There are many things to consider when planning to add new fish to your guppies aquarium, including their dietary needs, temperament, ideal water parameters. If you go with the wrong option by adding fish with opposite natures and needs from your guppies, guppies will suffer. So, Can guppy live with neon tetra? Let us find out.
Guppy fish can live with neon tetra as they are peaceful fish and require similar dietary needs and water parameters. However, neon tetras are prone to nipping fins when not kept in a good size school. So keep neon tetras in a school of at least six to prevent them from nipping guppy fins.
We will discuss in more depth about guppies and neon tetra’s nature, dietary needs, and their ideal water parameters in this article. Also, we will discuss if guppy fry will be safe with neon tetras or not. So let us get into it.
Contents
- 1 Can guppies and neon tetra live together in the same tank?
- 2 Guppy and neon tetra nature
- 3 Guppy and neon tetra dietary requirements.
- 4 Guppy and neon tetra ideal parameters requirements.
- 5 How to keep guppy and neon tetra together in the same tank?
- 6 Will neon tetras feed on guppy fry?
- 7 Best tankmates for guppy fish and neon tetra.
- 8 Conclusion:
Can guppies and neon tetra live together in the same tank?
Guppies and neon tetras can live together.
They both are peaceful fish and love to live with other compatible tankmates.
Guppies and neon tetra are omnivore fish and require plant and meat matter food in their diet.
Neon tetras are no threat to guppies at all and vice versa.
However, there can sometimes be neon tetra nipping guppies fins, but this is extremely rare.
Provide your neon tetras with the right living condition, and they are great with guppies.
Let us know more about neon tetras and guppies’ nature, dietary requirements, and ideal water parameters.
Guppy and neon tetra nature
It is essential to know about the nature of the fish when planning to keep them together.
As opposite nature can result in conflict, your fish will come into critical condition.
So let us know about the nature of guppy fish and neon tetra.
Guppy fish
Guppies are very peaceful fish and love to live in a community tank with compatible tankmates.
Guppies are non-aggressive and will do great with other non-aggressive fishes.
However, you can see some signs of aggression when you keep more male guppies and a few female guppies in a tank.
Male guppies will fight with each other to mate with female guppies, and as a result, there will be aggression.
Consider keeping guppies in a ratio of 2:1, two female guppies for one male guppy.
You can also keep three female guppies for one male guppy.
This will not make male guppies fight each other for reproduction, and female guppies will also not get stressed out because of constant chasing by male guppies for mating.
Neon tetra
The neon tetra is also peaceful fish and does great in a community tank if kept in the right conditions.
Neon tetras are schooling fish and like to move in a group.
Consider keeping at least six neon tetra together to form a great school of tetras.
Sometimes you can encounter your neon tetras nipping at other fish fins, including guppy, when their conditions are not met.
Like guppies, neon tetras also require lots of hiding places to save themselves.
Provide your neon tetra with the right conditions to live, and they will do great with your guppies.
Guppy and neon tetra dietary requirements.
| Guppy-Tetra Food | Serving Quantity | No of Times. |
|---|---|---|
| Veggie pellets | One pinch at a time | 2-3 times a day |
| Brine shrimp | One pinch at a time | 1-2 times a week |
| Bloodworm | One pinch at a time | 1-2 times a week |
| Tubifex Worms | One pinch at a time | 1 time a week |
| Mosquito larvae | 10-15 pieces | 2-3 times a week |
| Zucchini (Blanched) | One small slice | 3-4 times a week |
Guppies and neon tetra are omnivore fish species and need plant and meat matter food in their diet.
Guppies and neon tetras have a similar food requirements.
Good quality flakes food and veggie pellets will be suitable for your tetras and guppies.
But, you should feed them various food to ensure their enhancing colors and faster growth.
They will love to feed on live food like mosquito larvae, brine shrimp, and daphnia.
You can feed them bloodworms once a week as a treat because it contains a lot of fat which is not good for your adult guppies.
You can add vegetables to their diet by feeding them cooked peas, cucumber, lettuce, and carrots.
Guppies and neon tetras are always hungry, so don’t get confused and end up overfeeding them.
Provide them food in quantity at a time that they can complete in 1-2 minutes.
Also read: Best Homemade Food For Guppies
Guppy and neon tetra ideal parameters requirements.
| Particulars | Guppy | Neon Tetra |
| Water temperature | 72-82 °F | 70-81 °F |
| Water pH level | 6.8-7.8 | 6-7 |
From the above table, we can conclude that guppies and neon tetras have similar water parameters requirements.
Guppies require a water temperature between 72-82 °F.
Guppy requires a water pH level between 6.8-7.8.
Neon tetras require a water temperature between 70-81 °F.
Neon tetras require a water pH level between 6-7.
So, you don’t have to make significant changes in your guppy’s water parameters when planning to add neon tetras to your guppies aquarium.
