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How to find out if neon is pregnant. How do neon fish reproduce in a home aquarium?

Neons get their name from their neon body coloring. These fish are often found in the collections of beginning aquarists, perhaps due to the fact that breeding neons is not a very complicated process. - these are not viviparous fish, i.e. they lay eggs and do not give birth to fry.

The male neon differs from the female in size - it is about half a centimeter smaller. The female is a little plumper. This is clearly expressed in packs. Compared to the female ones, the male individual looks slimmer. Another gender difference is the stripe on the body. In the male it is smooth along the entire length, while in the female there is a bend closer to the middle of the body. Neons begin to reproduce only after 8 months from birth.

Preparation for reproduction

Neon fish live in the rivers of Brazil and Peru. Neon breeding requires the creation of a microclimate that will be as close as possible to the living conditions in wild environment. This requires soft and pure water saturated with microelements and minerals. In the wild, it is rich in useful particles, as plants decompose under water.

For propagation, you need to use a glass container with a volume of 20–25 liters, which can subsequently be easily washed and disinfected from germs. Before spawning, be sure to heavily feed the neons, preferably with live food. .

Fill the container with distilled water and add approximately 300 grams of liquid from the main aquarium where the fish live. The water should sit for about a day. Remember that water is the most important thing in preparing an aquarium. Egg deposition can occur even in a community aquarium where neons live, but fertilization occurs only in soft water. A nylon sponge or a small piece of Java moss should be placed at the bottom.

Water parameters

Neons like to spawn in a slightly acidic environment.
It is necessary to maintain the acidity in the aquarium at a pH level of 5–6.
Temperature aquarium water should be between 24 and 26 degrees.

IN natural environment Spawning takes place mainly at sunrise, at dawn. The lighting of the spawning aquarium should be appropriate - diffused. The container should be shaded on all sides. If desired, leave one part open to watch the spawning. After this, you can start the fish.

How do neons reproduce?

It is advisable to place the fish in one aquarium in the evening. It is quite possible to breed neons in an artificial environment, the main thing is to create the necessary conditions. Until the moment of spawning, the fish are not fed. To observe how the breeding takes place, you will need to wake up at about 4 am, as the neon spawn at dawn. Mating time is up to 3–4 hours. The female swims chaotically over the plants, and in the process spawns eggs. During spawning, the male is behind the female. She is capable of laying about 200 eggs. For the first few hours, the eggs are sticky, and once they fall on the plants, they can stick to the leaves. After some time they sink to the bottom. Producers can be caught and released into a community aquarium. It is not recommended to leave them in a container with eggs, since at home neons can destroy their offspring.

After spawning

After a couple of days, or more precisely, 36–38 hours, the juveniles hatch. Not all eggs survive. Some of the neon eggs may be affected by the fungus, or simply die during development. It is recommended to separate the fertilized eggs after 12 hours. This can be done using a pipette. Place the fertilized eggs in another container, as the risk of infection is very high.

An important factor is lighting. For neon fry, light is destructive. For several days after birth, they cannot see well. It is worth leaving one open corner where the light will flow.

The fry feed on ciliates, which accumulate just in the area of the light beam. Over time, the juveniles are fed Artemia nauplii and rotifers.

The water hardness is gradually increased by adding liquid from the general aquarium every day. After a month and a half, the juveniles begin to prepare for life with the rest of the fish.

Conclusion

By following these tips and rules, even novice aquarists will be able to breed neons. The aquarium fish neon is quite whimsical. This is noticeable in terms of nutrition early stages development. This schooling fish, so you need to buy neons in groups of 4–5 pieces. Proper care will help reduce the development of bacteria and increase the number of aquarium inhabitants.

A small flock of neon fish decorates any aquarium and gets along well with its peaceful representatives. In addition, you can try to breed them yourself, even in a community aquarium. We will try to figure out how to do this correctly in our article.

Sex differences

At rest, the sex of fish is very difficult to determine, but during the spawning period, small differences between male and female can be found.

The sex of the fish can be determined by the following characteristics:

the male is smaller than the female;
the male's swim bladder moves closer to the anus and can be seen through the lumen;
the neon (blue) stripe crossing the male’s body remains straight, but in the female it is curved in the center;
Neon females become rounded and their abdomen enlarges.

Pair selection

When breeding in a community aquarium, the fish will find a mate on their own. The main condition is the presence of fish of different sexes that are at least 8-9 months old. Since this is the age that is considered optimal for the first spawning of neon fish.

Did you know?To awaken the instinct to reproduce in neons, you need to frequently change their water.

There is a need to select a pair if breeding will take place in a spawning area. In this case, you need to pay attention to the activity of the fish, their appearance and color.

