Help!!! Babies?!

[paula023]

Ok, I bought my neon tetras about a week ago, and here's the thing........one of them suddenly looks like she's gonna pop! I think she may be with child, so to speak. The problem is, I'm not sure what to do! Should I leave her alone or move her away from the other fish? I mean I don't know if the other fish will harm her babies. What should I do?

I currently have:
4 Neon Tetras
5 Tiger Barbs
4 Painted Glass (don't ask)
1 algae eater

 

[Outcast]

neon tetras are egg scatterers. if you are serious about breeding them, put them in a 10 gallon with a net draped in the tank. When they lay the eggs, they will fall through the net and prevent the neons from eating them. More likely your neon is just "bloated" from eating, or constapated. feeding cut up peas will help with this.

 

[paula023]

I hope you're right about her being bloated, I don't know enough about this stuff to start worrying about babies!! Cut up peas, huh? Canned, fresh or frozen? That sounds like a dumb question, but I guess I should ask to be safe. Hopefully that will work, I'd hate to lose babies this early on.........

Thanks for your help!

 

[Bitsy]

I feed my fish peas at least once a week. I just use the frozen ones, put them in some water, bring to a boil, as soon as it boils strain the peas and peal the outside off, leaving the little inner "split pea" drop a few of these into your tank and see if they help!!! :dance:

 

[paula023]

Thanks!

Thanks for the help! But just in case, how can I tell if she's really gonna have babies? And how long will it take? I don't want to wait too long and then suddenly all the babies are gone!

 

[Hurley]

Well shes not going to have babies because they are egg scatterers. However she may release the eggs. If she does release the eggs in the tank a male has the chance to fertilize the eggs if he doesnt there will be no babies. From my understanding this is a very rare but not impossible event because neon tetras are really picky about thier water conditions when breeding. If you want to find out more about breeding neons there are websites out there that talk about it.

heres one to get you started:

http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/aquariumpets/breedingneons.html

 

[paula023]

One more........

Can anyone point me in the direction of a picture of a neon with eggs? I mean before spawning? I'd really like to know if I need to make a trip to the local pet shop..........I'm kinda freaking out here..........I would have not expected this under normal circumstances........it has been a strange day for me...........Thanks

 

[Hurley]

I dont have a picture but I did have a female that looked like she was heavy with eggs. Her tummy was enlarged and she was much rounder and fatter the the other neons. This should be fairly visable from the top. Other then that there really arent many pictures out there, at least none I could find, and that is most likely because even experienced fish keepers have a very hard time sexing neon tetras. For all practical purposed I would say that if she does drop the eggs they will not hatch. In addition, I believe that they have the ability to hold thier eggs for an extended period of time, waiting until they feel things are safe and water conditions are correct. I dont think you will have babies anytime soon so dont worry. Even experienced fish breeders have trouble getting neons to breed.