Hemigrammus Erythrozonus Spawning Journal

Putting this project together over the last while, been preparing it. Going to be documenting my process here, for my own future reference and for others who may be interested. No telling at this point of posting if the end result will be successful, as anything can happen with fry before reaching large enough size to move into a community setup.

Anywhere, I've been prepping for about 1.5 months now to get even to this point.

Species:
Hemigrammus erythrozonus (glowlight tetra)

Supplies:
Distilled water
Empty jugs
Reptile grade coconut fiber brick
Oak leaves/sticks
Water Lettuce
Sußwassertang
Air Pump
Heater
Digital Thermometer
Sponge filter w/cycled media
Vinegar eels
Artemia and hatching jar
Drip acclimating tubing and container to transfer fish
Breeder net for later
Small aquarium (I am using a 2.5 gallon as that is what I have on hand currently, for the early days I prefer to keep newborn fry in small enclosures to keep them closest to food sources, upgrading as they outgrow it)




I acquired a group of 8 adults, already at mature size upon purchase. For the first month of owning them, they have been treated with fenbendozole laced food to deworm them as a precaution. They have done well with this and have been in fantastic shape.

A male from the main group:


A female from the main group:


They're suitable for my tap water (pH 7, GH 5°, KH 3°) and they'd have likely spawned just fine in my tap, however, I wanted to aim for the best hatch rate possible for this species, so I set up their spawning tank to reflect that.

I used pure distilled water from the grocery store to have negligible GH and KH. To lower the pH. The pH is unreadable off of my API master test kit unfortunately so cannot give an exact number, though is below 6.
Added some of the coconut fiber brick to the spawning tank as substrate to lower the pH, causing a very dark tannins release.


In separate jugs of distilled water, I also added coconut fiber to them to reduce the pH on those for the same water parameters to prepare for water changes once fry are involved.

Added oak leaves and sticks as shelter and infusoria source.

Put in filter and heater. Monitored temperature to ensure it was where I needed it.

I let this sit for the entire time I had the adults. Letting this sit has enabled the water to mature better and the organic materials to grow a sustainable infusoria population as a first food for the fry.



The day of moving a conditioned pair of adults over, I added Sußwassertang and water lettuce to use as spawning mops.

To move the adults, I netted out the fattest female and a male from the community tank and put them in a bowl with a bit of the water from the community. I then slowly drip acclimated them for an hour before moving them into the spawning tank. I moved them over during the afternoon of October 19th 2024.


The adult pair was left in peace to adjust to their temporary vacation, though with how dark the water is, they are difficult to observe.




The following morning, the day I am currently starting this journal, there were eggs observed among the roots of the water lettuce.


Later this evening, the adults will be removed from the spawning tank and drip acclimated back into the community tank to join the rest of the adults. With luck, in 24-48 hours, I shall observe some fry beginning to hatch. A few days later they should be free swimming.

Following!

I admire that really meticulous approach. That's planning!

Tetra breeding is a bit of a lost art, and I hope it becomes more common. Back in the day, the older aquarists I knew almost all bred tetras, because it was an affordable way to have the large groups these fish look best in. That fell away as fish became cheap and easy to breed Cichlids became popular. Now, the majority of aquarists are surprised when you say you breed your fish - that's no longer a big part of the hobby.

I always liken it to buying cut flowers as opposed to gardening. That's some creative landscaping there.

GaryE said:

I admire that really meticulous approach. That's planning!

Tetra breeding is a bit of a lost art, and I hope it becomes more common. Back in the day, the older aquarists I knew almost all bred tetras, because it was an affordable way to have the large groups these fish look best in. That fell away as fish became cheap and easy to breed Cichlids became popular. Now, the majority of aquarists are surprised when you say you breed your fish - that's no longer a big part of the hobby.

I always liken it to buying cut flowers as opposed to gardening. That's some creative landscaping there.

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I am also a sentimental person, there's always something special about keeping fish you've bred yourself.

I've bred tetras before, though I bred them in my normal tap. I likely could have done these the same, but I wanted to try to see if going for the low pH and GH would increase the hatchrate of the eggs.


Plus, prices of things going up, including fish, it may get cheaper again to breed bigger groups yourself than buying. Glowlights in store here are $5 a fish, and that's a cheap tetra here in this stupid city. Other tetras are like $7-9 a fish. And that's from a chain store.

"Stupid city"


I feel that

Jinx_ said:

"Stupid city"


I feel that

Click to expand...

All of our lfs closed during the pandemic, all we have left is petsmart or local hobbyists if we want to buy new fish without ordering online.

They couldn't keep up with the rising rent prices for their shops while not having enough business due to restrictions that were put in place during the pandemic here.

My city relies heavily on the automotive industry, which suffered lay offs due to parts shortages during the pandemic, so that impacted things even worse.

It'll be nice to be able to offer some home raised tetras to other locals if all goes well from this. I've supplied a lot of cories/brochis, emperor tetras, sparkling gourami, and bristlenose plecos to many in the area here in the past, one lucky person even got a couple hoplosternum punctatum youngsters I raised (not a species really bred in captivity).

I am not a huge fan of where I live, I'm not a city person at heart, but because husband works in the automotive industry, we are stuck here it sucks, but hey I can try to improve things ever so little as far as the fish hobby goes.