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I'm setting up a new tank (29gal). So far I have only 3 neon tetras
in the tank with no other fish. My problem is that the neons hang out
near the bottom which wouldn't be a problem but they seem to not
notice when I place food in the tank. I'm feeding them flake food and
they often don't notice the food until it starts to get soggy and
float to the bottom. often it makes it all the way to the bottom
before they notice and as such, never gets eaten. I'm only feeding 3
or 4 flakes so I'm sure I'm not really over-feeding but I'm not sure
how to 'train' them to get them to notice the food floating at the top
of the tank. Any suggestions regarding this?

Great advice from Jürgen and Tynk. I just wanted to jump in to address the
original question. Fish will sometimes be "shy" when they arrive in a new
tank, moreso when there are other sources of stress (such as amonnia/nitrite
levels from cycling your new tank) - the behavior you're seeing is not
uncommon.

My first suggestion is to make sure there are some hiding places in the
tank. A small plant or piece of driftwood they can hide behind will help
them feel more comfortable.

When you go to feed them, perform a noticeable behavior, but make sure you
do the same thing *every single time*. My method is to open the tank cover,
dip one finger into the water and splash around a bit. I put the food in
right after that. After doing this every day for a week or so, the fish
learn that finger splashes mean food and they all come up to the front of
the tank if I dip my finger in. I saw a video a while back of Takashi Amano
using a similar method when feeding angelfish - he took the food container
and tapped it in a fast rhythm on the corner of the tank before putting the
food in. After a few seconds, all the fish in the tank came over to the
corner where he was tapping and waited for the food to be dumped in.

-I