If you want to admire the houses with bright beautiful aquarium fish, caring for which is simple enough, the neon fish is especially for you. In nature, this species lives in clean, calm rivers with clear water, for example, the Amazon. And to us in Russia the neon hit just five decades ago. Neon is named so, because along his whole body he has a bright luminous strip. Usually it is blue, but there are other colors. The shape of the strip can distinguish males from females. In males, it is straight, and their partners in the middle slightly curved. The fish themselves are small, the body length is only three to four centimeters, while the female is larger than the male, and the abdomen is more round. In ordinary neon, the lower part of the body is bright red, and the fins are transparent.
Varieties of aquarium fish of neon.
Four species of neon were widely used among aquarists. First of all, the blue neon, or ordinary neon . This is the smallest representative of these fish. Just at it the forward part of a trunk red. The characteristic strip on the side is blue, reaches the very eyes, and closer to the tail, it can have a greenish or purple hue. Another species is neon red , the brightest representative of this family. He has a bright red color has the entire lower body. The strip, stretching from the eye to the fat fin, is still blue. Neon blue , on the contrary, gave up red tones. His body shines with shades of blue "metallic." The strip on the side is already dark blue, the abdomen is pinkish-violet. Very impressive looks the fourth popular form - black neon . His stripes are two: one is shiny and narrow in blue, and the other, located below - is wide and black. Remains of red flowers, characteristic of his relatives, were preserved on the back and abdomen in the region of the tail.
Rules for the maintenance and care of fish by neon.
Contain neon in aquariums is not difficult. To look after fish can both professional amateurs and aquarists-beginners. An indispensable condition for a comfortable life for these fish is soft water, in another they will not be able to multiply. Neon - fish flocks, if there are more than three in the aquarium, they will always stick together. If the fish are frightened or feel danger, they gather in a dense pack and swim completely synchronously, which looks amazingly beautiful, especially if they live in your spacious aquarium with many plants. But, of course, it is not necessary to expose fish to any stress, because from this they can even fade with glowing stripes. But if it does happen, do not worry - over time, the color should recover. So, let's figure out how to care for aquarium fish neon.
Aquarium.
In a large aquarium you can settle up to several dozen fish. In a small cozy, only 5-6 fish will feel themselves, but they will help you to be inspired by the beauty of the ocean right at home. Contain the neon should be at a temperature of 18 to 23 degrees. The maximum temperature of water is 28 degrees, but in this heat the fish begin to age quickly and will live less than a year, leaving no offspring. Under good conditions, neons exist for three to five years.
Priming.
In the wild, neons usually live in depth, so it is important for them to create a combination of light and densely shaded areas. Grunt is better to take a dark color, but this is purely an artistic solution, because on a dark background the bright colors of fish look more expressive. And the fish themselves do not matter what shade has a bottom. A water filter should not create strong currents, because in deep rivers, to which neons are accustomed, it does not exist. In the aquarium, there must be quiet zones where fish can stay alone.
Feed.
In food, neons are very unpretentious. They are happy to consume and dry food, and live, as well as frozen and freeze-dried. You can feed in the form of granules, flakes. Perhaps, it is not necessary to throw them tablets for bottom fish, although a very hungry neon and with them is able to cope. Do not feed the neon too often: this species is located to obesity, the stronger the higher the water temperature. Obesity is especially risky for females, because then they are not able to sweep the eggs, and the excess caviar remaining in their body begins to rot, hitting the very fish.
Treatment.
As a rule, there is no need to treat neon. However, if some fish is still sick, then when treating it, consider that neons are extremely sensitive to the content of copper in the water. Therefore, if the diseased fish is in the same aquarium as healthy fish, reduce the dose of the drugs in half.
Breeding.
For successful neon breeding, remember a few simple rules. The main condition, as already mentioned above - very soft water. If neon itself survives in hard water, then its caviar is definitely not, because in this case the shell of the eggs becomes too tight, and the newborn fish can not enter the water. At the time of spawning it is better to take small in volume aquariums - up to ten liters. You can use conventional but carefully sterilized jars. Water is better to take distilled, without any impurities. In it you can add a little water from the common aquarium, where the neon live. Chemical properties of water should be shifted towards acidic ones. This can be achieved by adding a decoction of oak bark, alder cones or elm. For a substrate, it is better to use a fishing line or a grid, only not live perifera, as snails can also enter into the aquarium with them. With a special glass rod, fix the substrate at the bottom, and in the evening, plant a pair of neon fish on it to spawn. The process itself, as a rule, goes in the morning, under low illumination. If spawning has not happened, fish can be left for another couple of days, but not longer. In case of failure, it is better to let them go back to the common aquarium and feed them regularly for several days.
After spawning, the neon should be removed, and the aquarium with caviar should be densely obscured, since caviar does not tolerate light. On the second or third day must appear larvae: they will hang on the walls. In five days the resulting fry should begin to swim. In the first days of their life, they can be fed with infusoria, colvet and other very small fodder. But keep in mind that unlike adult neon, their fry are very picky in eating. In addition, the aquarium can be illuminated by a dim scattered light.
Then gradually mix the hard water into the aquarium. This can be done through a dropper, with an intensity of about 200 ml per hour. Or, in advance, transfer the fertilized caviar to hard water, shortly before the fry, in which case no difficulties should arise.