neon tetras not coming to surface to eat

[Danya]

i bought 5 neon tetras the other day and they seem to stay near the
bottom all the time. so far, i have never seen them come near the top
let alone to the surface. i have flake food so it floats and the
tetras don't come to the surface to eat. but if i put a few crumbled
flakes into the running water from the filter they will eat that if
they see it in the water. will they ever learn to come to the surface
to eat? my other fish come to the surface, so i figured the neons
would see them and eventually catch on... what's the deal?

[Robert Flory]

Mine never have .... they wait for it to sink and pass through the mid level
of the tank.

Bob

"Danya" > wrote in message
om...
>i bought 5 neon tetras the other day and they seem to stay near the
> bottom all the time. so far, i have never seen them come near the top
> let alone to the surface. i have flake food so it floats and the
> tetras don't come to the surface to eat. but if i put a few crumbled
> flakes into the running water from the filter they will eat that if
> they see it in the water. will they ever learn to come to the surface
> to eat? my other fish come to the surface, so i figured the neons
> would see them and eventually catch on... what's the deal?

[Billy]

"Danya" > wrote in message
om...
|i bought 5 neon tetras the other day and they seem to stay near the
| bottom all the time. so far, i have never seen them come near the
top
| let alone to the surface. i have flake food so it floats and the
| tetras don't come to the surface to eat. but if i put a few
crumbled
| flakes into the running water from the filter they will eat that if
| they see it in the water. will they ever learn to come to the
surface
| to eat? my other fish come to the surface, so i figured the neons
| would see them and eventually catch on... what's the deal?

Possibility exists that they're still stressed from the new
environment (maybe different PH, temp, nitrate level lighting etc)
than what they had at the LFS, so they're still adjusting.

billy


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.752 / Virus Database: 503 - Release Date: 9/3/2004

[McEve]

"Robert Flory" > wrote in message
...
> Mine never have .... they wait for it to sink and pass through the mid
> level of the tank.
>
> Bob
>
> "Danya" > wrote in message
> om...
>>i bought 5 neon tetras the other day and they seem to stay near the
>> bottom all the time. so far, i have never seen them come near the top
>> let alone to the surface. i have flake food so it floats and the
>> tetras don't come to the surface to eat. but if i put a few crumbled
>> flakes into the running water from the filter they will eat that if
>> they see it in the water. will they ever learn to come to the surface
>> to eat? my other fish come to the surface, so i figured the neons
>> would see them and eventually catch on... what's the deal?
>
>

Mine didn't feed at the surface until they got company of some very hungry
small angels. These angels are so eager to eat that they almost jump out of
the water as soon as they see the lid coming off - talk about feeding
frenzy! It took two days before the tetras joined in, now they are competing
for the food at the surface together with the angels. Maybe they just want
to make sure the Angels don't get enough to grow large enough to be a danger
to them :)

Maybe yours also need an incentive to get to the food fast. Since you
haven't had them very long they might not feel secure in the tank yet as
well. That would also make them stay close to the bottom, trying to hide.
That's the impression I have from how mine acted, but I'm sure somebody with
more experience than me have some more info on what normal behaviour for
tetras are :)

[Jim]

On 4 Sep 2004 13:05:50 -0700, (Danya) wrote:

>i bought 5 neon tetras the other day and they seem to stay near the
>bottom all the time. so far, i have never seen them come near the top
>let alone to the surface. i have flake food so it floats and the
>tetras don't come to the surface to eat. but if i put a few crumbled
>flakes into the running water from the filter they will eat that if
>they see it in the water. will they ever learn to come to the surface
>to eat? my other fish come to the surface, so i figured the neons
>would see them and eventually catch on... what's the deal?

Don't have any neons right now, but as I recall they usually fead near
the bottom 1/3 of the tank. Only time they really came up was if I put
some tubliflex worms. Seems they'd go anywhere to eat them.

Also it may take them a while to figure out where the "food god" is.

Jim

[Danya]

wow, everyone is quick to reply today! hehe

yeah it is possible they could still be adjusting. i'm trying my
hardest not to feed sonny jr. (my constipated guppy), but since i have
some new fish, i don't want them to starve... maybe i am just to
paranoid.

wanna hear a funny story....of course you do!
yesterday i had bought some algae wafers for my baby rainbow shark, so
not really knowing how much to give, i drop 2 in the tank. i watch
for awhile and everyone but the shark seems to notice them! i turn
the tank lights off and go to my fiance's for a few hours, and when i
return, i turned on my bedroom light only to find 1 big fat cory
sitting at the bottom with masses of algae wafer surrounding him!! i
was stunned to say the least. so i got the net and got the chunks of
algae out! i don't think he will need food for another week! i don't
think i want to know how long he was sitting there munching all by
himself. hahaha

[Dan White]

"Danya" > wrote in message
om...
> i bought 5 neon tetras the other day and they seem to stay near the
> bottom all the time. so far, i have never seen them come near the top
> let alone to the surface. i have flake food so it floats and the
> tetras don't come to the surface to eat. but if i put a few crumbled
> flakes into the running water from the filter they will eat that if
> they see it in the water. will they ever learn to come to the surface
> to eat? my other fish come to the surface, so i figured the neons
> would see them and eventually catch on... what's the deal?