Having determined the sex of the neon and selected the ones they like, the future parents are placed in different containers for 10-14 days, separating the males from the females. When selecting, it should be taken into account that for successful spawning, 2-3 males must be selected per female.

To determine the fathers of future offspring, a female with prospective partners is placed in a separate container; those who are more agile win. Before placing the fish for spawning, it is recommended to organize short dates; five to six dates will be enough.
It was experimentally established that the female is ready for disembarkation - once a week, but the male - once every two weeks.

Important!Since sperm maturation in males occurs slowly, there is a risk that if you add one male and one female, some of the eggs will remain unfertilized. Therefore, fish are placed in the aquarium in a ratio of 2 males: 1 female.

Breeding at home

Neon breeding is a painstaking task that requires special attention to your pets and control over the process.

IN wildlife Neons live in streams and rivers of Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Their spawning time is during the rainy season. Rivers and streams are filling up big amount soft, almost distilled water.

Therefore, at home they imitate these natural features to stimulate spawning in fish.

When breeding neons, it is necessary to adhere to their natural rhythms - in the wild, fish lay eggs twice a year, spawning periods last one and a half to two months, followed by periods of rest, which last four months.

In a separate spawning area

To successfully breed neons, it is advisable to purchase a small cast (seamless) aquarium for one family, size 25*15*15. The spawning tank must be disinfected and prepared accordingly. One side of the spawning tank is covered with a dark film, providing diffused lighting.

Important!If you use a plant for spawning that was previously in a community aquarium, carefully inspect it and remove all snails.

Since during spawning neons stick their eggs to different surfaces, the aquarium must have plants or devices on which the eggs will be held. At the bottom of the container you can place a fine nylon mesh, a tangled skein of fishing line, a washcloth, and willow roots that were collected in the pond.

Small-leaved plants that can be placed in a spawning tank: myriophyllum,. The plants are pressed down with a stone so that they do not float to the surface.
Water is the main component of the success of fish breeding, Special attention The following factors should be taken into account:

the aquarium is filled with settled, distilled or cationized water;
should correspond to 0.5-4°;
the acidity of the water should not go beyond pH 5.5-6.5. You can regulate the acidity level with a decoction of peat, alder cones or oak bark; you should check the pH level using special test strips;
The best water temperature for spawning is considered to be 22-26°C;
the water level in the aquarium should not exceed 20 cm;
the water must be saturated with oxygen.

Future parents are placed in the spawning tank in the evening, shortly before going to bed - this way the fish will get used to it faster, and there is a high probability that the eggs will be spawned by the morning.

By placing neons in the spawning area, you can watch the fish swim above the plant or artificial substitute.
The female swims in front, the male is a little behind, but the moment of the mating dance comes and during its performance the fish rush around, make turns and make throws towards each other, making dense touches.

The dorsal fin of the future father rests on the female, the bodies of the fish bend and eggs and sperm immediately emerge from them. The eggs have a sticky structure for some time after spawning (2-3 hours).

Once on the leaves of the plant, the eggs attach to them, but then, even with a slight movement of water, they fly off the leaves and end up at the bottom.

Four hours later, the mating dance ends, the neons cease to be interested in each other. The time has come to remove the fish from the aquarium; if this is not done, the couple will eat their offspring.

Breeding red neon: video

In a common aquarium

Water requirements when breeding fish in a community aquarium:

distilled water with a hardness of no higher than 4°;
the acidity of the water should not exceed pH 5.0;
water temperature 26 °C;
darkening the aquarium;
the presence of algae on which eggs can attach.

Did you know?The smallest aquarium is 3 cm long and one and a half cm wide and boasts the following contents: two fish, algae, pebbles and sand.

But even if these conditions are met, breeding neons in a community aquarium is problematic for the following reasons:

due to water hardness, fertilization does not always occur;
any lighting, even dim lighting, is detrimental to the eggs;
if this event somehow miraculously happened, the eggs risk becoming a nutritious delicacy for the neons themselves, other fish and snails.

Appearance and care of fry

A female can lay up to 250 eggs, but this does not mean that the fry will hatch in the same number - some of the eggs will die from the fungus, some while they are developing. After 9-10 hours, the fertilized eggs are separated with a pipette.

You can, of course, leave the eggs in the spawning tank, but there is a high probability of contamination of fertilized eggs from decomposing eggs.

You can stop the development of bacteria by special means for disinfection (, General Tonic, trypaflavin), in the spawning tank the water level is lowered to 10 cm, the water temperature is increased to 28 ° C. In a day the first larvae will appear.

