Neon Tetras

[craftyfishlady]

Hi all, I'm a newish member and I usually lurk in livebearers mostly but as I have now also got some tetras I am poking my head round the door to say hi and see what I really need to know?

I have 6 neons (least I think they are! bright blue & red) Unsure if I have a mix of gender - so firstly - how can I tell their gender? Same as mollies etc??

I assume they don't birth live young so if they are mixed genders what am I looking for if they are likely to reproduce?

Their tank mates are 4 mollys, 4 male guppys, 2 sword tails & an ancistrus along with the obligatory molly fry in their hatchery at the mo!

Thanks in advance for any info / advice

Kirsty
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[Noahs ark6]

Mature females are usually stockier and bigger than males. Neons aren't livebearers (they release eggs).

Thats what the eggs look like
Breeding can be quite tricky.
You could have neon or cardinal tetra, they look similar.
NEON TETRA

CARDINAL TETRA

Cardinals are more red

 

[craftyfishlady]

Thank you for that!!! No real intention of breeding them, if it happens it happens, if not then no biggy , they were just a nice addition to our main tank I thought

Theres also no live plants etc if that make any difference to their breeding behaviour.

Looking at the pics ours are cardinals

Thanks again!

Kirsty
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[Lateral Line]

Breeding egg layers is not quite the same as livebearers. With the common livebearers, just add water is frequently enough. For females that have mated and produced fry, you often don't even need the male, the female can store sperm internally and produce several clutches of fry from it.

Egglayers are different. The eggs are expelled and fetilized externally by the male so both need to be present. The conditions in a typical community type tank are not going to promote breeding by most species, and particularly not tricky species like Neons and Cardinals.