I had my cardinal tetras for about two weeks before they started going after
the food at the surface. They seem to hang out at the bottom 1/3 of the
tank most of the time, but now will go after the food at the surface as well
as the stuff that falls down to the bottom. I think they had to adjust, but
I also wonder if they just get hungry enough eventually to compete with the
others.

dwhite

[NetMax]

"Danya" > wrote in message
om...
> i bought 5 neon tetras the other day and they seem to stay near the
> bottom all the time. so far, i have never seen them come near the top
> let alone to the surface. i have flake food so it floats and the
> tetras don't come to the surface to eat. but if i put a few crumbled
> flakes into the running water from the filter they will eat that if
> they see it in the water. will they ever learn to come to the surface
> to eat? my other fish come to the surface, so i figured the neons
> would see them and eventually catch on... what's the deal?

In nature, Neons are close to the bottom rung of the fish food chain, so
they behave much more cautiously. In a Neon tetra only tank, they often
feed from the surface. In mixed community tanks, the surface is a high
risk area for them, so whether they feed from there depends on the
particulars of the tank, how hungry they get ..etc. If you're concerned,
dip your pinch of flake food under the water before releasing it. This
breaks the surface tension so more of the food falls right away.

ps: I've often dropped algae wafers into my Neon tetra tank and they
would be nibbling on them for an hour.
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Matt Gibson]

Danya wrote:

> yeah it is possible they could still be adjusting. i'm trying my

Well, mine are still adjusting after nearly nine months, if that's the
case ;-) They seem perfectly happy waiting for the food to come to them.
Crumbling the flake food seems to make it sink and make it the right size for
them, so I just do that.

> hardest not to feed sonny jr. (my constipated guppy), but since i have

I've always wondered if they're leaving the top third of the tank to the
guppies that I've normally had swimming around up there. Although they all
seem to get along pretty well, maybe that's because they leave each other
some space.

> return, i turned on my bedroom light only to find 1 big fat cory
> sitting at the bottom with masses of algae wafer surrounding him!! i
> was stunned to say the least. so i got the net and got the chunks of
> algae out! i don't think he will need food for another week! i don't
> think i want to know how long he was sitting there munching all by
> himself. hahaha

Last time I tried a big algae wafer, my Cory ignored it completely, but in the
morning the wafer was totallly surrounded by bloody snails. Grr.

M

--
"It's the small gaps between the rain that count,
and learning how to live amongst them."
-- Jeff Noon

[Earl]

Neons perfer to stay in the lower half of tanks and don't generally spend
any time in the top half. If they get hungry enough, they will learn to come
to the top, and once they realize that the top is where the food is always
found, they will come up when they see you close to the tank.


"Danya" > wrote in message
om...
>i bought 5 neon tetras the other day and they seem to stay near the
> bottom all the time. so far, i have never seen them come near the top
> let alone to the surface. i have flake food so it floats and the
> tetras don't come to the surface to eat. but if i put a few crumbled
> flakes into the running water from the filter they will eat that if
> they see it in the water. will they ever learn to come to the surface
> to eat? my other fish come to the surface, so i figured the neons
> would see them and eventually catch on... what's the deal?

[Danya]

"NetMax" > wrote in message >...
> In nature, Neons are close to the bottom rung of the fish food chain, so
> they behave much more cautiously. In a Neon tetra only tank, they often
> feed from the surface. In mixed community tanks, the surface is a high
> risk area for them, so whether they feed from there depends on the
> particulars of the tank, how hungry they get ..etc. If you're concerned,
> dip your pinch of flake food under the water before releasing it. This
> breaks the surface tension so more of the food falls right away.
>
> ps: I've often dropped algae wafers into my Neon tetra tank and they
> would be nibbling on them for an hour.

makes sense... i think they are getting enough food though. today i
fed my fish some bloodworms and a few sank and they snatched 'em up.
they also like to stay near the sinking tabs for the corys and eat
what comes floating around towards them. they sure are fun to watch
:)