For the first three to five days, fish larvae do not need feeding. As soon as the yolk sac (an orange spot on the abdomen) becomes invisible, the juvenile neon is able to swim independently and find food.
The first food for fry is zooplankton, which contains other small water inhabitants, but you can get by with the crushed yolk of a chicken egg.

The aquarium with neon fry must be darkened, only a small area should be illuminated with light. To make feeding the fry easier, food is poured into a beam of light, and the young instinctively swim to the light in search of food.

After two weeks, neon juveniles are accustomed to normal lighting, increasing the light zone day by day. The food is changed - special mixtures for fry. By the age of one month, neon juveniles should switch to natural light.
The next stage begins - preparation for a general aquarium, this is done by changing the water. Over the course of 15-20 days, the indicators of water hardness and acidity are gradually equalized, trying to make them as close as possible to the indicators in the aquarium, and the fish are accustomed to food for adult fish.

Did you know?There are some species of fish that incubate their offspring in their mouths. These fish are distinguished by their patience and endurance, because the incubation process can last up to 3-6 weeks. Some fish do not feed at all, others have learned to skip food, despite the fact that the mouth is occupied by offspring, and still others are able to transfer their offspring from mouth to mouth to a partner.

The neon fish does not require much attention in daily maintenance, which cannot be said about the period when the fish reproduce, but if you follow the recommendations and rules, you can see the emergence and birth of a new life!

Neon breeding: video

This popular aquarium fish is easy to keep and is often recommended for beginners. In a community aquarium, neons are compatible with all peaceful fish and live well, without causing trouble to either the aquarist or their neighbors.

However, when it comes to the reproduction of neons, it turns out that in this matter they are not as simple as their frequent neighbors: guppies and other viviparous fish that spawn easily in a common aquarium.

In nature, the spawning period of neons coincides with the rainy season and is 6-8 weeks within one year. At the end of spawning, the fish enter a period of rest. Similar breaks also exist in fish bred in our homeland, but their explanation is somewhat different.

If the spawning dates of the originally brought fish at least somehow coincided with natural ones, then modern neons can spawn at any time. Once in an alien environment with different feeding and maintenance conditions, neon fish change their way of life, adapting to the situation. New food, as a rule, is more monotonous, and fish often mistake the flow and replacement of aquarium water for a rainy period.

Features of reproduction

Neon breeding has some nuances: given the shifts in natural rhythms, fish spawning must be controlled. To do this, individuals of different sexes are placed in separate containers. Before the main landing for spawning, it is recommended to organize a short “date” of fish several times (5 or 6). It has been experimentally established that in males the maturation of sperm lags behind the maturation of eggs in females. If you plant selected individuals in a 1:1 ratio, then a significant proportion of the eggs will remain unfertilized. Therefore, during the spawning period, experienced aquarists plant sexually mature producers in a 2:1 ratio. Observations have shown that the female neon is ready for disembarkation every week, and the male - once every 2 weeks.

Determining the sex of neons is easier to do during the spawning period. Females are much fuller than males; the male's swim bladder becomes more noticeable due to its shift towards the anus, which is not observed in females.

Spawning process

When setting up a spawning area, you should pay special attention to water parameters and creating conditions for fish. It is most convenient to use (25x15x15cm). To protect the eggs from possible damage, it is better to take a cast container without joints, and also remove the soil. Pour water heated to a temperature of 25-26C° into the aquarium. Its hardness should be within 2-4°, the recommended PH value is up to 7.0. If there is no settled water, you can prepare ordinary tap water by heating it to 29 C° to accelerate the evaporation of chlorine.

Plants are necessary for successful spawning. Three or four branches of myriophyllum fixed at the bottom will be enough. Experts in the breeding of neon fish advise placing the fish together in the evening - this way they will have the opportunity to get used to each other. The eggs will most likely be spawned in the morning.

Despite the difference in keeping conditions, the behavior of local fish during spawning coincides with their natural relatives. Several males attack the female at once. In this case, the one who is strong and ready for the fertilization process is usually ahead of the others and fertilizes the eggs.

Before the egg laying process, neons float above the plants. The female then randomly lays eggs on top of the plants. All this time the male stays behind. He's restless. The mating dance consists of sharp movements towards each other, turns, and tight touches. At the same time, the male's dorsal fin rests on the female, the bodies bend, and at this moment the egg and sperm appear simultaneously. Eggs are sticky for the first 2-3 hours. Having fallen on the plant, they hold on for some time, and then, at the slightest movement of water, they fall to the bottom. The three to four hour long dance of the fish ends and the spawners must be caught from the spawning aquarium. If this is not done in time, the couple may destroy their eggs.

Caring for fry

Not all fertilized eggs will survive. Some of them will be affected by the fungus, and some will die during development. After 9-10 hours, good fertilized eggs need to be separated from the rest using a pipette. At the discretion of the aquarist, the caviar can be left in the same container. But with this option, there is a high risk of infection of the surviving eggs from the decomposing dead ones.

