Neon Tetra in a Planted Tank: Schooling Numbers and Shrimp Compatibility

A neon tetra school needs at least eight to ten fish and a tank with a 60 x 30 cm base, and it shares a planted tank with adult cherry shrimp without trouble. The catch is the babies. Neons will pick off newborn shrimplets, so a shrimp colony grows more slowly with them than it would on its own.

If you want a busy shrimp breeding tank, keep the neons elsewhere. If you want a planted community tank with some shrimp in it, neons are one of the safer fish you can pick.

Neon, cardinal and green neon tetras by size and water

All figures come from the Seriously Fish species profiles. Treat them as a working range for keepers rather than hard limits.

The neon is the coolest-water fish of the three. That suits a shrimp tank, because cherry shrimp are comfortable in the low to mid 20s as well.

Cardinals want it warmer, and green neons want softer water. If your tap water is moderately hard, the neon is the easiest fit of the three.

Video: Dustin’s Fish Tanks

How many neon tetras fit your tank footprint

Seriously Fish recommends buying a mixed-sex group of at least eight to ten, alongside other schooling fish for security. A 60 cm tank is the starting point for that group, not a place to squeeze in twenty.

Length matters more than volume here. Neons swim the length of the tank as a group, so a long 75 or 90 cm tank lets a school of fifteen or more actually move, while a tall cube of the same volume does not.

Planting shapes the school too. Keep an open swimming lane across the middle and push stem plants, ferns and Cryptocoryne to the back and sides. Our planted tank setup guide covers that layout from substrate up.

Which shrimp live alongside neons

Neons have small mouths and eat small live food, and a shrimplet a few days old is exactly that size. Adult shrimp are usually left alone.

• Cherry shrimp are the best match. They breed fast enough to outpace losses if you give them dense moss for cover.
• Amano shrimp grow too large to be at risk, and they breed only in brackish water, so there are no fry to lose.
• Crystal red and other Caridina shrimp breed slowly and cost more, so any fry loss hurts. Keep them in a species-only tank.

Water overlap is good for cherry shrimp. The neon’s 1 to 12 dGH range sits comfortably inside the targets in our cherry shrimp water parameters guide.

Java moss and other fine-leaved plants make the biggest difference. Shrimplets hide in them, and neons rarely hunt deep inside a thick clump.

Adding neons to an established shrimp tank

Seriously Fish notes that years of commercial breeding have weakened the ornamental strain, and store neons can carry disease into a tank you have spent months building.

Hold new fish in a quarantine tank for fish and plants for two weeks before they join the shrimp. Most shrimp tanks can’t take a medication dose, so catching a problem early is your only real option.

Add the whole school at once, feed small portions of crushed flake and frozen daphnia, and let the shrimp clean up what drifts to the bottom.