Spawning Cardinal Tetras

[FishHobbyist1564]

Hello everyone,

I have a huge interest in breeding fish, and i have just recently been wanting to take more of a "challenge" in breeding. I have heard that cardinal tetras are harder to breed, so i think they would be the perfect choice, since they are one of my favorite aquarium fish .

If any of you can give me a very detailed step-by-step description on how to breed them (tank setup, how to go about doing this, what i need to know how to do, etc.) ...that would be awesome!

If not, then a website is also good... but i would much rather hear your personal experiences and tips. The reason why im asking so much about this is because i really want to research this thoroughly before making any attempts lol!

 

[Lateral Line]

Cardinals are somewhat more difficult to breed then certain other blackwater species. The real problem is the blackwater issue though. Many blackwater fish will spawn in tapwater if the conditions are good and the fish well fed and healthy, however, the eggs never hatch. This is because the Calcium ions in the water react with the egg shell making it to tough for the fry to break out. To get a decent hatching of any of the blackwater species, and Cardinals in particular, you need close to authentic blackwater conditions. This means almost zero hardness or dissolved salts, but with some blackwater extract. Such water is un-buffered and can swing wildly in pH usually with fatal results.

What you need to do is research water chemistry until you can master a blackwater tank without fish in it, that is difficult enough and generally requires literally vast quantities of prepared RO water heated to the right temperature and in an almost continuous water changing setup.

Once you can do that, segregating and conditioning the fish is as usual for egg scatterers. Cardinals want a higher temperature in the breeding tank then say Neons, say 27-28C. The fry need liquid food or copious infusoria for the first week or so. Once feeding, they are quite easy to raise, and can start to have the water changed to more stable stuff after 3-4 weeks.

 

[Colin_T]

get some rain water or R/O water and fill up an 18inch tank. Add a thin layer of peat to the bottom of the tank. Put some marbles or gravel over top and leave it to aerate gently for a week. Add a clump of Java Moss to the tank and spread some out over the bottom. Cover the back and sides with dark paper or cardboard.
Have the temperature between 24-28C.
Seperate the male and female cardinals for a week and feed them really well on all sorts of food, particularly frozen foods. After a week introduce a male and female to the tank. Try to do this in the late afternoon. The following morning the fish should breed scattering the eggs through the plants and marbles or gravel. If you see them breeding then leave them alone until they have finished, usually a couple of hours but sometimes less. Then remove them from the tank.
If you don't see them breeding then take them out of the tank in the afternoon anyway.
Cover the front of the tank and turn off any lights. The eggs are sensitive to light and won't hatch in a bright room.

A couple of days later the eggs will have hatched and the fry will be seen hanging on the sides of the tank. Wait until they are free swimming before feeding them on infusoria. (*NB* make up infusoria cultures well before you start breeding the fish). Once they are free swimming you can remove the front cover. A week later you can add a light if you want to but fish don't need the light to grow.

Young fish will breed more readily than older fish.

 

[FishHobbyist1564]

ok thanks a lot everyone! i have one more question though...

When i put the cardinals in the spawning tank together, should i put multiple males, multiple females, multiple of both genders, or just one of each gender?

 

[Colin_T]

normally you just use 1pr per tank. You can colony breed them with 4 or 5 prs but often any fish that isn't breeding, will be eating the eggs.

 

[Lateral Line]

Remember that the water in the breeding tank is going to be pretty acidic. Do not move fish from tapwater into a blackwater setup without acclimation. I was assuming that you already knew how to breed egg scatterers, if that is not the case, you may want to try something easier first.

 

[FishHobbyist1564]

Most of the fish i have bred are not egg-scatterers, so i am fairly new to this. As for egg-scatterers I have bred danios (very easy lol) and goldfish.