A betta and neon tetras?

[whatwhat]

I have a few week old 10g tank, it is fully cycled now, when I first got it I put in 2 bettas with a divider but one died cause of a different illness from the pet store. So I was thinking of taking the divider out and putting in 6 neon tetras. I heard of many people doing it, but people say you need a well established tank. So should I wait a while to get them?

[LebronTheBetta]

Wait for a second, you said that the Betta died of a illness right??? So if he had a illness does that mean the other one has it too??? O.O

[Mo]

Not all illnesses are contiguous, if he looks fine and doesn't have any adverse behaviour ai would add 6 ember tetras as IMO neons are too active and up your water change schedule for 1 week so the bacteria can sole with the addition of fish/ammonia

[whatwhat]

Originally Posted by LebronTheBetta

Wait for a second, you said that the Betta died of a illness right??? So if he had a illness does that mean the other one has it too??? O.O

No the other one is fine, it has been living fine for over a week, the other one died within a few hours of being in the tank. The only explanation the petstore had was that it was sick before because everything else was fine.

[kfryman]

It is definitely not cycled tanks take at least a month to fully cycle. The neons should be in a mature tank, so like a couple months old. how did you test your water to see if it was cycled?

[Mo]

Kfryman is right the cycling process usually takes anywhere from 1-2 months to finish. with fish-in cycling taking longer. what are you ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels? Neon tetras are very fragile fish, hence why i recommended upping your water change schedule as soon as you get them. they die in condotions even with very low amounts of ammonia, and ideally should be in tanks that have been cycled for around 3-4 months

[kfryman]

Oh heads up, with the mass amounts that neon tetras are bred, it leads to poor immune systems. If you don't get a healthy tetras most likely they will die of Tetra disease within a year. I was gonna get neons but why get a fish that might keep dying? You cam still get them as they are beautiful fish. If you can find cherry barbs, they are much hardier than neons. Though they should be kept in a 1:2 male:female ratio or 1:1 so males don't fight for one female. Males are a dared red, while the females are a pale red.

If you don't know what they look pike Google a picture.

[Sheldon31]

I have neons with my betta but I've heard this is a fairly uncommon success. I've had bumps in the road with my neons. I've lost 2 out of the 9 I've baught but this is most likely because of my own errors and one had some sort of tail deformity. Ky and the neons did have an issue once but this was Kyon flaring at them. They rarely go near him and move out of his way when he comes along. My neons are tough little beggers and have survived two bouts of ich and my silliness of using them to cycle a tank (stupid pet store and their false info! Don't just we're all newbies at one point). I think it depends wether they are wild caught or tank bred on wether they are as hardy. I think cardinals are hardier and are similar to neons in colour.

If kept in the right conditions neons can be very rewarding. Mine are entertaining to no end and I find myself watching them zipping around and playing amongst my plants for hours. Please don't let any negative info put you off these lovely little fish even if you don't have them with your betta consider them for future tanks :)