Can I mix different tetras in a small tank?

T

Trumper

AC Members
Oct 24, 2005
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Ahoy.

I have a little 12g nano cube, cycled, and ready to add fish. Just one Honey Gourami and some shrimp in there now.

I was looking at the various tetras the other day and then I wondered: could I just mix species in a tank like this and still have "happy" fish? That is, could I get a cardinal, neon, rummy nose, glowlight, and black tetra (all around the same size) and would they be OK together? Or do they all have to be the same species to get past that "you need to have at least 6 for them to be happy" rule?

Thanks.
 
tetras are schooling fish, and they need to school with members of the same species. that doesnt mean other tetras, that means at least 4 neons, 4 rummynose, 4 cardinal, etc. "tetra" is a family, not a species. neon tetra is a species, rummynose is a species. "tetra" is a HUGE family with many species of fish included in it, and each species needs at least 4 of a kind to school with.
 
In my tank i have 6 head-tail-light and 3 neon. The head-tail-lites are bigger and move faster so everytime i feed they take all the food leaving nothing to the neon. So eventhough they get along quite well, you might run into issues you didn't expect.
 
They won't be very "happy", it would make for a pretty stressful situation to them. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of schooling fish in a tank that size though anyway. They won't school very much b/c they just don't have the room. Of course, whatever you put in your tank is totally up to you :), but I would just go with 4-6 of one kind!
 
I'm actually in a similar situation right now as Trumper- I have a planted 12g not yet stocked.. I was thinking of putting 6 or 7 neon tetras there and 3 platies because they are so small (small tank, small fish). However your point about the tetras not being able school in such a small tank is a good one- but also leaves me kind of frustrated about it, because if you can't put in small fish (now) and bigger fish won't fit, so... what should I put in my 12g? Suggestions?
 
Got 6 neons and 6 glowlights in my 10 gallon. All school together and seem to be good buddies!
 
Cetain types of tetras will happily school together. Neons, H&t lights, black neons, rummys and cardinals should be ok together. I currently have black neons and regulars together and they dont know the difference. I've had the same experience wit cardinals and neons
 
I have 7 glowlights and 11 neons in a tank together (with other types of fish) I end up with one large school of 18 fish. Even when they break up into smaller groups they are always mixed. I'm not sure about the other tetras, but I'm convinced the neons and glowlights think they are the same species LOL.
 
I have 7 neons and 8 glowlites and my experience has been a little different than others. I started with 4 and 4 and while at those numbers, they did tend to school together as a single group of 8. I then went to 4 neon and 8 glowlites -- when I made that jump, the two species separated -- occassionally intermingling but not too often. I then went to 8/8 -- lost one neon that didn't look very good when I got him home -- and though they spend a good bit of time with their own kind, I've found that I have constantly changing schools -- sometimes three or more little schools -- and sometimes intermingled.
 
I had 5 neons at one point then they slowly died off, but i had two remaining adults and they bred 2 weeks ago now i have 8 babys and 2 adults, along with 3 cardnials and 4 glo-lites that all school together. But in My opinion Tetras need a little bit more space if you want them to live happily.
 
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