Neon Tetras?

Question

I have two pregnant neons. How will i know when its time for them to lay their eggs?

Answer 1

You probably have two fat neons. I doubt that someone with your obvious level of experience has the knowledge or the 'luck' to have a 'pair' spawn for you. Neon tetras are not difficult to induce to spawn but they do not spawn as pairs normally. They spawn in schools with multiple males and females releasing eggs and sperm simultaneously. The process of preparing them for this and the set up required are in several books, but I still like the original TFH Tropical Fish Dictionary by Axelrod from the 70s. I have spawned neons and raised a few several times. As with most fish it is easily accomplished in natural settings that emulate their original environments. And the per cent of spawn raised is much higher. Good luck in this hobby and I would suggest that you read a couple of basic books while you learn.

Edit: There is a difference between fat and healthy, full of row and afflicted with dropsy. If it is dropsy and a neon has it it will look about to burst, have very poor color and will die in a day or two. It it is full of row, then it will be very round just in front of the ventral fin only (and young females may not show much at all, BTW), and then if it is just fat and healthy, it will just look that way, swim normally and have very good color. And, BTW, whoever gave this answer a thumbs down is full of something else and not very well educated about fish -- they probably think neons bear live young....... do a little research before you get into tropical fish, please.

Answer 2

The pair should spawn within a couple of days, if not remove them and try again after a couple of weeks. Sometimes the early morning sun will stimulate the spawning. Once spawning has happened the pearents should be removed in order to prevent them from eating their own eggs.

The eggs should be protected against the light because they are photo sensitive and light will kill the eggs. It is a good idea to place covers around the back and sides of the tank to keep the light levels down.

The eggs take about 24 hours to hatch and the fry will be free swimming a futher 4 or 5 days later. The fry are still light sensitive and very sensitive to changing water conditions so it is esential that the tank is kept in very subdued lighting and kept very stable.

The fry should be fed on either Infusoria or liquid fry food and move on to newly hatched brineshrimps after about one week after free swimming, then slowly introduce some powdered flake food into the diet. A mature sponge filter should also be introduced at this stage to make certain that there will be no Ammonia or Nitrite after 3 weeks begin making very small water changes using the same soft acidic water to replace water that has been removed. After 8 weeks start to add a little bit of slightly harder water to accustom the fry to more normal conditions that they are likely to meet in the outside world, but do it gradually.

It sounds easy, but rearing such small sensitive fry requires experience. These fish will spawn quite easily but rearing the fry is extremely difficult.

Keep a vigilant watch, and good luck !!!

Answer 3

They are not pregnant. They lay eggs.Also very unlikely that they will lay eggs in the tank.

Answer 4

If the fish are fat, look up information about the disease called dropsy.

Answer 5

usually fish give birth around the full moon cycle. So i would wait for the next full moon it. It may be a day before or a day after.

Answer 6

i was told that captured fish dont produce offspring, they may lay eggs, but the males wont fertalize them