# Breeding Neon Tetras



## rbpwrd240 (Feb 21, 2012)

Hey gang I had a few questions before I try to add neon tetras to the list of fish I have successfully bread.

I researched the topic and im trying to figure just a few things out.

Here is the setup.
29 Gallon main tank 6 pack of Neon Tetras (they are already laying eggs)
10 gallon breeding tank 

1) Using rain water do I need to do anything to it after collecting it? 

2) I heard they like blackwater conditions. I was thinking of using oak leaves from the front yard to do this. Maybe set them in the rain water? Will this work?

3) I have some black water in the yard that is rain water with oak leaves in the bottom. This water is laiden with mesquito larva and other aquatic creatures should I just use this water for the breeding tank?

4) I heard its crucial for everything to be stearil, should I boil the rain water and clean the aquarium and all things going in the aquarium with vineager?

Every other aspect Im comfortable with but these questions are plaging me.

Thanks for any input
Alex R.


----------



## NeonRob (May 1, 2008)

I successfully bred a batch of Neons for BAP back in December, so maybe I can help.

1) I personally use reconstituted RO water (RO + Kent Liquid RO Right), but I have an RO unit. I have read about others having success with boiled rain water. Depending on where you live, I'd be concerned about pollutants in the rain water (poor air quality or fertilizer or other chemicals from ground run off). Consider catching the rain before it hits the ground.

2) My internet research has determined that Neons are actually clearwater or whitewater fish and it is the Cardinal Tetra that is the blackwater spawner in nature. My experience is that blackwater conditions are not necessary to get either fish to spawn in captivity.

3) I would be concerned that the larvae might prey on your fry. Boiling the water could take care of this issue though. I would introduce first foods such as plant trimmings with micro organisms from an established planted tank. Even a clump of java moss is sufficient. You'll need this for spawning media anyway. Microworms are good to have around before feeding BBS as well. You will want to have a daily BBS culture going as well once your fry make it to the free swimming stage.

4) I don't do anything special to sterilize ever. I do like to make sure the tank, heater, & trap or net have all dried out first before setting up the breeding tank. Some use potassium permanganate or vinegar to sterilize everything. My experience is that rinsing the tank with tap water, scrubbing it with a kitchen pad that won't scratch the glass, and then drying it out with a clean towel is sufficient for successful Tetra breeding in general.

The highest yields will be achieved by separating the parents from the eggs. My experience is that a spawning grate or net, either using nylon material, achieve the highest yields.

I've successfully bred 12 species of Tetras so far with more on the way, so feel free to ask more questions.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Sorry to resurrect such an old thread.

I have successfully gotten stage one done with breeding cardinal tetras. I have them in a breeding container hanging inside my 40 gallon tank. The bottom has pebbles to keep eggs safe from parents. A little bit of flame moss and riccia fluitans floating on top.

I am reading around on how to carry out the process. They hatch in 3-5 days, photosensitive first week, and are full colored in 2-3 months.

Can you fill me in on a good feeding schedule and what to feed to keep yield's high?

Thanks in advance.


----------



## NeonRob (May 1, 2008)

You need to totally blackout the eggs. I use a 5 gallon tank and cover it with a towel after removing the parents. Alternatively, you can transfer the eggs w/ plants to a small container. You don't need any water movement or filtration for a while, but you do need total darkness. The eggs will hatch in about 24 hours. 24 hours after the eggs were laid, I lift the towel and shine a flashlight in there to see if the eggs hatched. Expect some to most of the eggs to fungus. Healthy eggs will hatch no matter what. The light will make them dart around the tank. Don't do this too much. The fry will be free swimming in about 6 days. This is when you need to start feeding microworms or vinegar eels and you can remove the towel. At about day 10, they will be ready for live baby brine shrimp. Start out by one feeding a couple of drops of bbs the first couple of days and then gradually increase feedings. 

Hope this helps. I've breed 18 species of Tetras so far this way.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Months later...  I got a 10 gallon tank to try this again. They lay eggs like crazy almost every other night in my planted 40 gallon tank but i still have trouble making this work.

You mentioned they hatch in 24 hours, i have heard others say that it takes up to 5 days.

Also, i was wondering how many eggs can one pair lay in one night? It seems like every time they go at it, they get 5-10 at a time tops. The numbers seem really low for me compared to what people claim.


