Neon Tetras In A Reef?

[Reaper]

Hi guys,

This is probably a real stupid question but is it possible for neon tetras to survive in full strength SW if aclimatised really slowly?

I'm talking a whole year or more.

[this is me]

If i'm not mistaking, neon tetras are FW??

[Nas19320]

They are but I think he asking if they can be converted like mollies. I would say no they can't. Neon Tetra's like soft water and SW is anything but soft.

[this is me]

I didnt know that. I guess you learn new stuff everyday

[Mark]

Strictly fw fish cannot purge salt from their bodies efficiently. In fact, they are physiologically designed to try to retain salt, due the fact that they live in a saltless environment. So the answer is no. Brackish fish are physiologically capable of doing both.

[Reaper]

Interesting,

Can anyone think of a small, shoaling, brackish fish that might be a suitable candidate? I know theres many tetra species apart from neons, are any of them brackish?

[kozmo02]

if you have a big enough tank scats and monos would work.

[rleechb]

nononno. lol

[Algae Blenny]

Why brackish? Why not get a SW schooling fish like Thread fin Cardinals?

[DT's_Reef]

Definitely not. Neon tetras die at the drop of a hat anyway. And, they like *very* soft water although are more tolerant of hardness than cardinal tetras.

[robitreef]

What? They would probably be dead as soon as you put a gram of salt in there. There are people that keep FW fish with small amounts of salt (it is supposed to prevent parasites), but the salt they use for FW is chemically different from SW. You may get away with using synthetic seawater for a brackish tank, but no way will a neon survive. They are hard enough to acclimate to FW and prefer a pH in the 6.5-6.8 range. If someone at a LFS store told you this was possible stop going there:eek2:

[Reaper]

It was just a thought about neons. They were the first FW shaoling fish that came to my head, thats why I asked on the board first.

I'am after a really small (neon sized) shoaling fish to add to my tank. I was wondering if there are any brackish fish I could aclimatise that are like neons.

Algae Blenny,

I guess Thread fin Cardinals are the way to go, I was just looking at my options.

[lexusboy]

go with a small school of chromis they are so cool, and very docile.

[YellowDesmo998]

I second Chromis. I have five of them in my tank. When I walk past the tank, they quickly form a small school then slowly peak out of the rock work one at a time to see if the coast is clear. It's too cool!

[o2manyfish]

Try Firefish - They are small and colorful and school well.

Dave B

[marino]

Second on Firefish. Get them in odd number and be aware that they are jumpers.

[Frick-n-Frags]

Neons come from the amazon river basin which is about THE softest water there is with pH of like 5 or 6 or something from the rotting vegetation.

You have to determine if your intended victim is a brackish fish, like a mollie, mono, scat, bumblebee, etc not an amazon fish like tetras, severums, angelfish, discus etc

[Reaper]

Frick-n-Frags,

I get it now, to try to aclimatise an FW fish from the amazon would be pointless and cruel.

I guess I could set up a seperate FW tank with guppies/mollies as my intended victims. I could then feed their offspring to my tank, my fish would love it!