Advice on breeding Cardinal tetras

[Uberhoust]

I am not the sponge filter guy. I have only used HOB filters and now a canister filter. The only place I use a sponge filter is on the tank I used to grow out my angel eggs or fry, so take my comments with a grain of salt. That said a bag of peat just placed in the tank near some current should do the trick.

 

[Seb2502]

I am not the sponge filter guy. I have only used HOB filters and now a canister filter. The only place I use a sponge filter is on the tank I used to grow out my angel eggs or fry, so take my comments with a grain of salt. That said a bag of peat just placed in the tank near some current should do the trick.

Okay perfect thanks a lot!

 

[Colin_T]

I’ve mixed my tap water with Reverse osmosis water and got my Gh to 0 and my kH is around 80ppm so around 4.5 dKh. I’ve got my pH to 6.3-6.5

Would a piece of drift wood do just as good a job as the peat?

It’s a 20 gallon aquarium with LED, should I cover a lot of the LEDs and leave a few or leave them in complete darkness?

I’m hoping to buy some brine shrimp eggs for the adults because I already have freeze dried blood worms. I’m beginning to culture infusoria for the fry once they hatch.

Let me know what I can improve on, thanks!

I would use straight R/O water. You want 0 GH, 0 KH and a low pH. Your pH and GH are fine, but you need to get rid of the KH for breeding them.

Driftwood can release tannins and it does work. However, it depends on the actual piece of driftwood. Some driftwood takes a long time to release tannins, whereas peat will release tannins within hours of being put into water. If you have a safe piece of driftwood that turns the water brown in a few days, then use that.

You don't want any light units on the breeding tank. No light should get on the eggs otherwise they won't develop. Put the fish into a breeding tank that has the back and sides blacked out and no light unit on that tank. Leave the front uncovered while the adults are in the breeding tank but cover the front after the adults have been removed.

Brineshrimp eggs need to be hatched before you can feed the nauplii (baby brineshrimp) to the fish. You hatch them in salt water.
The following link has information about hatching brineshrimp eggs and culturing food for baby fish.

Back to Basics when Breeding Fish

STARTING OUT Make sure you have a pair, (1 male + 1 female). There is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned dollars buying a couple of fish to try and breed and ending up with a pair of fish of the same sex. Let's face it, to reproduce fish you need a male and a female. Two males won't do...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Colin_T]

Don't use power filters in breeding or hatching/ rearing tanks because you suck up the eggs and babies.
Use an air operated sponge filter in breeding/ rearing tanks.

You can add a handful of peat to a stocking or fine mesh bag and put that in the tank. When the water is brown, remove the bag of peat. You can also add some peat to a large container of water and leave it to soak. Then scoop or drain the water from that container to use in a breeding tank. The peat usually settles to the bottom of the container.

If you have containers of peat and water, put an airstone in them to circulate the peat and water. This will stop the peat settling on the bottom and turning anaerobic. When you want water, take the airstone out of the container and let it settle for an hour before taking the water for an aquarium.

Some brands of peat moss have fertiliser added to them. Do not get brands with fertiliser. Just get a cheap brand without anything else added to it.

 

[Seb2502]

Brineshrimp eggs need to be hatched before you can feed the nauplii (baby brineshrimp) to the fish. You hatch them in salt water.

yes idk why I didn’t say they would be hatched

 

[Seb2502]

Don't use power filters in breeding or hatching/ rearing tanks because you suck up the eggs and babies.
Use an air operated sponge filter in breeding/ rearing tanks.

You can add a handful of peat to a stocking or fine mesh bag and put that in the tank. When the water is brown, remove the bag of peat. You can also add some peat to a large container of water and leave it to soak. Then scoop or drain the water from that container to use in a breeding tank. The peat usually settles to the bottom of the container.

If you have containers of peat and water, put an airstone in them to circulate the peat and water. This will stop the peat settling on the bottom and turning anaerobic. When you want water, take the airstone out of the container and let it settle for an hour before taking the water for an aquarium.

Some brands of peat moss have fertiliser added to them. Do not get brands with fertiliser. Just get a cheap brand without anything else added to it.

Totally forgot that fry would get killed by the hob filters

 

[Lateral Line]

Be careful with "new" peat. A little does a lot, and if you have a low buffering water, you can drop your pH too far.