Bacteria are the most formidable enemy of caviar. The drug Tripaflavin is recommended by experts as a means of preventing their reproduction. Transparent eggs will develop until the larvae hatch. Exactly one day later, at a temperature of 24C°, the appearance (hatching) of juveniles should occur.

Video of spawning in a separate vessel:

What to feed the fry at first

After five days, small neons are already able to swim in the upper layer of water. It is now that they begin to feed on their own. Cyclops nauplii should be used as food for juveniles - neons can feed on this food until the age of four weeks (at this time, colored stripes on the body of the fish will become visible). Some aquarists go more the hard way: ciliates, rotifers and other plankton are extracted from rainwater.

Juveniles grow quickly and require more food. For these purposes, enchytraeus (domestic worms from a flower pot) or small cyclops are now used.

Experienced aquarists have come to the conclusion that it is best to raise fry in water with a hardness level of 10-12. This will protect the juveniles from being damaged by plistophora, and after a month the neons will easily withstand transplantation. They soften water that is too hard with special products (for example, “Vofatit”), and increase the acidity with hydrochloric acid (purified from arsenic).

The ability of neons to reproduce

After the first playback, you should take a break of 4-5 months. At this time, the fish are allowed to rest, limiting their diet. To maintain health, high-calorie food (enchytraea, tubifex, etc.) is excluded; cyclops and daphnia predominate in the diet. The water temperature in the aquarium must be reduced to 17-19C°. There is no need to separate females and males - during rest, the fish need to “idlely” throw away the sex cells.

At the age of 9-10 months, the juveniles reach a size of 4 cm and are capable of reproducing offspring themselves. Some fanciers believe that the lifespan of high-quality spawning of this species is one year. This is wrong. At proper nutrition and keeping conditions as close as possible to natural ones, the fish increase their spawning potential from year to year. In total, neons live and reproduce for about five years.

Requirements for care and maintenance conditions of neon

- Neons definitely need aeration and filtration, weekly water changes up to 1/3 of the volume of aquarium water.
- It is not necessary to cover the aquarium; although the fish are mobile, they do not jump out of the reservoir.
- lighting should be moderate. The aquarium is equipped with shading areas, which is achieved with the help of thickets of living plants, as well as with the help of floating plants.
- design of the aquarium, according to your taste and color: stones, grottoes, driftwood and other shelters. The aquarium must have an open space for swimming.

Feeding and diet of neons: In principle, fish are omnivorous and unpretentious when it comes to food. They eat dry, live food and substitutes with pleasure. But, like many aquarium fish, neons love live food: bloodworms, brine shrimp, bark, cyclops, daphnia. Neons take food from the surface of the water or in its thickness. The food that has fallen to the bottom may remain untouched. Therefore, the fish should be fed in portions so that the food does not have time to fall to the bottom.

Feeding any aquarium fish should be correct: balanced, varied. This fundamental rule is the key to the successful keeping of any fish, be it guppies or astronotuses. The article talks about this in detail, it outlines the basic principles of the diet and feeding regime for fish.

In this article, we note the most important thing - feeding fish should not be monotonous; the diet should include both dry food and live food. In addition, you need to take into account the gastronomic preferences of a particular fish and, depending on this, include in its diet food either with the highest protein content or, conversely, with plant ingredients.

Popular and popular food for fish, of course, is dry food. For example, food from Tetra, the leader, can be found on aquarium shelves all the time and everywhere. Russian market, in fact, the range of food from this company is amazing. Tetra's "gastronomic arsenal" includes individual food for certain type fish: for goldfish, for cichlids, for loricariids, guppies, labyrinths, arowanas, discus, etc. Tetra has also developed specialized foods, for example, to enhance color, fortified, or for feeding fry. Detailed information You can find out about all Tetra feeds on the company’s official website -

It should be noted that when purchasing any dry food, you should pay attention to the date of its manufacture and shelf life, try not to buy food in bulk, and also store the food in a closed state - this will help avoid the development of pathogenic flora in it.

HISTORY OF NEONS

The homeland and natural habitat of neons are the streams and rivers of South America: Peru, Colombia, Brazil. Rivers - top of the river Amazons from a certain Sao Paulo de Olivenza to Iquitos live heavily in the river. Putumayo and R. Purus do Boca do Tapaua. As you can see, natural habitat The habitat of neon is very distant and mysterious. That is why the chronicle of these fish in the aquarium world is quite young. The starting point of neons as aquarium fish can be considered 1935, when a French citizen A. Rabo discovered these neon fish in the waters of the Putumayo River (Eastern Peru).

