neon tetra water conditions and tank parameters

Whenever creating a new fish tank. No matter what type of fish you keep, they have specific parameters. I’ll be taking us through all the neon tetra conditions needed to give them the perfect living environment.

What parameters will we be discussing today? (.) In short all water conditions. Temperature for neon tetras as neon tetra temperature will vary from fish to fish and from species of fish too. Ph for neon tetras ph is the level of acidity or alkalinity of the water itself.

We will also look at the Kh and Gh levels. The Kh is measured in dKH and is measuring how much carbonates and bicarbonates are in the water. Gh is measuring how hard or soft the water is and does this by checking how much calcium and magnesium are in the water.

What Are The Perfect Water Conditions For Neon Tetras

Neon tetra’s perfect water conditions are a temperature of 74 degrees. A ph of 6 Kh of 2-4 Gh of under 10. Neons need soft slightly acidic waters.

Neon Tetra Water Parameters

• Temperature: 74F (23.3°C)
• Ammonia: 0 ppm
• Nitrite: 0 ppm
• Nitrate: <20 ppm
• pH: 6
• GH: <10 dGH (<166.7 ppm)
• KH: 2-4 dKH ( 35.8-71.549ppm)

Why These Water Parameters 

As with all fish if the water conditions change too quickly or become unstable problems occur. If the water gets above 74-75 degrees bacteria fungus and parasites can start to breed. Once certain bacteria start growing diseases and symptoms of a disease can appear. Dropsy and neon tetra disease are just two of many.

Subtle changes in the water chemistry and or temperature can cause stress which can bring on symptoms of diseases as well as chasing fighting and stressed behavior. I know what you thinking do neon tetras die easily don’t worry neon tetras are not hard to keep. 

We have to be careful as these fish can stress easily but under the right conditions, they are so colorful With an amazing personalities.

Neon Tetra Origins

To better understand why these water conditions are good we need to go back and look at where they come from.

Neon tetra was first discovered in 1936 by Auguste Rabaut while he was traveling. These superb little fish were found in the upper parts of the amazon river. In streams that feed directly into the Rio Solimoes area. This area encompasses parts of Peru Colombia and northwestern brazil.

The water in these streams is very soft with a Ph of only 4-5 and a Gh of less than 2. There’s a considerable amount of tannin in the water and it’s covered in debris and vegetation so not much light.

Looking at these numbers we can see that the temperature and the general hardness match perfectly. Also, the Kh can be safely manipulated as we know the higher we can safely get the Kh the more stable Ph will be. We don’t want Ph crashes.

Why do I say the perfect Ph is 6 why not 5? (.) Well, these fish have now been bred and bred again to become probably the most kept fish by us hobbyists. In doing so they have adapted to 6 now being the sweet spot in our aquariums.

As long as the water is soft enough and there are some acidity neon tetras are happy. As we will discover later the biggest killer of neon tetra is temperature.

Neon Tetra Temperature

So we know much more about neon tetra water ph and the neon tetra water conditions. Neon tetra Ph level can be altered slightly as long as the water is soft and still acidic. We don’t want any hard water tetras this will cause serious stress.

Let’s talk about neon tetra water temp. Stange though it is these little fish don’t like it too hot. What that’s crazy I hear some of you say. Bare with me let me explain Neon tetra is a tropical fish.

Yes, this is true but did you know that most of the time in the wild they spend undercover under a canopy of leaves and wood so it’s pretty dark and shady? (.) This has a knock-on effect, lower temperatures.

More often than not the temperature will only reach the low to mid-70s Fahrenheit. Also, these temps can go as low as 67 degrees Fahrenheit. We as hobbyists tend to put them with other tankmates and expect them to be perfectly fine at 78 degrees. 

Neon tetra along with most tropical fish are more sensitive to water temperature than we realize. There is a big difference between 70 and 80 degrees just because they are all lumped together as tropical fish does not mean they all need the same degree of heat.

These little fish will do better live longer and display more color at slightly lower temperatures.

Neon Tetra Ph Explained 

Ph is the abbreviation for potential hydrogen. Hydrogen irons are measured within a solution to determine whether they are acidic or alkaline. In 1909 Sørensen, a Danish chemist introduced the concept of pH as a convenient way of expressing acidity.

The solution we are talking about happens to be water and water has a neutral Ph. On the scale, this was assigned as a score of 7. Seven (7) is the exact center of the sliding scale anything lower than seven (7) is acidic.

Anything above seven (7) is alkaline the scale itself goes from one (1) to fourteen (14) with seven (7) at the center as neutral.

Ph For Neon Tetra

What does this mean for tetra Ph? (.) Well as we have seen and read above in the wild neon tetra tend to live in waters of around 4.5 to 5 Ph. it is believed they thrive in the wild at these levels as there’s so much water it’s a huge tank a wild river.

In this huge tank, the river can naturally sustain enough good bacteria and ammonia can not grow fast enough to cause an issue even at low ph levels.

In our tanks, however, having a ph of 4.5 or even 5 is problematic as the acidity will kill off all our good bacteria and you will start to have problems with ammonia levels.

