Breeding wild caught cardinal tetras

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Blackwater guru

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So I have had this blackwater biotope aquarium for almost 5 months now and I was thinking of breeding some of my wild caught cardinal tetras of which I have a school of 15.

I am aware that these fish are notorious for being challenging to breed but I am willing to challenge myself and I have done tons of research regarding cardinal tetras and the native enviroments of these fish.

From what I have read regarding breeding this species I will have to set up a separate breeding tank of some sort that mimics the natural enviroment of this fish species which means having a low pH but also plenty of darkness in the tank which can be accomplished with floating plants.

In my current aquarium of 145 liters I currently use bags of tea along with dried leaf litter and seed pods to add the necessary tannins to to the water.

In my breeding tank I will also use tannins which will make the water darker which is exactly what I am looking for because the eggs and fry are very light sensitive in the beginning.

I will also have to condition a pair of cardinal tetras to make them ready for breeding which I could do by using frozen red mosquito larvae which is what I usually feed my fish anyways and if I could I would probably feed them a larger variety of insects.

As for triggering spawning there are a few ways and those include doing a larger water change of 25-50 % then waiting for a few hours and afterwards adding colder water which simulates the rain season which is when these fish would breed in nature and after they have mated and laid the eggs I will have to move the female and male to the home aquarium .

Once I do get the fry I will have to prepare food such as infusoria or finely crushed egg yolk for the baby fish so that they won't starve along with frequent water changes because they are highly sensitive to water quality.

I do have a pair of german blue ram cichlids a male and a female but I don't think they would breed or make good parents even though they are technically easier to breed because so far they have been quite agressive to each other but they have not injured one another at least not yet.

As for the equipment I don't need very much besides a smaller aquarium along with a heater and sponge filter + a dimmer with weaker lighting and a filter outtake to protect the tiny baby fish from getting sucked into the filter.
 
Sounds like you have it under control, I am looking at setting up a breeding tank for neon, glow light and maybe ember tetra in the future so please post your progress. I did have some luck with red eyed tetra (13 that became adult fish) in my tetra tank and had 3 glow light tetra fry too.
 
To breed Cardinal tetras.
Set up a tank about 18-24 inches long.
Have water with a GH of 0 and a pH around 6.0-6.5.
Put a thin layer of gravel on the bottom and a clump of Java Moss.
Have an air operated sponge filter in the tank along with a heater. Set the temperature to 26C.
Have a coverglass on the tank.

Start feeding the adult fish 3-5 times a day with a varied diet. Do this for at least 2 weeks before you breed them.
Do a 75% water change every day or two on the main tank while you are feeding them more often. This will keep the tank clean.

After the fish have been fed really well for a couple of weeks, separate males and females. Put all the males in one tank and all the females in another tank. Keep them separate for 4-5 days. Continue feeding them well while they are separated.

After they have been apart for 5 days, put 1 fat female in the breeding tank and pick a nice male to go in with her.
Put the coverglass on the breeding tank and leave the fish for 24 hours or until the female has shed her eggs. She will look skinny.

After that, remove the adult fish and black out the breeding tank so no light gets to the eggs.
Do not have a light on the breeding tank.
Cover the front, back and sides with black card or something to stop the light getting in.

Wait until the eggs hatch and the babies start swimming. Then reduce the water level in the tank to about 4 or 5 inches. Start feeding the babies on infusoria and green water. After a week on that you can add newly hatched brineshrimp to their diet but continue feeding infusoria and green water for at least 1 week after you start feeding them brineshrimp.
 

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