How Do Neon Tetras Breed? Breeding Methods and Precautions Explained
The neon tetra, also known as the red-green tetra (Paracheirodon innesi), is a common freshwater ornamental fish kept indoors. Because it is easy to keep and has an attractive appearance, it is deeply loved by fish keepers. So how do neon tetras breed?
1. How do neon tetras breed?
When female neon tetras reach 8-10 months of age, their abdomen swells. At this point, they can first be kept separately from the males for a few days and fed plenty of food. Then pair them up and place them in a breeding tank, keeping the water temperature at 25 degrees, the water pH at 5.6-6.8, and the hardness at 1-3.5°, and cover the breeding tank to keep it quiet, and they will breed. Generally, one female can lay about 150 eggs. After spawning, remove the parent fish, and the fry will hatch in 24 hours.
2. How do you keep neon tetras?
1. Keeping environment: In the wild, neon tetras mainly inhabit the blackwater and clearwater areas of the Solimoes River in South America. Their habitat has a typical tropical rainforest climate, hot and rainy all year round, with temperatures between 20-26°C, pH between 5.0-7.0 (slightly acidic), and GH between 1-2. It is best to keep them in soft water, but after many generations of breeding, they can also accept the hardness of tap water.
2. Male and female identification: The main way to distinguish male from female neon tetras is that the male's body is more slender than the female's, the end of the anal fin is sharp, and the color is darker. During the reproductive period, the female's body is fuller, the anal fin is fan-shaped, and the body color is lighter.
3. Feeding management: Neon tetra fry are tiny and swim very little, and can only eat when the food reaches their mouths. For the first food, sieve egg yolk water through a 200-mesh net and feed it drop by drop with a pipette. After some time, when the fry are swimming normally, switch to feeding egg yolk gray water sieved through a 150-mesh net. The fry grow slowly, and the period during which they eat egg yolk gray water is longer than that of other small varieties. In addition, the water in which the fry hatch is extremely soft, and the water temperature is completely different from the daily keeping water temperature. When the fry grow to 5 mm, they should be moved to a large tank for keeping, and care should be taken to let the fry adapt to the water quality gradually.