Hence why I feel six (6) to be the sweet spot for Ph levels in our tanks at home. We can and should stay on top of these levels and can do so by doing regular water changes. Regular water changes will stop ammonia build-ups and also negate the acidic water from killing off good bacteria a win-win all in all id say.

You could try to maintain slightly lower Ph levels as neon tetra do enjoy slightly more acidic conditions but there are not that many other fish that would want to be tankmates again six (6) is perfect.

How Kh Carbonate Hardness Affects Neon Tetra

Kh is the abbreviation for carbonate and bicarbonate.  This is the measurement of calcium carbon irons in the water. The lowest Kh for a stable tank at home is two (2) dKh which equates to 35.775 parts per million.

A higher Kh will give you greater control over your Ph levels here is a great explanation from the Aquarium co-op

Quote

“Think of KH like a trash can. The higher the KH, the larger the trash can. If we overflow that trash can, then a pH crash occurs. Therefore, people with low KH in their tap water often use crushed coral to gradually raise the KH (or increase the size of their trash can) and prevent pH crashes.” 

Nealy all aquariums are between 2 and 8 Kh although the above statement is correct and we don’t want our Ph levels to fluctuate. Neon tetra needs or prefers slightly acidic water the higher the Kh the harder it is to keep Ph low.

This is why I would strive to keep Kh between two (2) and four (4) and allow us to find the sweet spot. As stated above it can be good to have higher Kh Levels to help stabilize Ph. But we have to remember that Kh acts like a sponge and soaks up acid in the water and we need some acidity when keeping neon tetras in their perfect condition. It’s a balancing act that we have to keep a constant eye on to obtain perfect tank water chemistry.

What About General Hardness Gh 

This is a bit simpler as Gh is the general hardness of water and is measured by how many calcium and magnesium irons are in the water.

We tend to have either hard or soft water out of our taps depending on where we live in the world in fact it can change from city to city. Most aquariums are between four (4) and eight (8) Gh general hardness.

These numbers equate to around seventy (70) and one hundred and forty (140) parts per million calcium and or magnesium irons.

Check General Hardness

It may be prudent to double-check how hard your general tap water is. As where I live in east Anglia in the UK our tap water is pretty hard. Up to 300 parts per million which equates to a Gh of over 15. This is way too high for tetras (most fish to be fair) so what do we do? (.)

Soften Hard Water For Neon Tetras

We soften our water. We need to remove some of those minerals from the water as having water that hard will stress and kill tetras. Use a water softener suitable for aquatic life such as this one from Aquarium doctor. This will remove minerals and in turn, keep the tank’s water more in keeping with the Amazon rivers where our little buddies reside. Simply follow the instructions of one (1) ml per gallon of water.

Perfect Water Chemistry 

Now we have the perfect water chemistry for our neon tetras. Keeping the water around 74 degrees F In enough room to swim around in. Six fish should be in 20 gallons of water as they will live longer healthier lives with plenty of schooling room.

Along with slightly acidic waters around six (6) on the Ph potential hydrogen scale. As we will be doing regular weekly water changes and we don’t want to go much lower than six (6) Ph as too much acidity will kill good bacteria remember? (.)

Kh can be between 2 and 4 this is pretty normal within most aquariums. maybe a touch lower than some but seems to be the sweet spot for our neon tetra fish.

Keeping the Gh low as these fish need softer waters check and double-check as most water where I’m from is on the harder side. we need somewhere under 140 parts per million which I believe is a Gh of 8.

What About Substrate & Lighting 

Substrate for best results with neon tetra is darker the better. As we know they are from the Amazon river canopy hidden under leaf litter and driftwood. Neon loves darker shady waters so they can show off their incredible colors.

Peat moss or dark gravel would be good for a substrate. Peat moss also lowers the hardness of water which these fish will love.

Lighting

If at all possible keep the lights as low as you can bright light tends to stress our little tetras. Pro tip use a blue red or black bulb for an hour a day before turning off the lights. This should encourage some extra color from our fish buddies.

Perfect Water Chemistry Our Neon Tetra Tank Parameters Conclusion

I really enjoyed writing this article. I love neon tetra and find them to have amazing personalities. Finding the perfect conditions has taken a few years and some trial and error. Now you can read at your leisure and use these water parameters along with a healthy diet and lots of room to keep your neon tetras healthy for longer.

It’s not often spoken about within the fish-keeping community. But the biggest causes of death I feel are the water being too hot. Even though they are tropical fish. As well as the water being too hard they don’t do well often stunted in growth and have a far shortened life span when in either or both of these conditions.

Water being neutral or around seven (7) is less of a problem but for super healthy fish they love slightly acidic water so why not accommodate them? Last but not least room far too many hobbyists keep them in big groups with no room to swim they are schooling fish and must have room to swim.

If not they get tetchy fighting chasing each other or they become shy stressed and detached from the group swimming in twos or on their own ending in shorter unhappy lives.

Now you know how to bring the best out of your neon tetras. I hope everyone that reads uses these tips to create a wonderful tetra tank thanks for reading and please feel free to click all links and also look around the site for more great articles.