Breeding Tetras - Seeking Advice/Experiences

sailedNJ

sailedNJ

marine biologist & architect
Jan 9, 2011
213
0
0
New Jersey, USA
Real Name
Art Vandelay
I don't care if your advice is anecdotal or if you've breed Tetras 100 times just as long as it isn't "advice" that's been cut & pasted from Wikipedia :nono:lol.

Recently I've decided to start breeding Tetras, small Tetras (since I've got limited space to spare to grow them out etc). My decision to breed them isn't based on profit, I'm doing it for the challenge. Whatever offspring I manage to raise will either be given to fish keeping friends/family, my local LFS (which will give me store credit for them), & I might just keep a few myself... you know, for the "glory" of being able to say "I raised those MYSELF!!!"

I already have schools of neons, glolights, & rummy nose tetras but after some research I decided to go with the neons. After significant reading I've come to understand that glolights are relatively easy to breed, neons are just a bit more demanding & on the whole other side of the spectrum rummy nose tetras are extremely demanding even for experienced breeders). Nonetheless even though breeding neons can take a bit more effort than glolights I've decided to go with the neons. I feel that there is so much readily available literature on breeding neons that it mitigates the difficulty level somewhat.

OK so I have a 29g planted tank I can use to grow out my fry, I'd just have to move the 10 glolights I have in there now into my 90g community tank. I also have a 10g planted tank that I moved my neons into. I put a tank divider in it & partitioned the neons according to sex. I have 11 neons in total (7m, 4f). The water parameters of the 10g planted are as follows -

ph - 6.8 - 7
kh - 7
gh - 7
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 30
NH3 - 0

I know that the water is a bit hard for breeding tetras but I just purchased a couple of API water softener pillows to help soften the water a bit. I'll let those pillows do their thing for a few days, retest, & then if need be I'll do a WC & replace the removed water with distilled water until I get more favorable kh readings for breeding tetras (I think between 6 - 5
should do it).

I also have another 10g tank strictly dedicated for spawning. I've sterilized it using a sodium chloride solution, & the only things in there right now are two sponge filters, a heater, & a thermometer. The water parameters in this tank are -

ph - 7
kh - 8
gh - 8
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 20
NH3 - 0

I plan on using a pillow on this tank too & diluting the water with distilled water as well until I get more favorable readings.

I've got a bag of clear marbles that I already sterilized ready to add to the tank once I introduce a few mating fish in there (hopefully this will spare a few more eggs). I also have some fake plants (plastic garland really with maple shaped leaves that I got from a dollar store) that I've also sterilized & will add to the tank once I throw some mating fish in there. I also cut some cardboard to size to cover the sides of the tank in order to keep unwanted light out, being that I've read that the eggs are extremely photo sensitive

I've been hatching brine shrimp & feeding the nauplii to my neons regularly now for about 3 weeks. I've even managed to grow the nauplii out a bit, or at least keep them alive for longer than 2 - 3 days. I can get them to live for about 7 - 8 days, and by then my fish are already ready for a new batch anyways (they go through them pretty quick).

The only thing that has presented itself as a problem is obtaining Methylene Blue as an anti-fungal remedy for the eggs. The local pet supply chain stores in my area (Petco, Petsmart, & Petland Discounts) don't carry it & when I went to a reputable LFS the guy there told me that the EPA had pulled it from the market. I then asked him if there was an alternative that he'd recommend but he said "it's been years since I've done any artificial spawning so sorry I couldn't really tell ya". I asked him if I could use Malachite Green instead because I think I've heard it mentioned before as a treatment, but he said he wouldn't recommend it because it's really used for treating parasites not eggs. Is there any viable alternative to Methylene Blue that anyone could suggest? Is it even really all that necessary? I mean I understand that using it will give the eggs better chances of not contracting fungus. However could simply sterilizing the tank & maintaining good water quality achieve somewhat comparable results?

If anyone has anything else constructive to add please do. I'd like to approach my foray into breeding tetras as well informed as possible.

