor, poor glassfish? - most likely they are being eaten.

or perhaps they were new in the shop and they are too stressed from moving loads.

are there any signs of desiese?

Oh, and shouldn't this be in the desiese and paracites forum?

 

[maggot]

The glass fish are the tetras only tank mates. There was a catfish in the tank that ate two of the tetras. He in turn was eaten by my rbp. I am hoping you are right, Innes, and they were just too stressed from all the moving. My wife bought a few more tetras today so I will keep an eye on them. There is no sign of any disease as far as I can tell. Since these were not p's I did not post it in the forums for p's. I was just surprised at the number that died, that's all. Not counting the two the catfish ate, six died in two days span. I was mainly concerned that I did not have the water right for tetras. And Innes, I explained about the glassfish to my wife and she expressed her sorrow at having bought them, even if it was in ignorance of their mistreatment. No fear in us making the same mistake again.

 

[Innes]

dont blame the poor glassfish's misfortune on yourself, but on the dispicable people who continue to do that to them - but since you have them you should make the best of them

I would suggest you do a water change as you have had fish die in your tank recently (always a good step) and I also suggest you keep a close eye on them.

also a good tip when buying fish is to ask when they came into the shop, and if they are new don't buy, as they will be stressed from shipping, and also they could have any kinds of desiese - the way I look at it is the same as if there were a few obviously ill or dead fish in the tank with them.