jeremoose Posted September 3, 2012 Report Share Posted September 3, 2012 (edited) Hello all, thought I would do a breeding log since this is the first concerted effort I've made at breeding ANYTHING. We've recently been changing some tanks around and the last tank we have that needs stocking is a 36x18x24 70g, pictured here: We're going with a community tank and decided upon Flame Tetras. We purchased 8 at Aquarium Central this past weekend and really like them so decided to try our hand at breeding to fill out the school. We did plenty of reading online to figure out what we needed and did our best at picking out a male and a female. We made 3 spawning mops out of dark green yarn and placed them in the tank as well as a seeded spongefilter for airation and water movement. Shooting for 79 degrees for breeding, have been feeding frozen brine shrimp and NLS to prepare for breeding. Please comment if you have experience breeding Tetras in general and feel free to point out things I need to do to make this work! Thanks for reading. EDIT: can anyone weigh in on if we have a male and female picked out for breeding? Thoughts? Edited September 3, 2012 by jeremoose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted September 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2012 Just as a tiny update: have seen no interest in spawning as of yet. Not sure I have a male/female yet so we'll see what happens tomorrow morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted September 3, 2012 Report Share Posted September 3, 2012 How many do you have? I'd put the whole school in there, or at least 3M/2F. Feed them well 2x/day for a week (females should look FAT!), then do a large 50%+ WC with water that is 10F cooler than the tank. If that doesn't work, bump up the temp a few degrees during the week. If that doesn't work, use RO (or a 50/50 mix of RO) for the WC. Once eggs are laid, either remove the parents, or move the mops to a smaller tank ( 2-10gal) and raise the fry there. You'll need some small foods to feed the fry - microworms, vinegar eels & infusoria (big wad of moss is good for that) are good starter foods. If you can get some Golden Pearls, they're an awesome dry first food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted September 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2012 Thanks very much for the response! I have 8 altogether so putting them all in for breeding would be fine. Would you suggest adding another spawning mop or two to sit on the bottom in case I'm not around to move the adults after spawning? I'm going to hatch out some brine shrimp tomorrow to help condition them for spawning as well. Just out of curiosity, does it look to you like I have a male and a female? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted September 4, 2012 Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 It looks like the first one is a female for sure - not sure on the 'male'. Once they're conditioned, there'll be no mistaking, as the males will get quite vibrant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted September 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 It looks like the first one is a female for sure - not sure on the 'male'. Once they're conditioned, there'll be no mistaking, as the males will get quite vibrant. Thanks for your input. I thought the other was a male since I read somewhere that only the males get black tips on their anal fins. I might just pop them back in 70g for a week to condition with the school then put the whole school back into the 10g for breeding as you suggested. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted September 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 Just a small update: moved the breeding 'pair' back to the primary tank and I'm loading them up on a several small feedings a day of NLS and frozen brine shrimp cubes. On my next trip to Edmonton (this Saturday), I would love to pick-up and start a culture of live food of some type. Anybody have suggestions on what I should keep and also does anyone know where I can acquire a starter culture? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted September 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 Just did a late night switch-over of the rest of the breeding group, looks like I've got more females than males, so that's good. Also, after they were in I added some peat moss (prepared it by boiled and removed most of the twigs etc) to soften the water and allow a spot for the eggs to fall and (hopefully) remain uneaten. I figured it was simpler to condition the fish IN the breeding tank than to condition in an outside tank then guess when they're ready to spawn and move them over. Wish me luck. P.S. still looks for info/suggestions on cultures for live food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted September 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 Sourced some microworm cultures as well as some vinegar worms. Also, saw Jorg's thread on harvesting your own live cultures and feel inspired to locate my rubber boots and go out spelunking this weekend. The females seem to be ripening nicely and I still don't have any way to feed the fry (if I ever get any). Checking the PH and water conditions tonight and probably doing a water change with some distilled water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted September 6, 2012 Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 If we can connect next time you're in the city, I can hook you up w. some microworms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted September 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 If we can connect next time you're in the city, I can hook you up w. some microworms. That would be fantastic. I'll also be picking your brain for more tips on breeding these guys as well Just did a partial water change with chilled (not THAT cold though, like room temperature) water and I'm adding a bag of peat moss in as well, just give the water a nice golden color and hopefully soften the water some more. PH is down to 7 flat now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted September 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 (edited) PH has dropped to just below 7.0 and the behavior of the fish seems to be reflecting the better water conditions. There's one male that's been chasing the females vigorously this morning and attempting to dance for them, they don't seem to be quite ready to breed. I'll try and update with a picture of how nicely the females are rounding up later today. EDIT: I have no idea if anyone ever does breeding journals on here but I hope my failure/success can help someone else (likely to be failure)! Edited September 6, 2012 by jeremoose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 (edited) Update of the progress of that same female: She`s fattening right up, I`m expecting either tomorrow morning or Saturday morning she may be ready to start tossing her eggs around if the males get frisky enough. Sadly I`m in Edmonton for the weekend so I hope I don`t miss the event. I`ll update in the morning. Edited September 7, 2012 by jeremoose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 Just to be clear about my intentions here: I'm attempting to breed them purely for the challenge of breeding a nearly extinct (in the wild) fish that happens to be extremely fragile when they're first born. I realize they're $1.99. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 The male was chasing all the females he could see vigorously this morning but no takers. I was only able to watch from 7 to 8 however as I had to go to work. Hoping to rip home at coffee time and see eggs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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