Thanks in advance -
 
Last edited:
sailedNJ said:
I don't care if your advice is anecdotal or if you've breed Tetras 100 times just as long as it isn't "advice" that's been cut & pasted from Wikipedia :nono:lol.

Recently I've decided to start breeding Tetras, small Tetras (since I've got limited space to spare to grow them out etc). My decision to breed them isn't based on profit, I'm doing it for the challenge. Whatever offspring I manage to raise will either be given to fish keeping friends/family, my local LFS (which will give me store credit for them), & I might just keep a few myself... you know, for the "glory" of being able to say "I raised those MYSELF!!!"

I already have schools of neons, glolights, & rummy nose tetras but after some research I decided to go with the neons. After significant reading I've come to understand that glolights are relatively easy to breed, neons are just a bit more demanding & on the whole other side of the spectrum rummy nose tetras are extremely demanding even for experienced breeders). Nonetheless even though breeding neons can take a bit more effort than glolights I've decided to go with the neons. I feel that there is so much readily available literature on breeding neons that it mitigates the difficulty level somewhat.

OK so I have a 29g planted tank I can use to grow out my fry, I'd just have to move the 10 glolights I have in there now into my 90g community tank. I also have a 10g planted tank that I moved my neons into. I put a tank divider in it & partitioned the neons according to sex. I have 11 neons in total (7m, 4f). The water parameters of the 10g planted are as follows -

ph - 6.8 - 7
kh - 7
gh - 7
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 30
NH3 - 0

I know that the water is a bit hard for breeding tetras but I just purchased a couple of API water softener pillows to help soften the water a bit. I'll let those pillows do their thing for a few days, retest, & then if need be I'll do a WC & replace the removed water with distilled water until I get more favorable kh readings for breeding tetras (I think between 6 - 5
should do it).

I also have another 10g tank strictly dedicated for spawning. I've sterilized it using a sodium chloride solution, & the only things in there right now are two sponge filters, a heater, & a thermometer. The water parameters in this tank are -

ph - 7
kh - 8
gh - 8
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 20
NH3 - 0

I plan on using a pillow on this tank too & diluting the water with distilled water as well until I get more favorable readings.

I've got a bag of clear marbles that I already sterilized ready to add to the tank once I introduce a few mating fish in there (hopefully this will spare a few more eggs). I also have some fake plants (plastic garland really with maple shaped leaves that I got from a dollar store) that I've also sterilized & will add to the tank once I throw some mating fish in there. I also cut some cardboard to size to cover the sides of the tank in order to keep unwanted light out, being that I've read that the eggs are extremely photo sensitive

I've been hatching brine shrimp & feeding the nauplii to my neons regularly now for about 3 weeks. I've even managed to grow the nauplii out a bit, or at least keep them alive for longer than 2 - 3 days. I can get them to live for about 7 - 8 days, and by then my fish are already ready for a new batch anyways (they go through them pretty quick).

The only thing that has presented itself as a problem is obtaining Methylene Blue as an anti-fungal remedy for the eggs. The local pet supply chain stores in my area (Petco, Petsmart, & Petland Discounts) don't carry it & when I went to a reputable LFS the guy there told me that the EPA had pulled it from the market. I then asked him if there was an alternative that he'd recommend but he said "it's been years since I've done any artificial spawning so sorry I couldn't really tell ya". I asked him if I could use Malachite Green instead because I think I've heard it mentioned before as a treatment, but he said he wouldn't recommend it because it's really used for treating parasites not eggs. Is there any viable alternative to Methylene Blue that anyone could suggest? Is it even really all that necessary? I mean I understand that using it will give the eggs better chances of not contracting fungus. However could simply sterilizing the tank & maintaining good water quality achieve somewhat comparable results?

If anyone has anything else constructive to add please do. I'd like to approach my foray into breeding tetras as well informed as possible.

Thanks in advance -
Click to expand...

Hi. Okay let me start this by saying I do not nor do I have plans to breed tetras. However I have had success breeding other egg scattering species, danios in particular. I wouldn't worry about the pH too much, it's something you can fiddle around with to see if you have a larger yield, but I think the difference will be negligible.

