Neon Tetra Fry

[shantyt]

Howdy,

I am a relative newbie to keeping aquaria. I have a 25gal planted aquarium that's been set up for about a month. Despite my inexperience, I seem to have pretty awesome luck, because I was able to get my Neon Tetras to spawn earlier today. You know the drill, conditioned them on BBS and flake, did a large water change with slightly cooler water last night, today they were in a spawning frenzy. Got a few with the net and put them in a homemade breeder, so those eggs are safe from the other tankmates. It was AWESOME watching them spawn, little spurts of clear eggs were clearly seen shooting out of the females while the males simultaneously fertilized them.

Anyway, I started some infusoria outdoors about a week ago by placing a banana peel in a gallon jug of water in full sun. I also did the same with a piece of pear.

Neither infusoria culture seems to be doing badly, they both smell slightly funky (the banana peel one smells like a un-kept aquarium, the pear one smells like yeast-fermented sludge). The solutions are both cloudy (bacteria for sure), however I was unable to distinguish any "flecks" or larger microorganisms when samples were held up to the light. I have never made infusoria before, are these cultures OK to use for feeding my fry?

I also have a sponge filter that's pretty filled up with algae, cyanobacteria, and no doubt protozoa, etc. Should I just squeeze this into the breeder with the fry? I also have lots Hornwort and Java Moss in the breeder.

I've read you can use boiled egg yolk for newborn fry. Does anyone have experience with this? I'm a little hesistant to use the infusoria cultures for fear of introducing too much bacteria to the system, and I know I have lots of cyanobacteria on my sponge filter, which may or may not contain toxins. I don't want to kill my first batch of fry here.

Any comments or help would be MUCH appreciated.

Thanks,

Will

 

[Toirtis]

Congrats, you have done what few experienced aquarists have accomplished. Egg yolk works well (its what my grandfather used when he first spawned neons back in the 1930's), but use it sparingly, as it can cloud the water something fierce.

 

[Devilishturtles]

A big congratulations. Not many people can get neon tetras to spawn at all. My grandfather tried for years as well, and only made it happen a few times.

Good luck!

 

[Guest]

What about something like the San Francisco Bay Brand Hatchery that hatches really small baby brine shrimp?

 

[shantyt]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies! I really appreciate the feedback. It's nice to talk fish with people. My GF is sick of them, and in my opinion, a little bit jealous (rightfully so, I'm afraid to admit).

Hrmm, spawning the neons seemed pretty easy for me. I'll bet your grandfathers were trying to spawn wild caught fish. Mine are probably farm raised and thus selected for the ability to breed in captivity. Were your grandfathers interested in Neons because they were the big new aquarium fish on the scene back in the day? I read they were first imported in the 30s, which should be our grandfather's era.

I'm thinking that I'll go with the egg yolk method, and let them supplement that with pickings of infusoria clinging to the plants in the breeder. After a few days I'll try them on some BBS (Good call on the SF Bay brand. I'll see if I can get ahold of a vial of that!) and get them going on it ASAP.

I need to get another tank going here if I am to start trying to produce fry! I've read you can spawn neons every 2 weeks, so I guess I'll try that out. It would be fun to generate enough fish to make some good LFS trades.

Moderators: I posted this in the wrong forum. Can you please move it to the Breeding section? Thanks!

Thanks for the tips folks!

Will

 

[Steven A]

Well done 8)

 

[Vip]

you breed neons? kidding me? dude congrats! post some pics soon.

 

[Steven A]

I would love to see some pictures

 

[shantyt]

Yeah, I'll post some pics. You guys are going to laugh at me, but I actually don't have a real aquarium, I'm breeding these fish in a 25gal clear rubbermaid I bought at Target for $6. I made my own canister filter from a cheap ebay powerhead and a 2 liter bottle filled with aquarium floss and perlite. Basically, I'm a cheap student who just lucked out with the right conditions. I was thinking about it, and here in Minneapolis we are using Mississippi river water, I haven't had it tested, but it's gotta be pretty soft. Especially now, when it's being flushed with lots of snowmelt/spring rains. I did a TDS on it, and there are about 100 PPM solutes, but I can't tell you about my water in any more detail. I'll bring some water to school and test the pH today.

Thanks for the encouragement. I'll post some pics soon, it'll be hard to get good ones of such small guys through the rubbermaid, it's not as clear as glass.

 

[shantyt]

Well, I got bad news. The eggs were all fungused out today, so I'll have to try this again in a cleaner tank. I think I'll set up a special breeding tank. My neons were still going at it today, I didn't observe any actual spawning, but they were still behaving like they were fighting (which is what I observed prior to spawning yesterday).

Bummer!

If this happens again, I guess I'll try dosing the tank with Methylene Blue. Any advice for reducing the occurance of fungus?

 

[hippen]

Me too!

I have neon tetra's and white skirt tetra's. My neon tetras have bred three times with success on hatching fry. So far two batches have died. One to my daughter feeding them when they were still eggs and the second because of bacteria. My white skirt tetras have also bred with success and hatched fry but they died from my home made mop causing bacteria. Regular stitching yarn (for blankets or scarves) works but you need to take it out immedietly after the fry hatch or it will start to fall apart and cause bacteria and a haze in the aquarium. Now I have about twenty or so neon tetra fry in my aquarium and I am nervous just like you abou them dieing because of bacteria. I want to feed them egg yolk but I am not sure if it is supposed to be boiled and mashed or just as is from the egg. Have you heard which way to go on that. I am scared if I use the wrong method it will kill them and this is the best turnout I have had out of all my fry.
Also my fry have become free swimming like the day they were born so I am not sure how that whole thing works with feeding. So anyone else out there that is reading this any thoughts would be great.
I also wanted to tell you that neon tetras do breed about every two weeks. Once the female looks like she has eaten all her food for the month in one day seperate her and your best male. You will have eggs the next day and fry the day after that.
Good luck with your next batch!!

 

[Sparkles12]

how do the eggs look? I tried to breed my neons (i actually boiled rainwater, i had read somewhere that neons liked that?) After a couple of hours I saw some cottony like hairs. I kept them for w while but nothing happened, so I assumed that they weren't eggs. Exactly how do the eggs and fry look like?

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

I strongly suggest pictures lol