Do Neon Tetras need 6.5-7pH?
- Thread starter BassetsForBrown
- Start date
Yes lfs is actually telling you the right thing especially for WC Neon Tetra. I've personally kept a group of Neon Tetra in 7.8 PH and all but one from group is surviving along with a Rummynose Tetra. If you are set on getting Neons don't add buffers. A reverse osmosis system would be the way to go with sensitive soft water species.
A reverse osmosis system is not in the budget, maybe one day. So you've kept them at 7.8, and they were fine?
Agree, and if you can't manage an R.O., developing a rain water catchment system, and/or developing a system to add tannins (like peat, rooebus tea, or leaf litter might help stave off the different bacteria found in hard water).
When I was breeding soft water killifish, the small volumes of rain water needed wasn't that hard to do.
Bravo to a LFS with some sense.
Neons aren't long lived fish anyways, so trying to force them to live in hard water they are not evolved to live in, can shorten an already shortened existence.
There is a possibility that if you sourced neons bred for many generations in Florida's hard water, since the onset of the hobby, you may be able to get a more robust group.
Early in my first hobby days I tried to keep neons in pH 7.8, mineral rich water and they did not do well, either ending up with fungal or bacterial diseases, or just plain randomly kicking the bucket.
Cardinals did even worse (of course they are evolved to live in pH 5 or even lower.
There are plenty of those tetras that are endemic to hard water, which have resistance to mineral rich bacteria, from habitats like Mexico, Central America, or rivers west of the Andes in S America, of course they don't have that neonic flash.
My Roeboides vampire headstanders come from 8.2 pH water in Panama, and Astayanax come from "liquid rock" in Mexico.
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Merry Christmas.
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Excellent advice duanes. Beautiful Roeboides.
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A long life is relative of course, but the Neon Tetra may live three times as long as P. kribensis.
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Neons are not an expensive or rare fish though one of my favorites. My suggestion is to start with the water you have and see how they do. Clean water is more important than soft water. Soft water is more important than acidic water. An acid buffer will increase the total hardness while decreasing the kH and pH. It's an easy inexpensive option.
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The pH of your tap water may be misleading. Water utilities raise the pH to help stabilize chemistry even in relatively soft water. It would be good if you know the hardness of your tap water. If your tap water has a high pH but low hardness the tetras will do very well.
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But there are a few other very good options for improvement to the water hardness.
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Mixing rain water is a very good option though it's a lot of work. Store bought "drinking water" is also very good but more expensive, ($.40/gal). It's usually quite soft.
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I would recommend using a mix of soft water if your tap water is too hard. Maybe 50%.
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All my fish are kept in some mixture of tap and RO water. For my most demanding tetras they get RO only. This must be qualified. My RO filter is old and tired. The tap water is 450 grains total hardness and the output from the RO is about 160, kH being about 80 grains (5° kH)and a 7.3 pH. These are the conditions in my best maintained aquarium which gets weakly 90+% water changes. The fish are Hemiodus and P. kyburzi. The kyburzi demand clean water.
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Excellent advice duanes. Beautiful Roeboides.
.
A long life is relative of course, but the Neon Tetra may live three times as long as P. kribensis.
.
Neons are not an expensive or rare fish though one of my favorites. My suggestion is to start with the water you have and see how they do. Clean water is more important than soft water. Soft water is more important than acidic water. An acid buffer will increase the total hardness while decreasing the kH and pH. It's an easy inexpensive option.
.
The pH of your tap water may be misleading. Water utilities raise the pH to help stabilize chemistry even in relatively soft water. It would be good if you know the hardness of your tap water. If your tap water has a high pH but low hardness the tetras will do very well.
.
But there are a few other very good options for improvement to the water hardness.
.
Mixing rain water is a very good option though it's a lot of work. Store bought "drinking water" is also very good but more expensive, ($.40/gal). It's usually quite soft.
.
I would recommend using a mix of soft water if your tap water is too hard. Maybe 50%.
.
All my fish are kept in some mixture of tap and RO water. For my most demanding tetras they get RO only. This must be qualified. My RO filter is old and tired. The tap water is 450 grains total hardness and the output from the RO is about 160, kH being about 80 grains (5° kH)and a 7.3 pH. These are the conditions in my best maintained aquarium which gets weakly 90+% water changes. The fish are Hemiodus and P. kyburzi. The kyburzi demand clean water.
One thing I'd like to point out is that I don't recommend neon tetras at all unless they are wild-caught (if they are, the advice given should work nicely).
They are very overbred, full of neon tetra disease, and very unhardy to the point where you'd be better off with green neons, rummynoses, or cardinals.
They are very overbred, full of neon tetra disease, and very unhardy to the point where you'd be better off with green neons, rummynoses, or cardinals.