Pregnant Black Widow Tetra???

Colin_T said:

Hi and welcome to the forum

The fish does not appear not have any scales standing out around the belly region and if she is still eating and swimming normally then it is probably eggs.

Assuming she has eggs, the male will encourage her to some plants where there 2 fish will swim into the plants and release their gametes (eggs & sperm) before swimming out of the plants and cruising around the tank. They will do this until the female has released all her eggs at which time they just go back to the school.

The eggs hatch after a few days and the transparent fry (baby fish) will hang on the glass for a couple of days before they start swimming around. Assuming the fry don't get eaten, you can feed them on a powder fry food for egg layers or culture some live food for them. But most of the fry will probably be eaten by the other fish in the tank.

Click to expand...

Colin_T said:

The best plant for spawning egg layers is Java Moss but they will breed in any plant.

If you get babies and can scoop them out in some water, then you can try putting them in a breeding net or a separate tank or a 2 litre plastic icecream container.

Click to expand...

Colin_T said:

They breed whenever the male is ready. You can encourage them to breed by doing a big (75-80%) water change or raising or lowering the temperature a couple of degrees. You can also do a big water changes each day and after 1 or 2 water changes, most fish start breeding. But even doing a 75-80% water change each day for several weeks will get most fish going.

If changing the temperature or doing big water changes doesn't work, try separating males and females for 4 days then put them back together. That usually does the trick.

You can combine all of the above. I feed the fish 4-5 times per day with live, frozen (but defrosted) and dry food for several weeks before breeding. The extra food lets the fish build up energy reserves and eggs and sperm. I do big daily water changes during this time to keep the water clean. After a couple of weeks of good food I separate males and females for a few days (no more than 5 days or the females might scatter eggs without the male). I continue doing big water changes (on the male & female holding tanks) using water that is a couple of degrees cooler than the tank water.

After 4 days I put the females in breeding tanks in the morning, then in the afternoon I add the males. The fish either breed straight away or the following morning.

Click to expand...

Colin_T said:

Most frozen fish food is sealed in plastic packaging. Some is even available in plastic blister packs that have a foil cover and you push out 1 cube and the rest stays sealed up. Perhaps the next time you are at the petshop, show the frozen food to family members and see if they still consider it too gross. If that is still too disgusting to be allowed in the freezer, you can use raw or cooked prawn/ shrimp. Most people don't mind having prawn in the freezer because lots of people eat them. But prawn makes a very good food for most fish.

You buy some prawn and keep it in the freezer. Take one out and defrost it. Remove the head, shell and gut (thin black tube in the body) and throw these bits in the bin. Then use a pr of scissors to cut the remaining prawn tail into small bits and offer 1 or 2 pieces of prawn at a time. Feed the fish until they are no longer actively eating the bits of food and remove any uneaten food. Wash scissors and hands with warm soapy water and fish are fed.

Do not use frozen foods like prawn if the tank does not have an established filter because raw meat based foods produce lots of ammonia. You should also do regular big water changes to dilute the nutrients that build up from the meat based foods.

-------------------------
It is illegal to culture mozzie larvae in most countries but if you have access to a garden you might find mosquito larvae in containers of water. They regularly occur in the plastic trays of water that pot plants sit in. And if someone leaves a bucket of water outside under the shade of a tree and some leaves fall in it, mosquitoes will breed in the water and you should scoop the larvae out with a fine mesh net, rinse under tap water and feed to the fish.

Mozzie larvae are probably one of the best foods to encourage fish to breed.

Click to expand...

Colin_T said:

Most frozen fish food is sealed in plastic packaging. Some is even available in plastic blister packs that have a foil cover and you push out 1 cube and the rest stays sealed up. Perhaps the next time you are at the petshop, show the frozen food to family members and see if they still consider it too gross. If that is still too disgusting to be allowed in the freezer, you can use raw or cooked prawn/ shrimp. Most people don't mind having prawn in the freezer because lots of people eat them. But prawn makes a very good food for most fish.

You buy some prawn and keep it in the freezer. Take one out and defrost it. Remove the head, shell and gut (thin black tube in the body) and throw these bits in the bin. Then use a pr of scissors to cut the remaining prawn tail into small bits and offer 1 or 2 pieces of prawn at a time. Feed the fish until they are no longer actively eating the bits of food and remove any uneaten food. Wash scissors and hands with warm soapy water and fish are fed.

Do not use frozen foods like prawn if the tank does not have an established filter because raw meat based foods produce lots of ammonia. You should also do regular big water changes to dilute the nutrients that build up from the meat based foods.

-------------------------
It is illegal to culture mozzie larvae in most countries but if you have access to a garden you might find mosquito larvae in containers of water. They regularly occur in the plastic trays of water that pot plants sit in. And if someone leaves a bucket of water outside under the shade of a tree and some leaves fall in it, mosquitoes will breed in the water and you should scoop the larvae out with a fine mesh net, rinse under tap water and feed to the fish.

Mozzie larvae are probably one of the best foods to encourage fish to breed.

Click to expand...

Colin_T said:

Your best bet is to visit a few pet shops and make a list of fish you like. Then post the list on here along with the general hardness and pH of your water. When we have that information we can suggest fish that are suitable for your water.

Click to expand...