Neon Tetras

A Neon Tetra Tropical Freshwater Fish

I thought these would make a good first fish for the tank. When I got first introduced them to the tank they stuck very close together in a tight shoal. The following day they got a lot more adventurous, and would often split up to explore the tank. That second day there was even some instances of aggression towards each other, which I gather is a good sign because they will tend to shoal together if they feel threatened.

Feeding

They eat standard tropical aquarium flake food, and are usually the first fish on the scene as soon as new food arrives. Unfortunately they don't seem to like looking for food on the bottom of the tank, so as the flake sinks it can accumulate on the bottom. For this reason it is advisable to find a bottom feeder tank mate that will eat the leftovers. They will also nibble at algae wafers (see picture below).

They appear to be extremely fond of freeze dried bloodworm, and will readily eat them even if they are at the bottom of the tank. Amazingly, small neon tetras will attempt to eat whole bloodworms whole, which is very entertaining to watch! They are also fond of brine shrimp.

The females appear to get a lot fatter after eating when compared to the males.

A Shoal of Neon Tetra tropical freshwater fish feeding on an algal wafer

Behaviour

I've noticed that they get quite aggressive towards each other in the mornings before the tank lights are switched on. This appears to be normal mating behaviour. In fact the other day I believe one of the fish was laying eggs. I am trying to save some of the eggs to see if they will hatch.

I've also noticed that the colours of these fish change sometimes. They appear to get a much darker shade of blue sometimes. Their colours also appear to fade during the night when they are resting at the bottom of the tank. This may be a biological adaptation to make them less visible to predators during the night.