Discoverer Auguste Rabeau was delighted and surprised by the beauty of the discovered red-blue fish, which prompted him to bring several individuals to the United States of America and to Old Europe. A year later - 1936. This type of unusual fish was studied and described by the American ichthyologist S. Myers.

Germany is considered the second birthplace of neon. This is due to the fact that it was the Germans who were the first to breed neons in artificial conditions. At that time, it was a sensation, since neither in the United States of America nor in France did fish reproduce under artificial conditions. The German breakthrough in neon breeding was due not so much to the merits of man as to the presence in Germany of very soft water, which neon fish love so much.

Description: Neon is a small, nimble fish. IN aquarium conditions males reach sizes up to 3 cm, and females are slightly larger - up to 3.5 cm in length.
Neon color: Exist different kinds neon and the color of each is different. In general, all neons have one thing in common - a neon strip running along the entire body, which actually gives the shine unique to these fish.

Behavioral features: Neons are peaceful, schooling, nimble fish. The fish feel great in an aquarium in a large group. Their agility requires the aquarium to have space, which is so necessary for maneuvers. Corydoras (speckled catfish) are considered the friends and helpers of neons; they monitor the cleanliness of the aquarium soil without interfering with the neons.

Reproduction and breeding of neons

Initially, I would like to say that the reproduction of neons is not very difficult. At least it doesn’t require any special difficult conditions or hormonal injections.

Sexual differences: Neon males are smaller than females, about half a centimeter, they are much slimmer than “girls,” and their neon side stripe has a clear, even shape, without convolutions. In turn, females are larger than males, they are fuller, “potbellied”, the neon stripe bends in the middle of the body.

Preparation of producers for spawning: Neons reach sexual maturity at 6-9 months. For successful breeding, “neon parents” are initially kept in comfortable conditions, which include the presence of a wide aquarium house, varied feeding and comfortable water parameters. Before spawning, males and females are kept separately and fed abundantly with live food for half a month. When living separately, the water temperature is lowered to 19 °C.
It is believed that the best manufacturers are fish aged 10-12 months.

Arrangement of a spawning aquarium: an aquarium from 40 centimeters in length, the bottom should be without soil, a separator mesh is installed on the bottom, the back and side of the aquarium are darkened, the substrate should be dark. Water parameters in the spawning tank: level 15 cm, temperature 20-22° C, hardness dH up to 2°, KH 0°, pH 5.5-6.5°, natural lighting only. It is recommended to disinfect spawning water with ultraviolet radiation or ozone.

Neon Spawning: Having prepared the aquarium for spawning, males and females are planted in the afternoon towards evening in a ratio of 1:1 or 3 males to 1 female. Usually the fish spawn by the next morning at dawn. However, this process may take up to 3 days. During the spawning period, neons are not fed anything.
Females lay non-stick eggs from 50 to 200 eggs at a time.
Immediately after spawning, I remove the parents and darken the nest (remember, light is detrimental to the eggs!!!). It is imperative to remove the spawners, as they eat the fry.
Within four hours after spawning, you need to monitor the eggs and, if whitened eggs appear, remove them immediately.
The incubation period for neon eggs is approximately 22 hours.

Caring for neon fry

Neon juveniles begin to swim already on the 4-5th day, until this moment the larvae hardly move and hang in the spawning aquarium.

Fry require mandatory aeration, a water temperature of 20-22° C and a daily change of 1/10 of the water volume; the water in the aquarium should be at a level of up to 10 centimeters.
From the moment the fry begin to swim (4-5 days), they must be fed in portions often. As a starter feed, it is necessary to use special feed for juvenile fish. This food is sold in many pet stores, for example, TETRA MIN Baby and TETRA MIN Junior or sera MICROGRAN. You can also feed: ground boiled egg yolk, rotifers and ciliates.

When raising neon fry, you should be careful with the lighting of the spawning aquarium. Lighting is increased gradually, 100% - ordinary lighting can be done only after the juveniles “get on their feet”, and this happens by the 1st month of life. Otherwise, the fry will simply lose their orientation.

What do neons cause?

Fish can get sick from virtually all types of contagious and non-contagious diseases. Neons, being small and fragile fish, do not tolerate stress well (for example, if they are chased by “bad neighbors”), as well as uncomfortable water parameters and the lack of a school lifestyle - which, taken together and individually, can lead to diseases (for example, ichthyophthirosis - decoy) . They have neons and a disease inherent only to them - plystophorosis or it is also called “neon disease”. This infection manifests itself in the form of fading areas on the body of fish - in neon, blue and red stripes fade. The disease is virtually incurable!

