Hey, figured I'd post since I've been neglecting this thread a bit.
OK, so here is an update on my breeding attempts. To answer
Liquid_Pyro's question really quick, NO I haven't gotten any eggs.
However I've experienced other successes that have previously eluded me but are essential towards reaching my ultimate goal,
getting my neons to spawn.
Like I've stated previously, my tap water is too hard for breeding tetras. I've been toying around with different ways to soften it. And while I was able to soften it a bit, I wasn't able to get my gh or kh down between 1 - 2.
To complicate matters I ran out of peat moss & after searching high & low I couldn't find more anywhere because right now it's not gardening season. However I was able to get my hands on some Sphagnum moss, which is what peat moss is derived from (peat moss = decaying sphagnum moss).
I figured it should soften my water like the peat moss did, but without staining it brown. Of course I wouldn't get as much tannic acids as I would with peat moss (& the benefits resulting from those tannic acids), & it would take a bit longer for the sphagnum moss to kick in compared to regular peat moss, but it was still worth a shot.
Fortunately, the sphagnum moss did indeed soften my water a bit, but my gh & kh readings were still coming in around 4. And after
KarlTh posted on this thread informing me that I should be aiming for negligible gh & kh readings, I did some more research of my own & determined that he was indeed right. I was being foolishly optimistic thinking I could get my neons to spawn in water with gh & kh readings of 4 - 5.
So I decided to start diluting my tank water with distilled water. I did this gradually. My initial water change was 50%, filling the tanks back up with distilled water only & then I'd perform a daily 10% water change for the following week, using a 3:1 ratio of distilled water versus tap water. I did this gradually in order to avoid a ph crash. I was successful in getting my gh & kh readings down to 1 - 2 on both my holding & spawning tanks (the water parameters on both tanks coincide).
So after keeping my neons in these water conditions for about 10 days & consistently feeding them live foods the females have swollen up with eggs! I plan on placing a m/f pair in the spawning tank either tonight or tomorrow night & hopefully I'll get some eggs.
I've got everything else I need to accommodate for eggs (
i.e. egg trap, medicine dropper, etc). I've also been making the best of the weather we've been getting lately & I've been melting snow to get rain water. I've been using this rain water along with store bought bottled distilled to soften my water & will continue to do so.
I've got a whole snow melting routine down lol. I scoop up a few buckets of snow from my yard on my way out to work & leave them in the basement. I got my boiler running down there, so by the time I get home it's water. I use that water to dilute some more snow, and then I throw that in a couple of pots. I repeat this process 4 - 5 more times & that yields me about 3 gallons in about an hours time. I've used every emptied receptacle to store as much of this "rain water" as I can, I have about 35 gallons of this water stored lol. I'll be using this to supplement my distilled water because I will need it once the eggs hatch.
Fry are extremely sensitive to water conditions, so the water chemistry should be kept as consistent as possible, especially when they've just hatched & I'll be needing to perform a lot of water changes on the fry tank, so while the snow is a pain for just about everything else, it's a blessing if you're into skiing or trying to spawn tetras lol.
Thanks for following my thread & wish me luck, I'll keep you folks updated.
