Neon Tetras .VS. Cardinal Tetras.

[Retired Viking]

I have not had luck breeding my neon tetras but my red eyed and now glow light tetra have had fry. Like @essjay said you need dark places. I used java moss to make nest in dark areas of my tetra tank. When I see the males chasing after the females I leave the light off longer in the morning and do a major water change plus raise the temp up to 77-78 from 73.5 for a short time.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

So I need to keep my tank light off and raise the temperature? Do I need to keep the light off all the time? (I usually leave my light on for 14 hours a day.)

 

[Retired Viking]

So I need to keep my tank light off and raise the temperature? Do I need to keep the light off all the time? (I usually leave my light on for 14 hours a day.)

I turn them on at noon and off again at 9 pm

 

[Coloursfly]

2 cents from an amateur and from absorbing what I've read in forums.

I have read that cardinals tend to be more hardy than neons, as neons are apparently quite interbred whilst cardinals are apparently more 'wild'. I'm not sure if this in fact true yet, as I have both in my tank and they seem to do well with each other. The cardinals do get much bigger in size for sure.

 

[Coloursfly]

I should add, it seems Cardinals are a bit cheaper than neons in my LFS, they regularly have sales on Cardinals (this may be as everyone wants the neons).

 

[Colin_T]

To breed neon tetras you need a 2 foot tank containing pure rain water or reverse osmosis (R/O) water with some tannins in. You need a GH of 0 and a pH around 6.0.

You have a thin layer of gravel or sand on the bottom and some Java Moss.

Have an air operated sponge filter and an air stone bubbling away gently. Set the temperature on 26C.

Separate males and females for 4-5 days then put 1 male and 1 female in the tank. Do not have a light on the tank and cover the back and 2 sides with black card. The following morning the fish should breed and you can remove them when the female is skinny. Then put some more black card over the front of the tank and wait a few days.

Tetra eggs are light sensitive and won't hatch if there is too much light. This is why you black out the sides and don't have a light above the breeding tank.

A few days later the eggs should have hatched and you can see tiny little transparent fry hanging off the glass. Wait a few more days until they start swimming then remove the front card and start feeding them.

You breed cardinal and pretty much all tetras in the same way. However, neons and cardinals need a GH of 0 otherwise the eggs don't hatch.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Wow, a lot more work than I thought. Maybe a future project.

 

[Retired Viking]

I found my 2nd glow light tetra fry, if I was going to do a full scale breeding of my tetra I would follow @Colin_T directions, that is what my research also showed. I had 13 red eye tetra fry over a 3 month period the last time I tried this. I would only like a few more glow light tetra like 4-10 so I have a shoal of 16-20.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Any tips on how to catch a ZD in a densely planted tank? I’ve tried for about 15 minutes with no luck.

I thought you were going to get more danios for him? What happened? I have one lone leopard danio doing fine with my tetras right now but I have 5 in QT to add with him. My lone one hasn’t bothered my tetras at all.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

My lone one is very aggressive. I will eventually get some more or give him away to my LFS. He is mean.

 

[Byron]

My lone one is very aggressive. I will eventually get some more or give him away to my LFS. He is mean.

Givcing the fish away wold be your best option here. Once a fish has deveeloped "nasty habits" it is not going to reverse. The stress has caused this, and I have never known it reversible. If you added a group with the lone fish now, you might well wake up in a day or two to the lone fish alone again.

 

[Retired Viking]

My lone one is very aggressive. I will eventually get some more or give him away to my LFS. He is mean.

I agree with @Byron return him to the LFS. He sounds down right nasty

 

[FishGuest5123]

Use a large cup. As you push it down in the water, it will cause a vacuum to pull him into the cup. Your 5 gallon is nowhere near big enough for him. Why didn’t you stick to your original plan of getting mote danios? That would have been the best route. Danios are much hardier than neons. I bought 3 neons Sunday and 2 have already died. I always lose one or two when I buy neons.

 

[Coloursfly]

To breed neon tetras you need a 2 foot tank containing pure rain water or reverse osmosis (R/O) water with some tannins in. You need a GH of 0 and a pH around 6.0.

You have a thin layer of gravel or sand on the bottom and some Java Moss.

Have an air operated sponge filter and an air stone bubbling away gently. Set the temperature on 26C.

Separate males and females for 4-5 days then put 1 male and 1 female in the tank. Do not have a light on the tank and cover the back and 2 sides with black card. The following morning the fish should breed and you can remove them when the female is skinny. Then put some more black card over the front of the tank and wait a few days.

Tetra eggs are light sensitive and won't hatch if there is too much light. This is why you black out the sides and don't have a light above the breeding tank.

A few days later the eggs should have hatched and you can see tiny little transparent fry hanging off the glass. Wait a few more days until they start swimming then remove the front card and start feeding them.

You breed cardinal and pretty much all tetras in the same way. However, neons and cardinals need a GH of 0 otherwise the eggs don't hatch.

This fellow on youtube does a pretty good video on how to breed Neons (other fish too) which is really easy to follow. It's in parts, but there's a crucial step that you apparently need to assure they are feeding when they are fry.. good watch anyways.

Enjoy.

 

[Colin_T]

That's a nice video and easy to follow. It also shows how easy it is to breed fish.

The only thing is his infusoria culture isn't going to produce much food for the fry. You need a bigger culture container and a lot more plant matter. I used 40-100 litre plastic storage containers and added 1 entire lettuce (shredded up) for every 20 litres of water. Then you aerate the culture and wait a month or so until it is ready.

You feed the fry on infusoria and or green water for the first 2 weeks and then add newly hatched brineshrimp. If you can't get infusoria or green water, used boiled egg yolk.

There's more information on making infusoria cultures and other fry foods at the following link.

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...

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