USEFUL TIPS:

It is better to feed neons once a day and regularly arrange fasting days (once a week), which in turn will help improve the health of the fish.
- when decorating an aquarium for neon lights, you should use dark tones of the ground and background.
- a sign of poor health or stress in neons is the paleness of their color; they can fade until they turn completely grey.
- you should carefully use aquarium preparations containing copper - neons cannot tolerate it.

All types of neon

Neon blue or common (Paracheirodon innesi).

Neon blue (Paracheirodonsimulans).
Neon red (Paracheirodonaxelrodi).
Neon green (Costelo).
Neon black (Hyphessobryconherbertaxelrodi).

Artificially obtained:
Neon gold (Paracheirodoninnesivar.)
Neondiamondordiamond(Paracheirodon innesi diamond), "albino" neon shape.

There are also rare, artificially bred neons:

Neon orange or orange.

Neon blue or common (Paracheirodon innesi)

Neon blue (Paracheirodon simulans)

Due to the similarity in name with blue neon, this type of neon is lost from view by aquarists. The progenitors of blue neon are blue and red neon. The fish is distinguished by a rather frail body, a neon stripe runs down the middle along the entire body. I reach sizes up to 4cm. More details here: Neon blue

Neon red (Paracheirodon axelrodi)

Habitat: Orinoco and Rio Negro rivers. These neons very similar to blue ones and only slightly different in color. Along the entire body there are two continuous stripes of blue and red neon colors. Can reach sizes up to 5.5 centimeters.

The back is painted in dark green color. There is a wide stripe of dark color running across the entire body, with a neon turquoise blue stripe in it. Can reach sizes up to 3.5 centimeters.
More details: Neon green or Costello

Neon black (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi)

These neons have a long, slightly flattened body. There are two stripes running along the entire body, narrow silver at the top and wide black at the bottom. More details: Black neon

Neon gold (Paracheirodon innesi var.)

Neon diamond or diamond(Paracheirodon innesi diamond)

These fish do not have any neon stripes at all. The diamond type of neons has only a light color and a reddish tail. Reaches sizes up to 3 centimeters. More details: Neon diamond or diamond

A very rare and expensive type of neon, with a characteristic veil-shaped fins. Reach up to 4 cm in length. Content parameters are standard. Cost 5.4 US dollars. More details: Neon voile and neon orange

Neon orange or orange

Rare species! Neon resembles a transparent orange slice. It is the subject of hunting by gourmet gourmets of the aquarium world.

Interesting facts about neons

"Neons: A Bloody History"

As it was already said earlier, a certain French citizen, Auguste Rabaud, was the first person who became interested in neons. Well, since he was a dashing businessman and was looking for gold in the tropical forests of the Amazon River, and at the same time he was catching exotic butterflies and collecting orchids, again not for idle curiosity, but for further sale - the reflection of the neon fish was greedily reflected by a gold coin in his insatiable eyes .
Everyone knows that greed and greed do not lead to good because these acts are included in the list of deadly sins. Rabo also paid for this. And it all happened like this:
Auguste Rabot wandered around tropical forests Amazon and caught the infection - tropical fever. Fortunately, it was pumped out by the local aborigines - the Peruvian Indians. Having recovered, Rabo, in one of the Indian huts, first saw neons floating in a makeshift bowl. It was then that Rabo came up with a business idea on how to profit from these shiny fish.
He organized the transportation of fish to the continent, and the poor little neons were stuffed into wooden boxes, coating the cracks with resin, and in addition, the fish were not fed anything during transportation. However, the neons turned out to be resilient and arrived safely in the United States of America.
Rabo sent most of the surviving neons to Germany, and gave the rest to the fanatic and expert on tropical fish, William Innesi. Remembering the nature of O. Rabo, it should be said that this was done not out of the kindness of his heart, but for the purpose of advertising - after all, Innes was the publisher of an aquarium magazine and Rabo was hoping for the publication of an article about his mega find, with all the ensuing profit-making consequences...
The article was published, in addition, Inessi handed over the fish to ichthyologist D. Myers, who in 1936. published scientific work with a description of a new species of fish and named them in honor of Inessi - Paracheirodon innesi.

Reference:
William Thornton Innes (1874 -1969)- Born in Philadelphia, USA, where he graduated from school. Upon completion of his studies, he began working for his father in the publishing house. In 1917 he published his first book, “About Goldfish.” In 1932 founded his famous magazine "Aquarium", which existed for 35 years. In addition, since 1920, Innes regularly organized aquarium exhibitions. Also in 1932 published the book “Exotic aquarium fish”, which was regularly republished.
George Myers (1938-1970)- US citizen: ichthyologist, zoologist and herpetologist, was a professor at Stanford University from 1942 to 1994. - Professor National Museum Brazil in Rio de Janeiro.