How to keep guppy and neon tetra together in the same tank?
Guppies and neon tetras are great to keep togehter. But, you should take some precautions to make the best living conditions for them to live together.
Provide these things to ensure their happiness and comfort living:
- A lot of hiding places.
- Provide them with a large size tank.
- Keep them in a large group.
- Monitor their feedings.
- Perform regular water changes and tank maintenance.
A lot of hiding places.
Guppies and neon tetras both require lots of hiding places around their surroundings to keep themselves safe.
More they will feel safe, less there will be a chance of aggression in your guppy-tetra aquarium.
Usually, they will not attack each other, but neon tetras can sometimes nip at your guppies fin. So hiding places will help your guppy to keep them safe.
You can add lots of live aquatic plants and other hiding decors to create a hiding place in your guppy-tetra aquarium.
Provide them with a large size tank
Guppies and neon tetras need a big enough space to live freely and comfortably.
Follow the one inch one gallon rule, one inch of fish for every one gallon of water.
Male guppies are usually 0.6-1.4 inches in size, whereas female guppies are 1.2-2.4 inches.
Neon tetras can be 1.5 inches in size.
So if you are planning to add six neon tetras and six guppies, you will need an average of 20 gallon tank.
Here is a table showing how many guppies can live in a 20 gallon tank.
| Guppy Fish | No of Guppy Fish To Keep |
|---|---|
| Male guppy (0.6-1.4 inches) | 10-12 |
| Female guppy (1.2-2.4 inches) | 5-7 |
| Both male and female guppy | 5-8 |
Also read: How Many Guppies In A 20 Gallon Tank?
Keep them in a large group.
Neon tetras are schooling fish and prefer to live in a large group of their kind.
The same goes with the guppy fish.
Consider adding at least six neon tetras and four guppies to complete their school.
When neon tetras are not kept in a school, they can become stressed and show aggression like nipping fins.
Monitor their feedings
Guppies and neon tetras are both omnivore fish species and have similar dietary requirements.
Similar food needs can result in guppy and neon tetra competing for eating food.
So, you have to monitor your guppy and neon tetra when feeding them to ensure that everyone is getting food.
Perform regular water change and tank maintenance
When you have a large number of tetras and guppies in your aquarium, the production of waste will also get large.
More wastage will need more water change to maintain your guppy-tetra aquarium clean.
Usually, guppies don’t need a filter if you regularly maintain their tank as they don’t produce much waste like goldfish.
But quantity plays the game here, so regular water change is essential in a tank where you have large groups of neon tetras and guppies.
You can add a good filtration system with biofilter media to keep your aquarium water clean and free from harmful toxins like ammonia and nitrates.
Also read: Do Guppies Need Filters?
Will neon tetras feed on guppy fry?
It can be a problem if you want to breed your guppies in a community tank.
However, guppy fry is not safe within their species.
Adult guppies will happily feed on guppy fry as they don’t have parental instincts.
There is a very easy solution to this problem.
Add a breeding box to your guppy-tetra aquarium, or place your pregnant guppy in a separate tank.
Make sure not to keep pregnant guppy for too long in a breeding box, as it will stress them out, resulting in abortion.
Move the pregnant guppy in a breeding box just before they are going to release the fry.
You will know that pregnant female guppies will release the fry as they will show hiding behavior refuse to eat, and the gravid spot will be bigger and larger.
When you are planning to move the female pregnant guppy to a separate tank, make sure to set the tank’s parameters as it is in the home aquarium.
Also, make sure to separate the mother guppy from the fry as it will feed on the guppy fry as soon it releases the fry.
Also read: Can Guppy Fry Survive In A Community Tank?
Best tankmates for guppy fish and neon tetra.
Guppies are peaceful fish species and will happily live with neon tetras.
If you have a large tank, you can add more peaceful fishes to your guppy-tetra aquarium.
Adding more guppies is great in case you want to keep more fish.
However, there are other peaceful fish that will do great with your guppies:
- Platies
- Mollies
- Gourami
- Tetras
Adding neon tetras is a great idea, but you can also go for all those other fishes as they will also live comfortably with your guppies.
When it comes to neon tetras, the list remains the same because neon tetras are also peaceful fish.
You can keep neon tetras with any other tetra species and also with rasboras, platies, mollies, gourami, and any other peaceful fish.
Avoid adding aggressive fish like angelfish to your neon tetras and guppies aquarium.
Also read: Can Guppies Live With Betta Fish?
Conclusion:
Guppies and neon tetras can live together.
Guppies and neon tetras are peaceful fish species and do great in a community tank.
Guppies and neon tetras are omnivores and have similar dietary requirements.
They both have similar water parameters requirements.
Make sure to keep neon tetras and guppies in school if you are adding them to the same tank.