----------



## NeonRob (May 1, 2008)

I've bred 18 species of Tetras and every viable egg has hatched within 24-36 hours at ~75F. So temperature matters. Higher temps get a quicker hatch rate.

A fully matured Neon female can lay up to 250 eggs in one spawning, but that is one spawning about every 2 weeks with the male separated from the female to condition them for spawning. Expect more like 100-150 eggs.

I don't doubt that the same female will drop only a small handful of eggs on a daily basis in a community tank, but that's not how you breed Tetras for maximum yield. 

What you need to do is separate your males from the females in order to condition them. Let the female fatten up with eggs for 2 weeks. Now put them together in your 10 gallon tank and see what happens. 

Also, how are you keeping the parents from eating the eggs? I would recommend getting a square yard of synthetic mesh material from a fabric store to make a drop net trap that the fish can breed in. The holes in the mesh should be big enough for the eggs to pass through, but not big enough for a Neon to get through. The hole should be about 1-2mm. Think wedding veil mesh.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

NeonRob said:


> Also, how are you keeping the parents from eating the eggs? I would recommend getting a square yard of synthetic mesh material from a fabric store to make a drop net trap that the fish can breed in. The holes in the mesh should be big enough for the eggs to pass through, but not big enough for a Neon to get through. The hole should be about 1-2mm. Think wedding veil mesh.


I actually was going to try this as my next step. I have been meaning to do it but didn't think tetras would be comfortable with mating in a net? What i did was make the breeding tank so dark that they dont see their eggs fall. I watched them mating in the dark like this and it seemed to work. They would spawn and eggs would fall out but i didn't notice any of them eating the eggs. But i still have not seen any hatched eggs in the morning or any at all by then. I have flitered river sand on the bottom so cant really see anything. I will try taking everything out and just use net next time.

As far as water quality, does it matter too much as far as hatching yield? I mean, my water is good, but i feel like something is not good enough as nothing has been hatching. Maybe they just eat the eggs when i dont notice.
I dont do water changes in my tank but just top off with filtered drinking water. The pH is lately is just over 7.0 somewhere. I have had it at 6.5 before. The GH and KH are around 4 to 5 degrees hardness. (I assume nitrate and phosphate levels shouldnt matter as that is measured for plant food dosing)?

Ill take another reading right now and post another reply.


----------



## NeonRob (May 1, 2008)

With a square yard of mesh material, you should be able to basically line the sides of the tank and leave about an inch from the bottom, so that the pair or group will still have most of the tank space to breed in. The netting does not distract them. Put your clump of java moss, plants, or spawning media in the netting. A bare bottom tank is best to make the eggs most visible to the naked eye. They are very, very small! You can shine a flashlight across the bottom to see them best, but don't do this much longer than a few seconds, because they are light sensistive.

They won't eat the eggs immediately, because they are focused on spawning, but they will eventually find them if you don't pull the pair once their done. If they don't find the eggs, they will surely find the fry. They love live moving food.

Your water parameters seem pretty close to what I was using, so let's not change those yet.

Try the netting with a bare bottom tank, some fresh water, and temps in the mid 70's. Once you notice eggs on the bottom, pull the parents out, separate them if you can, and keep all males separate from the females. 

Now, wait it out for a few days to see if the eggs hatch. They could also not be viable. If any eggs turn opaque white, then they are infertile, will fungus, and not hatch. While the pair may spawn, one of the fish might not be mature enough or too old to be fertile. If the water is too hard, they will not hatch. Healthy Neon eggs look translucent pinkish/orangish, but not white. So if the eggs look healthy and don't hatch, you should try softening your water. Since you're getting them to lay eggs in the first place, you're off to a good start.

You need fresh, clean water with the lowest possible readings on any form of Nitrogen. In nature, these guys breed in the wet season when the banks of the streams over flow into the flow plains on nutrient deficient lands with decaying plant matter, so the water parameters are acidic and very soft.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

NeonRob said:


> Your water parameters seem pretty close to what I was using, so let's not change those yet.
> 
> You need fresh, clean water with the lowest possible readings on any form of Nitrogen. In nature, these guys breed in the wet season when the banks of the streams over flow into the flow plains on nutrient deficient lands with decaying plant matter, so the water parameters are acidic and very soft.


