Black Phantom Babies

Memoi · Dec 22, 2011

Hi all,

I have my black phantom tetras that have started to scater eggs yesterday evening and as usual i have no idea what to do :sad:

!!

Chances are they will eat all their eggs and if they don't the other fish will take care of it but...

Does anybody knows how long it takes for the eggs to hatch and how am i suppose to take care of the fries in the event of the other fish not doing their job properly :fish:

Thanks for all your advice

eaglesaquarium · Dec 22, 2011

Do you want to rear the fry or not? I couldn't figure out if you wanted them eaten or if you wanted to raise them. :dunno:

Memoi · Dec 22, 2011

eaglesaquarium said:
Do you want to rear the fry or not? I couldn't figure out if you wanted them eaten or if you wanted to raise them.

Well, a bit of both really, jokingly wise i hope they are going to be eaten (as eggs) cos 1 i know nothing about breeding, 2 i won't be able to get rid of them (even if that means to bring them to te shop) and 3 if i keep them then i will definitaly need a bigger tank and my husband is not quite keen on buying me one (yet)

But...if i happen to have those baby fish then i want to be ready to take care of them properly, wich (in pregnancy fish time) does not leave me a lot of time to get ready!!

Can you help?

eaglesaquarium · Dec 22, 2011

Yup. Don't do anything. If the eggs don't get eaten right away the fry will have to fend for itself, the same as it would in the wild. If you have natural plants, you could bunch up some together for the fry to hide out in and eat microbes off. But, given that you don't seem very keen to keep them, just let it be. The fish will take care of the rest. Most of them (if not all) will be live food for the others in the tank. If any survive the increased bioload won't matter much. I would assume that one (maybe an outside chance for two) would be the most that would make it all the way to adulthood.

Just relax and allow nature to take its course. If you really wanted them, the best thing to do would be to put all the phantoms into a breeding tank and then remove them after the eggs are laid back into the main tank. Then you could care for the fry. With this bunch, just wait and see what happens. There is probably nothing at all to worry about. The good news is that your phantoms are "happy" enough to breed. That's a great sign for the welfare of your fish. Well done! :good:

Memoi · Dec 22, 2011

eaglesaquarium said:
Yup. Don't do anything. If the eggs don't get eaten right away the fry will have to fend for itself, the same as it would in the wild. If you have natural plants, you could bunch up some together for the fry to hide out in and eat microbes off. But, given that you don't seem very keen to keep them, just let it be. The fish will take care of the rest. Most of them (if not all) will be live food for the others in the tank. If any survive the increased bioload won't matter much. I would assume that one (maybe an outside chance for two) would be the most that would make it all the way to adulthood.

Just relax and allow nature to take its course. If you really wanted them, the best thing to do would be to put all the phantoms into a breeding tank and then remove them after the eggs are laid back into the main tank. Then you could care for the fry. With this bunch, just wait and see what happens. There is probably nothing at all to worry about. The good news is that your phantoms are "happy" enough to breed. That's a great sign for the welfare of your fish. Well done!

Thanks for your advice, much appreciated.

But do you know how long i need to sit tight just to know when i can start to do my water change without hurting any one? and also because im very curious