# Pregnant neon?????



## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

On Tuesday I bought three more neon's to go with the three I already had one which I now know is a female was fat I mean fatter than the rest in the tank at the store. Today looking at the tank again she looks fatter than before. So IM pretty sure that she is pregnant or at least I hope she is. the only other fish in the 10 gallon with them are 3 SEA'S. 

How do they go about laying the eggs and what kind of care should they be given? Without taking them out of the tank.

There are
4 females
2 males

I want these fish to grow by a naturale selection. You know only the strong survive the way nature intend. I will feed some brine shrimp or some other frozen food that petsmart sells. Just don't know what exactly to feed them.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Hi Will. I'm sure when you say "pregnant" you mean carrying eggs, since Neons aren't live bearers. 

It's pretty difficult and unusual to spawn fish like Neons in an average home tank, so I'm wondering if your plump fish doesn't just have a worm infestation, or something like that. 
It is possible that she's egged up, but unless you see some spawning activity, or egg laying, chances are doubtful that you'll get any fry. 
With the SAE's in there, it's another stress for most smaller breeding fish, so it's also another thing that would be against the odds.


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## dkfennell (Apr 19, 2005)

It's not very likely that you can induce spawning and raise fry successfully in a community tank. Normally, to breed tetras, you need to separate the breeding pair into compartments of a conditioning tank, where you feed them high protein, live foods. After a few days to a couple of weeks, you put them in a spawning tank, with floating plants (e.g., cabomba) or spawning mop, overtop of a mesh (to allow eggs to drop through), java moss or marble or rock floor (again to keep parents out). When the eggs are laid, you remove the parents, then try to raise the hatchlings by feeding green water/infusoria, then some combination of microworms, brine shrimp, vinegar worms, until they can start eating flake. Tetra hatchlings are sensitive to fouled water, so frequent water changes are required.

You can google for sites on breeding tetras, and there is an overpriced book published by Tetra Press called "A Fishkeeper's Guide to Fish Breeding" by Chris Andrews which goes into a little more detail on this. Andrews says that the spawning tank should be 73-75 degrees F, pH 5.5 to 6.0 and very soft (1 to 2 dGH) for neons. (You can achieve this without CO2 by dumping lots of the "tea" that results from boiling peat. Hanging a stocking full of peat will not achieve water this acidic usually.) Neon hatchlings are sensitive to light, so blackening the sides is recommended. BTW, the eggs hatch within 24 hours of being laid. 

Hard as it is to breed neons, it's even harder to raise them. You really have to have infusoria prepared so that you can feed the hatchlings within a couple of days of hatching (after they have exhausted the yolk sac). You can "create" your own infusoria culture by letting sit in a wide mouth jar, dechlorinated, aged water with plant clippings. After about a week you should see the bacteria cloud that becomes the food of the infusoria. If you're lucky you will shortly thereafter have enough infusoria to feed the hatchlings. (You can't see the microorganisms without a microscope, so you really don't know how much you have.) Aerating the water helps. (At least it helps from smelling foul.)

Good luck.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Here's some 2 1/2 month old Neon fry that I raised.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Wow, congrats Rob. That's quite the accomplishment.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Thanks! I also have Glowlight Tetra fry that are a few weeks older and some month old Lemon Tetras. I am going to attempt the Cardinal Tetra this weekend. 

I started trying to figure out how to breed and raise Tetras about 9 months ago and have faced many pitfalls along the way. I now know how to bring them to adulthood. 

I've always thought how cool it would be to breed a large school of Neon Tetras for my 75 gallon planted tank. I tried many times and failed miserably. Since I was new to breeding egg scatters, I had to take a step back and try an easier fish. I had instant success with the Cherry Barb and with the Rosy Barb since. Everything learned from breeding and raising Barbs can be applied to Tetras. As stated before, Tetras are more demanding for specific conditions being met all along the way from getting the parents ready to spawn to raising the fry.


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## dkfennell (Apr 19, 2005)

Yes, Rob, a very impressive feat. The real advantage is that the brood will be much hardier than lfs tetras.

Can you give some details on how long you conditioned the parents, how many parents you had in the spawning tank, how long after hatching you began feeding?

Darrell Fennell


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

*Hi*

OK so she was carrying eggs. BUT i have no idea if they will live although I doubt it. The other day one of the two males was flowing her like crazy back and forth. So i MIGHT see 1 new fry hopefully.