I just bought some peat moss. I was wondering how much would i need to use on a 10 gallon tank to lower pH and soften water slightly? I think i will just leave it in a net on bottom corner somewhere to keep the bottom of tank clear. I found a net to use with just perfect holes. I an willing to give this another try.


----------



## NeonRob (May 1, 2008)

Yes, you could fill a media net and put that in the tank or filter your water through the peat. With the net, you'll need to soak or boil your peat in order to get it to sink. In the past, I bought a small plastic garbage can, drilled a hole in the bottom, filled it half way with peat, then filtered my water through it into a bucket. It is normal for tannins to leach out into the water making it look like tea.

You have options.


----------



## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I don't think neons are that hard to breeds, my niece kept a10 gallon tank for about a year and started with 10 neon tetras and ended with... I'd say easily over 100 sexually mature and unknown number of fry/juvies with the tank kept in the most horrible conditions. Long story short: excessive over feeding, lights on 24/7 heater cranked to 80F or so, and they things breed into some muddy colored dull fish (all their color bred out) might be the horrid conditions (i don't think she ever did a water change.. just top offs), algae covering literally everything, or somethign else. Point is, you shouldn't have to over think it too much.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

True, but i am breeding cardinal tetra. From what i hear, they are a little more difficult.
Anyways, i got some peat moss in there. I was wondering, is it possible for microworms to eat the fry eggs?


----------



## Koos (Jan 10, 2014)

Help!!! How do I distinguish between male and female neon tetras?


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

I think its pretty hard to unless your female is pregnant and already laying eggs. These plenty of sourcss online that describe it if you google it but In my opinion the only way to be sure is with proof shes laying eggs. Im no expert.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Koos said:


> Help!!! How do I distinguish between male and female neon tetras?


I think male cardinal / neon tetra have some intestine or something visible through their mostly transparent under bodies. Females are fuller and the blue line along their body looks inflated at their belly. I may be wrong.














Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Koos (Jan 10, 2014)

Thank you, this is very helpful


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Koos said:


> Thank you, this is very helpful


Maybe this will help you even more... not sure 

This is my tank. I managed to get them in the act.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYUNI4iNUZo


----------



## Koos (Jan 10, 2014)

nickdu said:


> Maybe this will help you even more... not sure
> 
> This is my tank. I managed to get them in the act.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYUNI4iNUZo


Thanks again, every bit of information is helpful. But let me tell you about the tragedy that happened in my tank last night. I was replacing part of my water by siphoning it off into the garden when my beautiful red Betta Splendens must have investigated this strange object and got sucked into the pipe. Long story short, by the time I missed him, the ants were already feasting on him in the garden. 
Also compliments on your beautifully planted tank.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Im sorry to hear that. Thanks for the compliments.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Koos (Jan 10, 2014)

I thought you were asleep, it must be about 1 am at your place.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Im in california. 10pm

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Spiffyfish (Jan 30, 2014)

Your tank it super clean doesn't even look like there is water in it. Wish mine were like that. Good luck breeding the cardinals I'm just trying to keep a bunch alive.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Spiffyfish said:


> Your tank it super clean doesn't even look like there is water in it. Wish mine were like that. Good luck breeding the cardinals I'm just trying to keep a bunch alive.


Everyone always says that. I dont think its as clean as it could be most od thr time but thanks. Compliments like that are what keep me going at it sometimes.
My filter isnt even that strong. Maybe I just have slower flow not sure. But it does pick up a bunch of green/brown out of water. I use custom spoonges in it that have smaller holes. Gets more junk out I guess.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

I think I had two pregnant females at that time. Didnt see any videos online that show how cardinals act when they are courting with each other so I thought I'd take my own and share it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Today marked the second chapter of sucess for breeding cardinal tetra. I have hatched babies.
I read somewhere that it takes them no more than 36 hours to hatch but I found out that is not true. It took me about 2 days maybe longer (my water temp is about 75f). I collected some using dropper and put in small cup to see what they look like when they hatch. I had always confused micro organisms swimming in my nreeder tank for these guys. They are bigger than I thought they would be. Will post pictures later.