As far as methylene blue goes, I use it regularly for stuff like cory eggs that take longer to hatch.

For the danio eggs, I just pull them from an egg trap and just leave them in an old plastic butter tub for a few days until I notice that there are swimmers. At that point I just dump them into a fry tank.

One of the most important things is keeping infertile eggs away from fertile ones. If you can manage this, fungus isn't much of an issue.

Since egg scatterer eggs are not adhesive, it's fairly easy to do this.

I saw some product in a small container at the lfs a few days ago, said it was to treat/prevent fungus on fish and eggs, I cannot remember the name, though.


I tried the marble technique in the past and i dislike it because waste and infertile eggs also get trapped down in the marbles so it can get pretty funky pretty quickly.

If you find yourself still needing an anti fungal, Alder cones have been suggested to work. I've tried them and didn't really notice a difference, but who knows.

kensfish.com still carries methylene blue.
 
Have you tried ordering Methylene Blue online ? It is relatively inexpensive and there are a few places that list it. Good luck. I have a dozen neons that I would love to get to spawn, so I will be following your progress.
 
Hey, I just created a thread not too long ago about breeding glowlights, as I wanted to try it for the same reasons as yourself.

I was successful in getting them to lay eggs however they grew fungus quite quickly and I was unable to save any. However I just purchased some anti fungus meds by API I believe and I am going to try that next weekend after my conditioning time.

I also dont like the marble method, although it works, it does not allow you to remove the bad eggs. I have used the marbles when breeding danios in the past.

I am still new to this as well and I cant wait to see how it all turns out. My goal is neons once I have conquered the glowlights
 
 
OK Jetajockey, thanks for your advice/opinions, really good stuff. Now if you could elaborate on a few things please.

First off, you seem adamant about not even getting involved with breeding tetras lol. Is that because breeding tetras that much more difficult than breeding danios? I'm just curious.

I think I'll take your advice & eschew the marbles & use an egg trap instead. I just looked up a DIY egg trap using a pyrex container & some plastic canvas that looks pretty simple to make, I think I'll give that a try.

And you also stated
jetajockey said:
One of the most important things is keeping infertile eggs away from fertile ones. If you can manage this, fungus isn't much of an issue.
Click to expand...

OK, what exactly am I looking for when I do this? What do the infertile eggs look like as opposed to the fertile ones, I don't want to be throwing away fertile eggs by mistake.

Thanks again
 
Hey vanillarum. Nah I haven't tried ordering any online. After going to one of my local LFS & being informed that the EPA took it off the market I think I pretty much want to avoid it all together if possible. If I can get away with not using it then it's all the better, but if I do need to use an anti-fungal then I might give alternatives like Alder cones a shot, we'll see.

Funny thing is though that I tried googling "EPA Methylene Blue ban" & nothing comes up. I also tried using different key words & all I get is info on what methylene blue is used for. I found out that amongst other things, it's used to turn people's pee blue, good to know I guess lol.
 
I think the deterrent most have with breeding tetras is the fact that most are readily available on the market, and many would rather try to make some money off it.

No help on the tetras, sorry. How many fish do you expect/hope to get out of this project?
 
I read your threads about Breeding Glowlights & about your latest (albeit unsuccesful spawn). I wish you luck on your project too. I've got a small school of glolights as well & if the neons prove to be too much I might give the glolights a try (I eventually want to give them a try anyway), but first I really want to give the neons are real shot in earnest.

I'll be following your posts to see if the API anti-fungal your purchased actually works. Good luck
 
See the LFS I went to carries Kordon Malachite Green, but not the Methylene Blue due to this supposed EPA ban that I can't find any info on. And I ended up not getting the Malachite Green because when I asked if I could used that instead, I was told "no, not really". Oh well, I think I'll give it a go without using either one for now & see how it goes.

I really don't care if my aquariums silicon or sponges turn blue, green, or whatever color. It's not a show aquarium & the key objective is effective spawning of fish, not aesthetics. So if I do end up using either treatment, discoloring of equipment wouldn't bother me any.
 
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