Pristella Tetra Breeding?

[Sasha]

I have 4 Pristella Tetras (also called X-Ray Tetras) and I think they're trying to breed or something. Once in a while they all would zip around the tank in a tight group. Occasionally, one of them would "shake" his body in front of another and then they would swim side by side for a moment. I noticed this odd behavior about a month ago and still could not figure out what they were doing. I know nothing about tetra breeding and this behavior hs left me puzzled. Any suggestion on what they are doing?

One more question! How do you tell males from females? Anyone know?

 

[Lateral Line]

The behaviour you describe is pretty typical courting and spawning behaviour.

The easiest way to sex Pristella maxillaris is to use the "see through" nature of their bodies. You'll be able to see the swim bladder, it is a shiny "bubble" like organ. In the females it is large and rounded at the back, the males is smaller and comes to a point. Generally, the females tend to look more silvery because of this. As with most fish, they are also a little deeper, and when viewed from above, a little wider.

 

[Sasha]

I thought my Pristella tetars were courting, but I read that they are picky when they selecte their mates. I never breed tetars before, so this is all new to me. Can anyone provide a little information about their breeding and spawning? Do they need any special needs, like plants or a seperate tank?

 

[smithrc]

I thought my Pristella tetars were courting, but I read that they are picky when they selecte their mates. I never breed tetars before, so this is all new to me. Can anyone provide a little information about their breeding and spawning? Do they need any special needs, like plants or a seperate tank?

bump - from your signature it worked - any tips??

 

[Sasha]

I was so suprised to discover that my Pristella Teatrs actually spawned! Of course I wasn't expecting this so I only managed to save 2 fry, but one died.

Well, here's the information I have about them. I had a pair of Pristella tetras since last August and the a few months ago I introduced two more. I chose the smallest ones in the pet store, since they were about the size of the other Tetars. They all schooled very tightly, but I noticed that two of them frequently wandered away from the others. I noticed that one of the Tetras wiggled his body in front of the other one, but there was something else strange. I would often see all of the Pristella Tetras chase after each other in choas and with rapid movements, like they were playing a rough game of tag. That's about all I did! I never intended them to breed since I read they were picky about their mates.

I'm currently feeding the tiny fry a powdered food called First Bites, but I have to sink it first since it's too shy to venture to the surface. The remaining fry looks like a young Pristella Tetra with the forked tail, long and narrow body and faint markings on the dorsal fins. I'll keep you all updated!

 

[clumsypooch]

I was checking out the new plant growth in my tank yesterday, a lone lilly pad at the surface, when I notice one tiny little pristella tetra swimming around. I suddenly noticed one more, then two more, for a total of four very small pristella tetras.

I have done nothing special to my tank to encourage my tetras to mate, and I have had the same school of tetras with no additions for almost two years now. The only thing that has changed over the years is my plants, especially the cripts have exploded. I think this provided very good, dark, safe hidding places for the fry.

Since I am not really trying to actively breed my fish, I don't plan on doing anything special, like remove the baby fish, don't even think I could net them if I tried. And they seemed to not mind eating the regular fish food I put in yesterday, once they came across small enough pieces.

I will keep you posted and let you know if they make it.

 

[NEON98101]

I have same experience with my Lemon tetras. When my tank was covered with tons of plants like jungle. 3 frys survived on their own and grow up to the adult. Since then I cleaned up my tank considerably and got some bottom feeding Corys. This never happened again.
Many Tetra do spawn in the community tank but almost all the eggs or frys get eaten by other fish uncluding the parents. Even in nature, their survival rate is so slim that that is why they lay so many eggs 100~200 depends on the speicy. I know my neon do lay eggs also in the community tank but there are no surviver.
I don't know about the Pristella Tetra but Neon tend to release the eggs in higher up of the tank and almost all the eggs would get eaten even before they have chance to fall to the bottom. On the other hand, Lemons do go all over the tank wherever the bushy part high or low part of the tank and they do release the eggs so quick. I must say some of their eggs have better chance to hide from the hungry mouths than Neon tetra's eggs.
But generally, whatever the Tetra you have, their eggs and tiny frys are in denger until they get bigger than other fish's mouth. That is why they need to breed in separate tank if you want decent number of frys. But once in a while, if you have jungle like tank, some may beat the odd. It got to be lucky also. RIGHT PLACE AT RIGHT TIME. That is the truly natural way. Except in nature, the population of the fish is not as dense as in aquarium. That how the next generation get going.