Neon Tetra with other fish?

Question

I just got 4 small neon tetra fish and I was just wondering what other fish I can put in? I got a male beta fish too at the pet store and they said it would be ok.. but beta's are vicious and the people at the pet store didnt seem to know what they were talking about. I have a heater and filter too. Please help :)

my tank has been cycled...for 2 days.. i am wondering what OTHER fish i can put with the tetras..

Answer 1

Your tank couldn't possibly cycled in two days. Four neons are not enough. 6 or better yet 8 is the absolute minimum for these tiny, nervous schooling fish. How big is the tank?

Answer 2

Neon tetras usually do not do well in a cycling tank. The biological cycle starts the day you add fish and ends a month later. During this month good bacterias called benefical bacterias are forming in your gravel and their main purpose in life is breaking down the ammonia produced by the fish. In a new tank there is no bacteria, which causes the tank to go through chemistry spikes in the water, which usually only hardy fish can tolerate. These spikes happen around every 7 days from the day you added the first fish. IF i were you i wouldnt add anything until your tanks finished its cycle unless all neons die, which is quite possible so hold on to your reciept. Tank mates for the neon will very depending on what size tank you have, and you didnt mention it. For small stream lined fish like neons id give about a gallon of water per inch so that is 6 gallons of water used up by what you have right now. So if you have a 10 gallon tank, id say after a mnth buy a small snail if your having algae problems and a small cory catfish and that would be all. You need to find a petstore you can trust to help you with the rest.

Answer 3

Bettas are viscious with their own type *OR* with other labyrinthine fish (Gouramis). Tetras should not be a problem.

Your concern, though, should be with inserting neons into a tank with only two days cycle time. Neons, black neons and cardinals are 3 of the more fragile tetras and should not go into a tank that is too new and has not completed it's necessary cycle time to build up the benefeicial bacteria needed. Serpae Tetras are much hardier and are often recommended for beginner fish in a new tank. I believe, short of intense work and attention to detail, that any neons put into a tank as young as yours are just future compost fodder.

Answer 4

Neons will be fine with one betta. The betta will only fight another male betta.
Anything in the tetra family, gouramis, rams (dwarf chichlids) will all go well in your tank. Be aware though that some of these may get bigger than your tank allows. I am not sure on the capacity of your tank.

Also, I don't think your tank has been cycling long enough. Wait another 5 days or so or you risk losing all of your fish with an ammonia spike. If this happens you will have to start all over again, so it's best to patient in the first place, rather than risk repeating the process and having dead fish on your hands.

Answer 5

I have 4 neon tetras too. I have lots of guppies. The only problems with them is that they breed a lot (almost every month). I inquired about whether I can have that colored ghost fish and the people from the pet store said it would be okay as long as they are from "tetra" family. I was going to get them but my guppy had babies again! =) I recommend getting the platty instead of the guppies unless you want new babies every month. I also have Chinese algae eaters and platties. I have had my fish for a little over a year and they're all happy in my tank (my friend gave me when my guppy had her first babies.) Good luck to you.

Answer 6

Honestly the phrase "cycled for 2 days" means my tank hasn't cylced. Honestly neon tetras are a bad fish to cycle with as they tend to drop like flies when you cycle. See link about cycling.

Bettas are generally only mean and vicious to other betta. In a tank larger than 5 gallon they are generally fine with their tank mates. Where you run into trouble it with fish that look like betta, or act like betta. Really slow fish can sometimes be trouble as they can't out swim an irate betta. Avoid bettas, fancy male guppy, goldfish, angels.... Honestly it's more common that the betta get picked on than the reverse.

With neons you need to avoid aggressive, and large fish. Neons are really small, and most fish eat anything that fits in their mouth.

Answer 7

Some male bettas can be vicious, but not all. Besides, even if you did get a nasty betta, I doubt he'd be able to catch the tetras lol. They are quick.
Also, Tetras tend to stay in the middle area of the tank (halfway down), and bettas like the top, so technically, this match up should work very well.

Answer 8

Bettas are not vicious. The person that told you that is wrong! Male Bettas will fight one-another for territory,but they won't harm the faster moving Tetras,and probably couldn't if they tried. It's also possible that the pet store staff don't know what they're talking about,but this time they are right. If you haven't cycled your tank properly it won't matter what kind of fish you put in there, cause most of them will die.

Answer 9

I have neon tetras along with mollies, penguin tetras, blue ram, cory pandas and a male fighter. All get on well.

Answer 10

just to make sure. don't put a betta in the tank. buy any community fish to put in like platies, mollies, or guppies,if you'd like, some tank snails too.you didn't say how big it was, so 1 inch of a fish needs 1 gallon of water in the tank. a betta fish deosn't need a filter or heater, so buy a small clear pot(not too small) to put that in. change its water every 3-4 days. that's all.