Pregnant neon tetras

[Shnookina]

I have 5 neon tetra and one looks like it could have eggs but i'm noy sure, can anyone show me a picture so i can compare please? and if it is should i put it in a breeding trap?

 

[Mike Rathnow]

If you're thinking about breeding neons, then the breeding trap isn't the way you want to go. Neons are egg scatterers, and are also notorious egg eaters. If your serious about breeding them. You'll first need to condition them on live food. Watching the females plump up with eggs is when you want to start setting up your spawning tank. A 5gal. to 10gal. tank is all you'll need for a spawnig tank. I always perferred using a 5gal. tank. One word of caution when breeding neons. A lot of the neon brought into the country are sent through scanners, and the radar used to scan the fish have sterilized a lot of the males. And you'll end up with a lot of infertile eggs.

To set up your tank for spawning. You'll need soft and acidic water. A dh of 2.0 to 2.5 is what your looking for. And a ph of 5.5 to 6.0 with a temp of around 76 to 79 degrees. You can use either cured spanish moss or java moss for spawning neons. Just make sure if using spanish moss that it is cured and clean. I also put in boiled peat in the tank which will help with your ph. Neons are usually morning spawners. Which means they'll spawn at the first light of morning. So it'll be to your advantage to setup everything when you'll be home in the morning. I usually set my spawners up on a friday evening, so Saturday morning I can be there to remove the adults after they have spawned.

After the neons have spawned the fry will usually be free swimming in 3 days. Believe me when I say the fry are tiny. They look like tiny slivers of glass at first. And need to be fed with infusoria at first, until they're big enough to be fed on brine shrimp nauplii. No filtration is needed in the the tank. I will put in a small air stone to help aerate the tank. When the fry start to feed on the nauplii, I'll install a small sponge filter in the tank. Good luck to ya, if you decide to try spawning neons.

Mike

 

[Shnookina]

thanks very much for your advise, could you possible get me a picture so i know if they are or not?