Flame Tetra Carrying Eggs? (Pics Provided)

[mandy2936]

Hey!

Okay well here is my current tank info:
20g High-
6 Neon Tetras
5 Orange Von Rio Flame Tetras
4 Julii Cories
3 Male Guppies

The tank was established in August '10 and everyone seems to be happy and doing well as of now.
This morning I went down to feed my fish and noticed that one of my Flame Tetras appears to have an obnoctiously large stomach. It stands out compared to the other 'normal looking' Von Rios. It is not smooth but has bulges in the stomach that look like eggs to me. I'd say considering the fact that Flame Tetras breed easily it's quite possible this fish is carrying eggs.

Now, I have zero experience with raising and breeding fish so I could be totally wrong, but yeah to me this fish looks 'pregnant' (Or whatever you call an egg-carrying fish).

When I first added the 5 Von Rios to my tank I had no intentions of breeding the fish at all. I figured if anything happens the eggs will be eaten in no time by other fish in the tank, BUT... now that it actually might happen I feel quite differently about it. I don't want these babies to get eaten! I think it would be awesome if I could raise them

However, here are the PROBLEMS/QUESTIONS:
#1: I know that my tank cannot handle a bunch of new fish! I understand that the babies will not be able to live and grow up in this tank considering the fact that they will be eaten and there simply is not much room left for more Tetras.
#2: I was thinking of putting one of those plastic breeding traps in the tank. I'm not sure if this would work (?) because I have only heard of them being used with livebearers.
~If this would work, based on the pics, how long until I should move the Tetra into the trap?
#3: How long can the hatched babies live in the breeding trap until they need to be sold/given to pet store? I'm assuming the small trap will not suffice size wise for too long.

Thanks so much for reading this huge post! Let me know if you need more info. I know nothing about this and so as you can tell I'm a total newbie when it comes to breeding and rasing fry. I have talked to my parents about getting a 10g to raise the fish in, but they basically made it clear "there is not way on the face of this earth that that is going to happen."

THANKS SO MUCH. AND WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY, HERE ARE THE PICS.
Note that some of them you can really see the lumpy bulging, so be sure to look for that. Also, try to enlarge the image if you can. In person the fish looks 100% pregnant.. like crazy huge.. but yeah it doesn't show up that well in the pics???

 

[mandy2936]

Woops. Didn't mean to create a new post, but I can't delete it so...
I might as well add that I just went down to check on her and yeah she is looking extra lumpy. It just doesn't look like she's fat or just plump. Her bulge is quite irregular compared to the others. Sorry if I sounds crazy because it might not seem so in the picture... but yeah she is camera shy so it's hard to get a good pic. Thanks for the help!!

 

[Jason7894561230]

Tetras are egglayers and will lay eggs around the place, putting them into a breeding trap may work but she will just lay them on the sides and stuff. They require soft water to lay the eggs and will lay them on plants so i would just leave them in the tank. Because it will be food for the other fishes as mean as that sounds.
The eggs will hatch 2-3 days after the intitally laying and if they get so far as being fed. They should be fed tiny flakes that have been crushed up in a morter and pestle

 

[mandy2936]

Thanks. I don't really want the eggs to be eaten.. I would like at least a few babies to survive, so I can raise for a little while until they are old enough to give away. The only way I would do that (raise them a bit) is if they can live at all in the breeding trap. Also, what do you think? Does it look like she's pregnant?

I guess nothing is really going to happen anyway considering the fact that I have hard water. Thanks for the help anyway, its good to know just incase.

 

[Jason7894561230]

She looks plump alright!

 

[mandy2936]

Wednesday and Friday this week I can go to the pet store. Should I pick up a breeding trap? Additional info on how exactly this is going to work would be great!

 

[Jason7894561230]

Yeah pick up one, get one that is netted not plastic because to babies will swim out. As soon as she has liad then transfer her out and wait 2-3 days for the eggs to hatch. Once they ahve feed them tiny crushed yp flakes and wait for them to get bigger. Now this might not even happen she might just be a bit plump at the moment or being over fed so time will tell!

 

[mandy2936]

Thanks! Why would the babies swim out of the plastic? Because it has slits that might be too large?
Also, don't the eggs need to be fertilized or something?? Or do they just hatch after the mama is taken out? Also, I don't want her to be stressed or anything by putting her back into the tank immediately after the eggs are laid, but I guess there is no choice because she will only eat the eggs if kept in the breeding trap with them...

Thanks so much for the help so far!
And maybe you're right, she could just be a lumpy lookin' fish! I think I will wait until Friday before getting the breeding trap, just to be sure that she actually IS pregnant before I buy anything.
Thanks again!