Neon Behavior

[PrairieSunflower]

I have noticed, this morning, that two of my neons are behaving differently... or maybe one is and the other is a victim of the behavior. LOL

Anyhow... my female is swimming around and one of the really small males is nearly glued to her side... makes me think of guppies when the male is wanting to mate... though I do know they do not mate in this way. So... what's up with that? I am pretty such nothing would come out of mating even if they do lay eggs and all that... I doubt my tank is right for the eggs.

 

[DrRob]

They may well be mating if all is healthy.
 
As egg scatterers and poor parents you're unlikely to ever see fry unless you've deliberately got the tank set up to do this though.

 

[TallTree01]

Just a wild guess here but I've heard that if fish get parasites or something they try to rub off on other fish.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Hmmm... I hope not. He doesn't seem to be flashing against her... just trying to keep his side to hers.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I think it was some sort of mating behavior.  By the evening, yesterday, the female bloated up like a balloon... which I am now thinking is eggs.  Last time this happened I posted a picture (as she is also a voracious eater) and people were sure it wasn't eggs and that she wouldn't live long... but she is fine and responded well to a diet (as did everyone else in the tank... they weren't fat though).
 
Anyhow... it has happened again despite that I have kept up the diet since last time she was fat... so it isn't just eating anymore.
 
Not for this time... but if I decided to give breeding them a try... (maybe in my quarantine tank)... what would I have to do to the water to make it good for egg laying and rearing little ones?


I know they are sensitive to light (for mating) and I am wondering now if I triggers them to want to mate as two things happened.  The sunlight has shifted and started coming through the round window on the tank a certain time of day.... and I have condensation lids on my tank that had a lot of algae on it... had been leaving it there as it shaded the tank nicely.... decided there was too much and cleaned it... so their tank has gotten suddenly brighter.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Scrap that idea, breeding them sometime... my tank sprung a leak.