Cardinal Tetras

[smoutylad22]

After doing my weekly maintenance on my tank, I sat down on the big comfy chair next to it to watch my fish swim by as I normally do. I happened to see one of my cardinals release what looked like eggs. How likely/unlikely is it that I will have fry in my tank? Does anybody know about breeding habits of cardinals?

 

[bettaowner]

What else do you have in the tank and how bright is the lighting? Cardinal tetras can breed in captivity but it is very hard to do. Some people report that bright light kills the eggs.

 

[smoutylad22]

What else do you have in the tank and how bright is the lighting? Cardinal tetras can breed in captivity but it is very hard to do. Some people report that bright light kills the eggs.

Hi, I have 2 guppys, 2 platys and 2 corys, also 4 red cherry shrimp and 3
MTS. As for the lighting only have a single 438mm T8 flora glo bulb in my hood.

 

[Andy Sager]

If you only have the one cardinal, your chances of having baby cardinals are 0. The eggs need to be fertilized by a male after the female has laid them. No male, no fry. If you have a male, you would have seen him swim right next to her as she laid the eggs and release his sperm. If you did not see this, also, very unlikely they were fertilized. Lighting, most Tetra eggs are photosensitive so if you have any direct light over them, they tend to not survive. If you try to deliberately breed Tetras, you want to do it with indirect lighting. ( I kept my tanks near a window but not directly next to it so I could have some indirect light. The fish would spawn at dawn.) Accidental spawnings happen but huge numbers of surviving fry from this type of breeding are rare. You tend to get just a few survivors if you are lucky. Considering they laid up to 100+ eggs, a few survivors is not a good ratio.

Hope this helps

 

[smoutylad22]

If you only have the one cardinal, your chances of having baby cardinals are 0. The eggs need to be fertilized by a male after the female has laid them. No male, no fry. If you have a male, you would have seen him swim right next to her as she laid the eggs and release his sperm. If you did not see this, also, very unlikely they were fertilized. Lighting, most Tetra eggs are photosensitive so if you have any direct light over them, they tend to not survive. If you try to deliberately breed Tetras, you want to do it with indirect lighting. ( I kept my tanks near a window but not directly next to it so I could have some indirect light. The fish would spawn at dawn.) Accidental spawnings happen but huge numbers of surviving fry from this type of breeding are rare. You tend to get just a few survivors if you are lucky. Considering they laid up to 100+ eggs, a few survivors is not a good ratio.

Hope this helps

Excellent advice, much appreciated ?