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## dkfennell (Apr 19, 2005)

The problem is that unless you separate the eggs from the adults (and other fish) they will be eaten.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

dkfennell said:


> Yes, Rob, a very impressive feat. The real advantage is that the brood will be much hardier than lfs tetras.
> 
> Can you give some details on how long you conditioned the parents, how many parents you had in the spawning tank, how long after hatching you began feeding?
> 
> Darrell Fennell


For conditioning, I've had success with 2 ways:

1) 2 tanks - one for males, the other for females. When I say males or females, I mean all Tetra species of the same gender that I intend to breed, since they get along pretty well together.

2) 1 tank w/ a divider - males on one side, females on the other. Once again with mixed species of the same gender isolated.

Once the genders are isolated (separated), I've read to feed the breeders BBS & microworms, but since my conditioning tanks had gravel in them, I just fed a variety of flake food & freeze dried bloodworms for a week.

For spawning, I've only ever tried one male and one female. I've never tried 2 pairs before. I use a 5.5 gallon tank with egg crate covered w/ wedding veil material as the trap to separate the eggs from the parents. The trap is one inch above the bottom of the tank. 9 times out of 10 I get eggs. I'll put the breeding pair in the spawning tank the evening before. The next day I get home from work around 5pm and check for eggs. If there are eggs, the parents go back to their conditioning tank(s), the egg trap comes out, and the sponge filter goes on w/ a slow flow of bubbles.

The eggs are laid on day 1 and the tank stays covered with a towel until day 5. On day 5 the towel comes off and a bunch of plant trimmings from one of my established 75 gallon planted tanks goes in. Plants from established planted tanks have microorganisms all over them. This is the first food for Tetra fry. I don't mess with infusoria cultures anymore. They just seem to foul the water quicker.

Day 7 or 8 I'll try feeding small amounts of 24 hour old BBS. The BBS feedings increase slightly each day. I only feed BBS once a day. I do feed microworms after a month or so.

After 2 weeks, I'm ready to do the first water change. At this time, I'll transfer the fry to a 2.5 gallon tank and count them up. I usually get about 130 Neons & 200+ Glowlights, but usually only about 30 survive to adulthood. I need to work on maximizing the survival rate.


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

*Hi*

WOW :hail: Is all I can say. Got a question have you ever tried to ship some of your neon's. I was thinking that because o the fact you breed and raise your own neon's and other tetras. They might be better at surviving shipping than the ones online.


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## dkfennell (Apr 19, 2005)

Great info, Rob. A couple of more Qs if you don't mind:

1. Do you use a heater for the conditioning tank, and if so, what temperature? Is that lower, higher or the same as the community tank?

2. Same questions for spawning tank.

3. You don't recommend liquid fry food? If you do, how long after hatching would you use it?

Thanks again,

Darrell Fennell


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

will5 said:


> WOW :hail: Is all I can say. Got a question have you ever tried to ship some of your neon's. I was thinking that because o the fact you breed and raise your own neon's and other tetras. They might be better at surviving shipping than the ones online.


Thanks! Breeding Tetras is the most fascinating part of the fish side of the hobby for me.

I have never shipped fish before, but I have plants!!! I only breed enough fish for my tanks, the aquarium club's Breeder's Award Program (BAP), & overflow goes to friends. I would think that tank raised Tetras are hardier. Maybe we can do a test when the weather gets warm.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

dkfennell said:


> 1. Do you use a heater for the conditioning tank, and if so, what temperature? Is that lower, higher or the same as the community tank?


I keep all of my Tetras in the range of 72-76 degrees, except for fry at 78 degrees. I have a heater in every tank and they are only on in the colder months.


dkfennell said:


> 2. Same questions for spawning tank.


Same answers as the for other tanks and I don't do anything special for temp since the temp is the same in all of my tanks. I condition my fish in peat filtered, conditioned tap water then go to RO water in the spawning and rearing tanks.


dkfennell said:


> 3. You don't recommend liquid fry food? If you do, how long after hatching would you use it?


In my experience, LFF just sits on the bottom of the tank until the glob funguses and then I have to siphon it out. You may get them to 2 weeks old on this alone before they all die.

Tetras are born with teeth and a hunting instinct. They go after BBS that swim and microworms that wiggle and eat every last one of them. 50-100 micron flake food that is claimed to "stay suspended in water" may float around for a little while, but still finds the bottom where it sits there motionless, uneaten, and eventually fungused. I have had some success with this type of food and w/o live food, but the yields are low.

Live foods are the way to go when trying to raise Tetras. Microorganisms on live plant clippings, then BBS, then microworms, then blackworms. My Tetra fry don't get fed processed foods until 3 months old, but that's a matter of preference. Variety is best.


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

*Hi*



> I would think that tank raised Tetras are hardier. Maybe we can do a test when the weather gets warm.


I would love to take part in that test. But shipping charges for fish. Happens to be way out of my price range.


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