HY511 Tetra spawning or fighting?

[ExoticAquarist]

Hello AA, I have an issue with some Hyphessobrycon sp. "HY511". I have 4, and 2 are near the bottom of a tank and a plastic plant. They are swimming alongside eachother, and twitching rapidly. Then one will chase the other around the tank, flare his fins at the other male (I have 2 males, 2 females) and chase her back to the same place where they will convulse next to eachother, swimming in small circles. There are no visible signs of disease and there are no visible eggs coming out of the female. What could be happening? I have done nothing to trigger them, they have eaten flake food for the past 4 days, and I did a 20% pwc yesterday. They are semi-difficult egg-layers. Your input is welcome.


~ExoticAquarist, signing out

[Andy Sager]

Yes, that's a typical Tetra spawning behavior. It was probably triggered by the water change. Tetra eggs are photosensitive so if you have lights on the tank, the eggs will not survive. If this is a community tank, the chances are slim that the eggs will survive. In reality, there really isn't anything you need to do about this. Fish eggs are good nutritional food for your other fish ( and the parents as well) and they will most likely hunt them down and eat them. Just let it happen. It's nature at it's finest.

Hope this helps

[ExoticAquarist]

Originally Posted by Andy Sager

Yes, that's a typical Tetra spawning behavior. It was probably triggered by the water change. Tetra eggs are photosensitive so if you have lights on the tank, the eggs will not survive. If this is a community tank, the chances are slim that the eggs will survive. In reality, there really isn't anything you need to do about this. Fish eggs are good nutritional food for your other fish ( and the parents as well) and they will most likely hunt them down and eat them. Just let it happen. It's nature at it's finest.

Hope this helps

Yeah it does help. Don't really care about the babies. I'm not equipped to deal with a tankful of fry right now.


~ExoticAquarist, signing out

[ExoticAquarist]

Originally Posted by Andy Sager

Yes, that's a typical Tetra spawning behavior. It was probably triggered by the water change. Tetra eggs are photosensitive so if you have lights on the tank, the eggs will not survive. If this is a community tank, the chances are slim that the eggs will survive. In reality, there really isn't anything you need to do about this. Fish eggs are good nutritional food for your other fish ( and the parents as well) and they will most likely hunt them down and eat them. Just let it happen. It's nature at it's finest.

Hope this helps

It's a community tank with a BN pleco, 5 diamond tetras, 6 cardinal tetras, and a bolivian ram. The tank is 29 gallons.


~ExoticAquarist, signing out

[ExoticAquarist]

Could a change in lighting be part of it as well? I just opened my living room curtains so theres some natural light flooding into the tank.


~ExoticAquarist, signing out

[Andy Sager]

Originally Posted by ExoticAquarist

Could a change in lighting be part of it as well? I just opened my living room curtains so theres some natural light flooding into the tank.


~ExoticAquarist, signing out

Yes but usually it's the water change. They usually spawn at dusk or dawn so depending on how the lighting was before, would answer if it was the natural light. When I was breeding tetras, I left the tanks with no lights and by a window so they got to see dawn and dusk as it happened. It was all indirect lighting.