Thus began the neon boom! Employees of the largest aquarium companies made Auguste Rabaud rich by generously and regularly paying him decent sums for the supply of neons. Aquarium businessmen hoped to reproduce them and thereby return the funds spent on Rabo. But that was not the case, all the swept neon eggs died for unknown reasons.
In turn, Rabo, realizing the benefits of his monopoly position, strictly kept the secret of the habitat of neons and secretly left for the Amazon for new party fish. This situation lasted three years until spies from aquarium companies tracked Rabo down to the Ucayali River, where he was killed. A year later, the supply of neon fish was established without the participation of the deceased.

Neons, what else?!

Neons are called the initiators of aquarium chemistry. This is due to the fact that in order to breed them and obtain the “necessary soft, spawning water,” aquarists had to carefully study the hydrochemistry of water, which is why the aquarium business rose to a higher level.
- Eggs and juveniles of neons are catastrophically afraid of lighting, from which they inevitably die. The neon genetic program plays such a cruel joke on them, which allows the fish to develop only in twilight, as happens in the tropical natural environment Amazon River.
- Neons have scales, but under it there is skin, which consists of special pigment cells - chromatophores. Actually, they produce the neon-metallic color of the fish from the blood.
- Fish do not emit light, it is only reflection and refraction of incident rays of light.
- Not only neons can glow neon, but also many other inhabitants of the aquarium world. For example, the neon goby oceanops (Elacatinus oceanops), the size of which is comparable to neons and is 5 cm.

in the photo there is a neon goby oceanops

Many fans of the aquarium world wonder why neons need such an attention-grabbing color, because it is very dangerous? Until now, there is no scientific explanation for this color of fish. There is only an assumption that they need it to attract a partner during the mating season, as well as in order to confuse the attacking predator, disorienting it when the flock of neons scatters.

Recommended reading about neon:
1. Kochetov S. “Neons and small characinids”
2. Kochetov S. “Characinids in the aquarium: from neons to piranhas”
The author of the books talks about many types of tropical fish, including neon fish and other small characins. From the books you will learn how to prepare an aquarium for neons, their conditions of maintenance, feeding and reproduction.

All of the above is just the fruit of observing this type of aquarium fish and collecting various information from owners and breeders. We would like to share with visitors not only information, but also with live emotions, allowing you to penetrate the world of aquariums more fully and subtly. Register on, participate in discussions on the forum, create profile topics where you will talk about your pets in the first person and first-hand, describe their habits, behavior and content, share with us your successes and joys, share and learn from experience others. We are interested in every bit of your experience, every second of your joy, every awareness of a mistake, which makes it possible for your comrades to avoid the same mistake. The more of us there are, the more pure and transparent drops of goodness there are in the life and everyday life of our seven billion society.

IN last years The hobby of aquarium keeping is gaining increasing popularity. And this is not at all surprising, given that few people manage to resist the unique beauty of a beautifully designed artificial pond, which will not only become a wonderful decoration in any room, but also an excellent relaxation after a hard day. working day. But no matter how hard any aquarist tries to create a bright and unforgettable design in his vessel, adding new decorative elements to it, the main decoration was and remains precisely aquarium fish, prominent representative which is a neon fish.

Habitat in nature

Neon vulgare was first described by Gehry in 1927. They live in South America, native to the Paraguay, Rio Tacuari, and Brasil river basins.

And blue neons prefer to inhabit nature slow tributaries big rivers. These are rivers of dark water flowing through dense jungle, so sunlight very little falls into the water. They live in flocks, live in the middle layers of water and feed on various insects.

IN this moment Neons are very widely bred for commercial purposes and are practically not caught in the wild.

Description

This is a small and slender fish. Aquarium fish blue neo They grow up to 4 cm in length and they live for about 3-4 years. As a rule, you don’t notice their death, it’s just that the flock gets smaller and smaller year after year.

Neon is distinguished primarily by a bright blue stripe running across the entire body, which makes it very noticeable. And in contrast to it, there is a bright red stripe, which starts from the middle of the body and goes to the tail, slightly extending onto it. What can I say? Easier to see.

With proper care, selection and retention temperature conditions You will never have problems with the maintenance and reproduction of neons.

