Freshwater fish profile: Neon Tetra

[Lobo.]

my fish of the month: neon tetra (Paracheirodon innesi) (used to be Hyphessobrycon innesi)

since I've been keeping a community setup for the last two years, the only fish that I have really good experience with is the neon tetra, partially because I've had lots of luck with it.

description: neon tetras are up to a little over an inch in lenght at the longest, and about a centimeter in height, they have red and blue markings, red on the entire top front, and blue on the bottom back end (see picture)

ive never seen them breed, but it has been done, althogh it evidently is hard
here is a good site that has everything to do with neons on the page linked to... http://www.fishpondinfo.com/neon.htm

neon tetras are native to south America, and live in the dark calm waters of the upper amazon basin. they are visually oriented and rely on their bright colors to find each other in the wood tannin-soaked water. because of this natural location, they prefer soft acidic water (like the amazon) and 'safe spots in plants, rocks, or wood. natural predators include the Angelfish, which love to eat these small shiny fish, neons also 'sleep' at night and can be seen in a trance like state in the plants after the lights go out, although they will slowly drift from their hiding spots as the night goes on; so the are prone to being snatched by large nocturnal fish, or just those that can fit the 1inch fish in their mouths. these fish, although small are highly predatory and love to seek out small critters like brine shrimp or mosquito larvae, although they readily convert to flakes.
although I've had a lot of luck with them, even having a school that survived a cycle without losses, they are generally not very hardy and susceptible to ICH and other diseases, some of them almost specifically associated with neons, so make sure you get healthy fish when buying them. Neons are schooling fish, and do best if you can get at least 6, if you have room for them, 10+ is optimal for schooling effect. Watching these very colorful fish chase each other to determine dominance within the school, or to chase after food is very satisfying, especially if you have a large fish (like a Betta, ram, or gourami) to make them school, as schooling is a defensive behavior.
neons are one of the most colorful freshwater fish out there, and look great in many setups. the only down side to them is their fragility (although this is nothing compared to some of the truly fragile fish) and their small size. overall these fish are very interesting and can even be the entire focus of a tank (a 55gal with 40-50 neons would be VERY fun to watch and would look amazing, if you could control disease in it...) I highly suggest them for anyone with an established community tank.
(click for bigger image)

if i left anything out, please tell...

since I've had good luck with them, i don't have much experience with them and disease... except for ICH (they go through salt and heat well in the two weeks needed for ICH (salt is not good for breeding though), but they die of ICH fast)
here are some links that will help with knowing about the diseases that they are susceptible to:
thread about someone else's neons with whitespot/ neon's disease
nice article about diseases including neon's disease
another thread with personal experiences about neon's disease

[Joseph1391]

I love neon tetras, I have 6 of them

[blackwolfXKAV]

really got to love them, they are fish classics

[stevenplegere]

Fantastic fish one of my favs, good starter fish. Some of my earliest memories are of a fish tank with neons in it.