Also, I believe the myth that they need 100% darkness in order to hatch is not true. Though they do need dark. Its ok to have a little minor reflected light. I put a cloth over my light hood and had it turned on over aquarium but tilted verticle. I use led light strips and I hear led produce the least amount of uv light. Stay away from CFLs.
Hoping they can grow healthy and make it. If anyone has any advise... please share.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Koos (Jan 10, 2014)

Congratulations, I truly hope they all grow up to bring much joy to your tank. 
I'm moving house in three weeks time and I am already setting up a tank at the new place to get it cycled before I move my fish. Will it help to take some water from my existing tank to speed up the process? I use borehole water, so luckily no chlorine etc. is involved. thanks in advance.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Yes I think it should help keep nitrate and nitrite levels more stable. Plus it will help keep water parameters better matched. U shouldnt have to worry about that if your source of water for old tank comes from the same place. Thats my opinion.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Qwe (Jul 8, 2013)

Just curious, is there a reason you can't raise fry on microworms and such exclusively, instead of BBS? Adults are even small enough to eat microworms, so it's not like they'd outgrow them...


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Qwe said:


> Just curious, is there a reason you can't raise fry on microworms and such exclusively, instead of BBS? Adults are even small enough to eat microworms, so it's not like they'd outgrow them...


I dont know. This is first hatch for me. I was planning to raise them on microworms. I already have some micro organisms darting around in the tank. I wonder if they would eat those untill big enough for microworms.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

Question: I'm having difficulty sexing green neon tetras. Descriptions of females are that they are more rounded-bodied, but even when mature, it's hard to tell. When do the females produce eggs and become fat?


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Solcielo lawrencia said:


> Question: I'm having difficulty sexing green neon tetras. Descriptions of females are that they are more rounded-bodied, but even when mature, it's hard to tell. When do the females produce eggs and become fat?


If they're anything like my cardinals, they are impossible to sex. I try to collect all my females in a seperate tank and I add one or two males when trying to breed them and sometimes the males spawn with the thinner females and completely leave the fuller looking fish alone. Dont beat yourself up over it. I think the only true way to tell is when you see them spawning. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

If they're impossible to sex, then how do you collect the females???


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Solcielo lawrencia said:


> If they're impossible to sex, then how do you collect the females???


I pick or the fattest looking ones in the bellies. Im not always right. Sometimes its a male.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

I'm also having trouble believing that the can release 150-300 eggs during a spawn unless they are obesely fat. Did your cardinals release that many at each spawn?


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Solcielo lawrencia said:


> I'm also having trouble believing that the can release 150-300 eggs during a spawn unless they are obesely fat. Did your cardinals release that many at each spawn?


No I agree with you. Maybe that is a total in the lifespan and they spawn some dozen times. I get really low numbers right now and have yet to successfully raise the fry.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

Have you successfully fed them with BBS or microworms? It's most likely a food issue as I was only successful raising a small number of harlequin rasbora fry only after feeding BBS. Prior, I've had a couple of spawns but no fry survived.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Solcielo lawrencia said:


> Have you successfully fed them with BBS or microworms? It's most likely a food issue as I was only successful raising a small number of harlequin rasbora fry only after feeding BBS. Prior, I've had a couple of spawns but no fry survived.


I had bad timing with feeding. Might have waited to feed too late but yes I use microworms. I hear you're supposed to feed them one day or so after they hatch after their yolk sack is gone. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

For the first couple of days after they absorb the yolk sac, they should be able to feed off the infusoria from an established tank. You can culture it by shaking out some of the biofilter and the microbes will be used as a food source. Also, rotting leaves is a good source of microbes. This assumes the established tank doesn't have Excel/glut added since it tends to kill them.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

I do have some puny micro barely visible things darting around the tank but not sure if they'll eat them.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Its strange how my fish are more likely to spawn in a open tank but when I put them in a netted container in tank they go into captured mode and are afraid to swim up or spawn / move around. Any ideas how to get around this?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

How long do the females stay in the breeding tank prior to adding the males?


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Solcielo lawrencia said:


> How long do the females stay in the breeding tank prior to adding the males?


Females are always in the tank. Its hard to tell them apart so im sure there is a male in there too. But they seem to be back at it again. Do you know if micro bacteria swimming in tank can kill eat the eggs?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

Bacteria won't harm eggs as far as I know. You can culture infusoria, which looks like cloudy water.


