Breeding Neon Tetra

ok so a little up date, at the moment i am a little worried about the breeding tank , it has got a nice tint of brown to it that i expected and wanted from the oak leaves, the part that worries me is that it is not a clear tint and the water has gone murky which i am worried about cause it could show an increase in ammonia, and nitrites etc , unfortunately the test kit i got doesn't test amonia which really sucks, i am going to test for nitrites and nitrates tonight as if those are elevated it means that there could be a high level of amonia in the water being converted into those, if i find that i do have high levels i will be getting some seachem stability to put into the tank and get things looking good again , the problem i have is that i might have to delay the spawning , would rather take a little longer then loose everything but i will keep everyone updated during the course of the week.

 

If you have nitrate in the tank, ammonia and nitrite should be zero. If there isn't any nitrite or nitrate, there should be ammonia. Neons being as fickle as they are, I would definitely add stability if I was you.

 

thanks @Broder , as far as my knowledge goes , amonia is one of the main causes of murky water.

 

Use black water extract... works like a bomb as I used to breed Neons.

 

Correct. I'm just saying that finding nitrate doesn't mean that ammonia is present.

 

@HennieRoux where u been all my life lol, thanks i want to get some of that too, since you have bred them maybe you can help me with something i have not been able to find info on, the ph of below 6 , after such a long time being commercially bred, how important is that now a days with neons?

 

Thank you @Broder , i get what you were explaining to me.

 

@col182 back then I was living in Mtunzini down the north coast of KZN. PH was about 7 then. But PH is not that important as they have been bread in both soft and hard water. I bet you will have success in any where from 6.5-7.5 they really bread easily. Since they are egg scatterer`s you will need a spawning mop for them or just a fake bushy plant away from the filter.

 

Thanks @HennieRoux it was something i always wondered about considering that they have been "domesticated" for so long that by now they have more then likley adapted to much wider water conditions

 

Ja most commercially bread fish have adapted to PH levels. Even Discus. But to get fish to thrive, we need to get the conditions as close as nature where they are from.

 

How on earth do you link someone`s name like that ????

 

lol @scubabravo , u use the @ symbol followed by the name , no spaces

 

@col192 , and here I thought you guys were just being extremely cool.

 

My Neons spawned in my community tank. Seems like all my tetras are spawning. Maybe I should also set up a separate tank and see if I can get the eggs to survive. Interesting thread @col182

 

My glo light tetra's have also spawned in my community tank ,I only realised they had spawned when I started seeing loads of white eggs with fungus stuck to riccia and coconut shells (coconut shell still had some pith attached ,ancistrus loves chowing it off) . Wouldve also have loved to had a chance to try to save some of the eggs.

 

Hey Guys,

Go for it with the Neons and Glowlights , it is something I always wanted to try.

 

Thanks @ig11 ,I hope you guys do , I cant wait to do it successfully, but there is a bit of work involved , just do a little research on it , i'm not sure as to how light sensitive the eggs and fry will be for glo lights but to the best of my knowledge all tetra eggs are light sensitive to a certain extent so just look it up, if you can get them to breed and keep the eggs , the even harder part is to feed the fry cause they are tiny, i will be putting up my technique for cultivating infusoria in a while , but my plans may be delayed for 1 week, i will make a decision over the next 24-36 hours on whether i go ahead with a spawning this weekend or if i will wait till next weekend.

 

Just a quick update , here is what the tank looks like with the tanins being released from the oak leaves.

 

It does look cloudy. What sort of filtration are you using?

 

Just the sponge filter for now because of eventual fry , not as cloudy as it was , about 50% less