Minimum Tank Size for Neons?

What's the MTS for about 21 neon tetras? Or, better Question, how many neon tetras can I put in a 10G? I'm thinking of setting up a mini-community and I think that this fish is great. No tankmates planned yet.

personally, if you just wanted neon tetras, i would put like 8 or 9 in. but if you have plenty of tankmates instore for the future, best stick with 6. that way they can school and play but not take up the entire tank.

Dude, neon tetras are super small.... I'm thinking like 15 or so with a betta perhaps?

oh yah! lol, i mixed up the size of a different fish .sorry, your right 15 or so is good for a ten gallon.

lol it's fine Seriously want one betta.

As long as the filters are running properly and have established, and you monitor the water quality and keep it good, there is no reason you can't have 10-20 neons and a male fighter in the tank. Just keep an eye on water quality and do regular water changes and gravel cleans.

One word of warning with the neons. Buy them all at the same time if possible and then don't add any more. Obviously if the filter isn't established only buy a few or wait until the filter has established.
The reason for this is if you buy a few this week and then buy some more next week, the new ones could introduce neon disease or any other disease and you could lose the lot.
You can always keep an eye on the ones in the shop. Watch them over a few days and if they look good and the shop hasn't lost any, then buy them. But if they lose one neon, don't touch them.

but the problem with adding them all at once is that the benificial bacteria will probably not be able to handle 10- 20 neons at once, and you would end up with 5 or so ones dead. i would add 5 this week, then 5 next week untill you have reached your final amount.

good luck

That’s why you try to get the filter established before adding them. You can do a fishless cycle that will allow the filters to develop and then add the fish. This way you don't have to worry about losing fish to ammonia or nitrite problems and you can add all the fish together. The drawback is you have to wait about 3-4 weeks for the tank to cycle. So you have an empty tank for a month

ah yes, i forgot about the fishless cycle.

Well, I haven't set it up yet, but I don't really like to do a fishless cycle; I don't have the money to buy the necessary ingredients for one. I can always use neons from my other 10G to start the cycle slowly, and I have enough bacterial-infested filter cartridges from my 100G and my 20G. I want a beautiful betta though, seeing as I can properly care for one in a fully cycled tank with a heater etc, and NOT a bowl!

if you already have another tank that is established then just take some of the filter media from that tank and put it in the new tank. Then add some fish and monitor the water quality. As long as you don't add too many fish to start with, the bacteria on the established filter materials will be able to use all the ammonia produced and over the next few days will build up in numbers and establish the filter.
Instant cycled tank

Colin_T wrote:

if you already have another tank that is established then just take some of the filter media from that tank and put it in the new tank. Then add some fish and monitor the water quality. As long as you don't add too many fish to start with, the bacteria on the established filter materials will be able to use all the ammonia produced and over the next few days will build up in numbers and establish the filter.
Instant cycled tank

Yeah, I did that with my 20G, worked perfectly!