Have you tried keeping a Neon Tetra fish alone? or have you wondered if you could be able to keep a single of this type of fish all alone? If you have contemplated this, you must have wondered if it will get lonely when kept alone. If you are reading this article, it means you are wondering if Neon Tetras could get lonely when kept all alone. I suggest you read this article to the end.
Do Neon Tetras get lonely? Neon Tetras are schooling fish and cannot be kept alone without their kind or they will get lonely and become depressed.
Schooling fish are those fish that need to be around their kind for them to thrive and live very happily and lively, and neon tetras are one of those fish.
The fact is, no Neon could thrive while kept all alone, as being without their kind normally have some negative impacts on them, which we will look into in a short while.
Neon Tetras are small fish in the Tetra family, they are non-aggressive and they dwell in a tropical environment in the wild, meaning that they need to live in warm water with a temperature around 68-80°F, which means you must have a heater in their tanks for them to thrive.
They are not very hardy too and could easily die of stress, that’s one of the reasons they shouldn’t be left all alone in a tank.
Why Neon Tetras Can’t Live Alone
Learning that they can’t live individually on their own without their kind, you might be wondering why and what will happen if they are kept alone individually. Here are the reasons they can’t be kept individually on their own.
1. Loneliness: Being a schooling fish, they need each other in order to be happy, healthy, and active too, and without being with their kind, they will become very lonely and dull, which might even lead to other things which we will explain below.
2. Depression: Did you know that fish could also be depressed? now you know.
They will be very inactive and unhappy when they can’t find their kind to play with and swim around with.
Depression could have many server effects on fish, which include being unnecessarily aggressive, lack of appetite and could even lead to fatality.
3. Stress: When kept all alone, they will feel loneliness, which could in return bring about depression and stress.
A depressed fish is a Stressed fish, and the other way round, so keeping a schooling fish like Neon Tetra alone could lead to stress which is very unhealthy for them, as it could lead to death and many other health issues.
4. Diseases: Neon Tetras are not very hardy like other fish, at least the present breed in shops now are not, so leaving them all alone in a tank will lead to stress and depression which could in return lead to diseases.
Once any fish stops eating, maybe due to stress and depression, their health will decline and some diseases will develop.
This is one of the negative effects of keeping a Neon All alone.
5. Discoloration: Once a neon is undergoing stress, depression, or sick, its body system will change, including the fading of its once pretty colors.
So, discoloration is one of the negative impacts of leaving a Neon Tetra all by itself.
6. Death: Lastly, the fish will eventually die if nothing is done about the situation.
There is no how a less hardy fish like the Neon Tetra that is suffering from depression and diseases will survive if other fish of its kind is not introduced into the tank, which is the only thing that could make it lively and healthy again.
So, Neon Tetras do get lonely, and that’s why they can’t be kept all alone because they will die without their kind being in the same tank.
Do Neon Tetras Need Friends?
Neon Tetras being schooling fish don’t necessarily need friends, unless their kind.
They can’t survive individually on their own without their kind being with them and that is enough for them and they don’t need other fish apart from their own in order to survive, so they don’t need friends.
Although they are good community fish, but less hardy, so they don’t mind having other peaceful fish around them, but once they are with their kind, they don’t really need other fish, so they don’t need friends and they don’t seem to care either.
Do Neon Tetras Stay Together?
Neon Tetras are schooling fish and won’t survive individually on their own. They need each other to survive, that’s why they need to stay together to survive. They should be kept between 5 to 15 in number for them to thrive.
They are schooling fish and will stay together to thrive.
Can You Have Just Two Tetras?
Yes, you can have two Tetras in your tank and they will be fine, but it is recommended to have many of them for them to be healthy and happy because they are schooling fish.
Although there are many types of Tetras, the fragile type like the Neon Tetras needs to be in their numbers for them to be their best.
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