cardinal tetras

[fish48]

Three months ago I bought a group of 12 young cardinal tetras from local pet store, I put in a 18 "by 12" by 12" tank, I've been feeding them on a good variety of live foods all grown on well and look in best condition for breeding , so last week I decided to see if I could get them to bread, after setting up a breeding tank and separating male and females for a few days I picked out the best pair yesterday they spawned today the eggs have hatched babies are so tiny like splints of glass.

 

[fishorama]

Congrats! What will you feed such tiny fry?

 

[fish48]

The babies are no bigger than a daphnia so they will need to be fed on the smallest food as possible, I had set up a infusoria culture in advance, I will fed the babies once they become three swimming within the next two or three days,

close up of fry and infusoria

 

[GaryE]

I was able to feed mine by mixing krill fines powder with hikari first bites, putting it in a pill bottle with water and shaking it, then squirting it to their favourite hiding spots with a pipette. It worked.

Krill fines are a wonderful krill find.

 

[Magnum Man]

I have heard that hard boiled chicken egg yolk, rubbed into powder and mixed with distilled water, makes a good fry food for small fry...

 

[emeraldking]

I have heard that hard boiled chicken egg yolk, rubbed into powder and mixed with distilled water, makes a good fry food for small fry...

It really does...

 

[Back in the fold]

Sure a lot of Tetra breeding going on lately here on The Great TFF Forum . I , for one , am very impressed as I think that Tetra breeding is the pinnacle of breeder skill .

 

[GaryE]

Sure a lot of Tetra breeding going on lately here on The Great TFF Forum . I , for one , am very impressed as I think that Tetra breeding is the pinnacle of breeder skill .

I say that every time I breed a tetra!

But I would say it's fairly easy in many cases. I have more difficulties breeding the corydoras group than I do with many tetras. I think we have ourselves psyched out about the little shoalers. Old time aquarists bred them regularly, before we all talked ourselves out of trying.

Still the myth of their being close to impossible makes me look pretty impressive to people who don't know how simple it is. The important thing is not to mention when your efforts give you nothing, and only report the successes.

 

[Back in the fold]

The important thing is not to mention when your efforts give you nothing, and only report the successes.

Wise advice for nearly every field of endeavor .

 

[GaryE]

I put a fit looking 3 pairs of Pristella maxillaris in a tank full of my soft tapwater last year. The tank was heated and had a false substrate eggs would fall through and be protected. After 36 hours, I caught the adults.
Soon after, I saw larvae, which I protected from light because I didn't know if they were affected by it. A couple of days later, one swam and I started feeding tiny quantities of ultra-fine food.

That was that. Regular water changes, increases in size of food and I had 40 in a few weeks.

Honestly, that was it. I garnered great prestige in my club for breeding tetras, and all I really did was have a free tank to do it in, and good, low mineral tap water. I could have used Reverse Osmosis water if I lived elsewhere. No mysteries, no unmentioned tricks.

Cardinals need more playing with the water, but not much more. The little babies are pretty in tannin stained water. Black neons, which I was told many times were close to impossible, have proven really easy. There's a conspiracy of tetra breeders...

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

I have heard that hard boiled chicken egg yolk, rubbed into powder and mixed with distilled water, makes a good fry food for small fry...

That's an old old school tip.
I believe Hartz or Tetra used to sell a liquid fry food that contained egg yolk. It came in a tube like toothpaste.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

Apparently Interpet manufacturers it now and it's available overseas and maybe you can find it in the U.S. /Canada.

 

[GaryE]

I used liquifry to raise zebra danios when I was a kid. But you can use what replaced it, HIkari first bites. You put a little on the point of a knife, drop it into a pill vial, cap and shake it, and dump it in. It gives you good control of the amount and lets you aim it to where the the fry are. You only need that for a week before they can wolf down freshly hatched artemia and really start growing.

I found the old egg trick could REALLY easily foul the water, although it worked. Plus the egg yolk had to be replaced regularly, where the powder food lasted. I also mix powder/krill fines in, in alternation, for my pill vial technique.

At one point, every aquarium store and the fish departments of hardware stores, and walmart style department stores all carried all 3 types of liquifry. That was a sign the hobby used to breed its fish, rather than just buy them. You could also get tiny vials of super powdered food for livebearers or egg layers right beside the liquifry tubes in boxes.