Neap tides happen a few week later after spring tides, these tides happen when the moon and sun are at 90 degrees to the earths orbit, and the tidal range between high and low tide is at its minimum, these occur when the moon is in its first and last quarter phase, because of the position of the moon and son their gravitational force on the waters of earth basically cancel each other out, this causes smaller differences between high and low tides.