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Post by goldenpuon on Feb 20, 2010 17:02:36 GMT -5
I have 9 black phantom tetras in a 10 gallon tank, 5 females, 4 males.
Anyway, I have been feeding them pretty well. I noticed that the females are looking very fat lately but none of the males.
Could it be that they are full of eggs?
They are said to like soft water to breed (which I heard is moderately hard with them) but my PH is 7.2 and the GH is about 150. What are the odds of them breeding in harder water than they are used to?
Also, every fish seems to have its own little spot in the tank. But one female is hanging around the top (not right at the top or gulping air), but stays there most of the time and is paling out like she is stressed. I did a quick check on her and didn't find any problem. She is also fat like the others I suspect may have eggs. Should I be concerned?
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Post by Carl on Feb 21, 2010 10:43:11 GMT -5
It is possible (although the one females behavior is curious to me and I do not have an answer at this moment, so I would watch her). As to your water conditions, although many will state a lower ph & GH is needed for these to breed, I say "not true" (Good ole Wikipedia states this, but then although I often browse Wiki, I am careful to not believe everything I read there) Although breeding is not my field of expertise, I have had many "accidental" breedings in many client tanks over the years; and this includes many Tetras such as the Black Phantom. Most of these aquariums had pH above 7.2 and often a GH even higher than yours. Here is an article that I think is quite good (not mine): A Simple Approach to Breeding TetrasCarl
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Post by goldenpuon on Feb 21, 2010 12:38:36 GMT -5
The female that is around the top (not at the top) is not paling out all the time nor does she spend all of her time there. It may just be her area of the tank. I don't know. I will keep an eye on her.
Thanks for the article. I am actually hoping they don't breed because I don't have the faucilies for raising fry at the moment. But if they do, I'm hoping no more than 1-2 fish survives. I wouldn't want to overcrowd my 10 gallon tank. It already houses 9 tetras and to add more than one more would not be a good idea in my opinion.
I don't have influsoria to feed the babies but I do have First Bites and a couple other packaged foods and brine shrimp eggs I could hatch.
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Post by fishfever on Feb 21, 2010 13:04:20 GMT -5
It's pretty unlikely that the tetras will breed without a trigger although it is possible. I had an isolated male/female BA tetra pair in a hospital tank for a while and they put on quite a show in the early mornings but this didn't happen when they were in the community tank. Also even if they do spawn in the community tank it's more likely most of the eggs will be eaten unless you remove them. Tetra fry are smaller than livebearer fry so they can't eat even baby brine shrimp for a while. It's pretty easy to make infusoria using a lettuce leaf with tank water in a jar if you happen to notice eggs in your tank.
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Post by goldenpuon on Feb 21, 2010 15:02:59 GMT -5
I tried making influsoria one time without success. I put a small piece of lettuce in a plastic container by a window one summer. The water never clouded, I think the water just got mold growing in it. On another note, there are eggs (chicken eggs lol) in the house and I know raw egg yolk is an excellent way to feed newborn fry.
Perhaps I can give it influsoria another try. But to be honest, I really don't want babies. If they breed (not to sound cruel), I may have to just let the parents eat the eggs. For their own best interest since I don't have extra tanks or time for them. I do hope they don't breed. When I got black phantom tetras, I was aiming for a harder to breed fish because I don't want babies.
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Post by fishfever on Feb 22, 2010 17:59:06 GMT -5
Did you start with tank water? There is normally a small amount of infusoria in mature tank water... probably you can get more if you can squeeze out a mature filter sponge into the jar. Then you also have to start feeding with green water or yeast or whatever food the infusoria need. I'm not an expert in this but I was able to make some when I was out of the First Bites and baby brine shrimp for some livebearer fry.
Anyway I think if you read how most tetras spawn which usually is in an covered, isolated tank with just a male and maybe 1 or 2 females, breeding mop, specific plants, specific water conditions, feeding heavily with live/frozen food prior to isolating, etc. it is more likely that they won't spawn without you doing something. Then even if they do some eggs rot and many if not all eggs are eaten unless you remove the fish or eggs. And finally if some do hatch the fry need to not get eaten up so if you look at all that needs to happen the odds are stacked against lots of fry (unlike with livebearers where the odds are that it's extremely unlikely you won't get fry! LOL) Bottom line, nothing to worry about!
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Post by corycatwoman on Feb 22, 2010 21:56:55 GMT -5
agree 100 percent with the second paragraph. as for infusoria i can not give any advise.
tetras are one of the few community fish that you really do have to work with to get to breed. lots of water changes. lighting schedules. water amount. male to female ratio. removing the males and females at the right time after fertilization has taken place. its just so many variables to get a very complicated equation that ends up in less than a handful of healthy fry in the long run unless your breeding multiple tanks with multiple male to female ratio's and youve been doing it for years. you may be able to get quite a few numbers out of a certain species. but honestly i think your imagination is fooling you and your over analyzing the situation.
reality the numbers you have chances of breeding are less than 5 percent with all the above mentioned precautions to try and make it happen. if you dont do anything your percentage is about .05 so i wouldnt worry about it if it does happen you might get 2 or 3 more and chances are they will mess your ratio up and you wont ever get more with out experimenting with the above catylists.
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Post by goldenpuon on Feb 23, 2010 17:04:53 GMT -5
Thanks for the assurance you two. I won't worry about it then.
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Post by goldenpuon on Apr 24, 2010 10:02:40 GMT -5
Update:
I noticed one of my black phantom females is very plump (more than before). As well, there is an something around her vent that sticks out a little (very similar to a female betta's egg spot). I don't think it's a disease because she acts fine and begs for food and eats fine like the rest. There's also another fat female (not quite as much as her).
I would be pleased to see them spawn but the sad part is I wouldn't be able to keep any babies so I'd have to let the adults eat the eggs. Still would be good to see though since these fish are supposedly hard to breed and I have not altered their tank in any way to try to coax them to breed.
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Post by Carl on Apr 25, 2010 10:01:56 GMT -5
This would be nice if they did spawn, even if you could not raise up the fry. Take some pics if they do Carl
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Post by goldenpuon on Apr 25, 2010 13:22:21 GMT -5
Sure. I will if I catch them spawning at a time I can get pics. (such as when I am home and not in school)
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