Neon maintenance conditions:

Water temperature 18 – 24 °C. If you plan to breed fish, the water temperature should be from 22 to 24 °C. Neons can also be kept at water temperatures up to 28°C, but the life expectancy is reduced by more than half. That is, the neon will live no more than two years.
Hardness of water up to 8°
Acidity pH 5-6.5
Water it is advisable to use only soft.
Water change it is desirable weekly, up to 30% of the total volume of water.
Aquarium. The aquarium may be small, but keep in mind that this is a schooling fish and you need to take several neons. Count on a little more than one liter of water for one neon, that is, for a 50-liter aquarium you can take up to 40k of neons.
Plants are also needed. Neon fish loves vegetation very much. Vegetation is needed for the neons to hide. In a densely planted aquarium, neons will be much more comfortable.
Priming. The soil doesn't really matter. You can take small pebbles. It is advisable to use a primer as dark as possible, preferably black. This is because neon colors are practically invisible on a light ground, but on a black background the colors of the neon fish are expressed much better.
Lighting It should be moderate, it is advisable to arrange a dark place with plants.

Feeding

What to feed neons? It’s enough just to feed them, they are unpretentious and eat all types of food - live, frozen, artificial. It is important that the food is not large, since they have a rather small mouth. Their favorite foods are bloodworms and tubifex. It is important that feeding be as varied as possible, this is how you will create conditions for health, growth, and bright neon colors.

Sex differences

It is quite simple to distinguish a neon male from a female, although the sexual differences are not clearly pronounced. The fact is that females are noticeably fuller, this is especially visible in a flock, where males with their flat tummies look thin. Unfortunately, this only manifests itself in adult fish, but since you need to buy a school of neons, there will still be pairs in it.

Reproduction

Neons reach sexual maturity at eight months and retain the ability to spawn for up to 4-5 years, of course, provided they are kept in optimal conditions. Ideally, immediately before planting for spawning, the spawners should be seated for a week in different containers with a water temperature of 22℃ . At this time, you need to feed intensively and variedly, be sure to include live food in the diet. To dilute neons, prepare a solid glass container with a volume of 10-20 liters.

Disinfect it and fill it with distilled water. Add 200 ml of water from the aquarium containing neons. At the bottom of the spawning tank, place a bunch of Java moss (if you are 100% sure that there are no snails on it) or a nylon sponge.

The main thing in breeding neons is to properly prepare the water. Neons can lay eggs in any water (even in a general aquarium), but fertilization is possible only in soft water (up to 3°). It is optimal for the rigidity to be about 1°. Neons prefer to spawn in slightly acidic water (pH 5.5-6). You can acidify it folk remedies- for example, a decoction of alder cones, a peat decoction, or you can use special preparations (fortunately, there are plenty of them on sale now).

Do not blow too much air in the spawning tank, raise the temperature to 25-26℃ and you can start the spawners. Shade the breeding aquarium on all sides, leaving only one corner dimly lit to see the results of spawning. Everything should be done by morning. The bulk of the eggs should be on the substrate and under it. It is necessary to place the breeders back into the general aquarium, and carefully shake the eggs from the substrate to the bottom.

Reduce the water level in the spawning tank with eggs to 7-10 cm and add an antifungal agent (for example, methylene blue or General Tonic). At a temperature of 25℃, eggs develop in 36-48 hours. The fry first hang on the glass, then begin to swim. Feeding neon fry is very difficult. IN early age Neon fry see very poorly; they only develop an orientation towards light - phototaxis. This is what you need to use for feeding. The entire aquarium must be darkened, leaving only a ray of light in one corner.

In the illuminated place, ciliates necessary for feeding the fry will accumulate. With such lighting, the neon fry will not remain hungry; when they find themselves in a cloud of ciliates, they begin to actively feed. This makes it possible to save all the young. Gradually, the fry are transferred to feeding on Artemia nauplii and rotifers, and later on small cyclops. It is gradually necessary to increase the hardness of the water in the spawning tank with the fry, adding a small portion of water from the general aquarium daily.

Diseases

Neon (fish) can get sick from all types of diseases, and these can be not only contagious, but also non-contagious ailments. Since fish are very small and fragile, they do not tolerate stress quite well. This is especially true when they are being chased by taller roommates. Stress or illness in pets can be identified by their color. So, the whole body of the fish may noticeably turn pale, and the stripe may disappear by half. What else can affect the health of fish? These are uncomfortable conditions - heat water, bright light, absence of fellow creatures. Most often, in this case, a disease called ichthyophthyrosis, or “semolina,” may occur. Fish also have their own disease, which affects only their species - plistophorosis, or “neon disease”. The first and main symptom of this infection is fading of the stripes. This disease is only 5% curable.

In order to enjoy these pets for as long as possible, it is recommended to feed them no more than once a day, while not forgetting to create one fasting day once every 7 days. In addition, when decorating the aquarium, create certain darkened areas.

Remember that neons react very poorly to copper, so you need to carefully monitor what substances are contained in the aquarium preparations you purchase.

Blue neon - feeding HD video

100 red neons in an aquarium - HD video

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