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

I read that you can identify neon tetras' sex by the size of their lateral stripe. Females have wider and slightly curved stripes. Males have a straighter and thinner lateral stripe. This holds true for green neons and cardinals.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Yes that is true. The only problem is that sometimes when the female does not look full of eggs she is too hard to tell apart from a male. I believe i found another way to tell them apart though.


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

I've been spending an awful lot of time just looking at my green neons when I noticed the differences in the size and shape of the lateral stripe. I recalled what I read about neon sexing that it occurred that the same is true for all neons.

What's the other way you found to sex them?


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

When I shine bright light at bellies of my cardinals, the females have a fuller darker not transparent belly. The males are slimmer and mostly transparent near the bellies. Maybe im wrong but it seemed to work for me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Koos (Jan 10, 2014)

Are the males bigger than the females? I see in my tank that the ones with the straight lateral lines are bigger than those with the slightly curved lines.

Sent from my Lenovo B6000-H using Tapatalk


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

No, males are smaller at mature size. What you're probably observing are the females being juveniles, not fully matured adults.


----------



## Koos (Jan 10, 2014)

Thanks, that was very helpful.

Sent from my Lenovo B6000-H using Tapatalk


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Males look almost same length but they are thinner. Solcielo is right.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

The 7 green neons I have are wild caught so they are super anxious. If I separated the females, I'll have an even smaller group and probably even more anxious. Will this affect their breeding behavior? I have a ~2:1 of females:males.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Maybe they are anxious from something else. They love 6.5 pH soft water in natual habitats from Venezuela. What are your water paramweters? Because mine only spawn in that water. Every time I top off with acidic clean filtered water that triggers it nicely.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

Very soft water, pH~6.2 from CO2 injection. They behaved the same at the LFS when being netted so I don't think it's a water parameters issue or a CO2 issue. What's funny is that I have a single exclamation point rasbora who started behaving the same way only after being introduced with the tetras. It would swim about very carefree before and was not shy at all until it sensed the tetras' fear and go into hiding.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Solcielo lawrencia said:


> Very soft water, pH~6.2 from CO2 injection. They behaved the same at the LFS when being netted so I don't think it's a water parameters issue or a CO2 issue. What's funny is that I have a single exclamation point rasbora who started behaving the same way only after being introduced with the tetras. It would swim about very carefree before and was not shy at all until it sensed the tetras' fear and go into hiding.


Maybe the water is too acidic then? I'm not sure what could be the issue in your case then. Does co2 really drop the pH that low? I use co2 and havent noticed anything that drastic.


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

KH=2 and green neons come from waters that are in the pH=5-6 range so it's not acidic at all for them. Neons are captive bred so there will be behavioral differences.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Ohh nice.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Koos (Jan 10, 2014)

nickdu said:


> Males look almost same length but they are thinner. Solcielo is right.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


Thanks. And there is also the thing you mentioned a while back about the intestine that may be visible in males. Although they don't hold still very often, I have noticed that some of mine display that while others don't. 


Sent from my Lenovo B6000-H using Tapatalk


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Yes then you most likely have both genders.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


----------



## Koos (Jan 10, 2014)

But you must agree mollies are much easier.

Sent from my Lenovo B6000-H using Tapatalk


----------



## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

nickdu said:


> When I shine bright light at bellies of my cardinals, the females have a fuller darker not transparent belly. The males are slimmer and mostly transparent near the bellies. Maybe im wrong but it seemed to work for me.


I was at the LFS and I noticed that some of the female P. simulans had darker bellies, supposedly being eggs. Now I know what to look for to see if they are egg-ridden or not.


----------



## nickdu (Jul 31, 2011)

Here's a little bit of what my setup looks like.


----------



## 5689 (Mar 26, 2018)

*Help?*

I don't know how this works(iv never done this message thing) but I would like to breed fish. I have a tank thats pretty big and I have two female sword tails, 3 catfish,3 zebra danios, 3 neon tetras, and one black finned tetra.Also one snail. I hope it doesn't sound bad, I really just want to try breeding something. I have researched how to tell the genders of some of my fish, bu I'm not experienced or anything so I really can't be sure. Is there a fish I have thats easier to breed than others? and are their any tricks or tips in gender identification? Is there something in reticular that would incourage one to breed? pls somebody help me.


----------



## Kevloc (Mar 27, 2018)

Hi, your Swordtails will definitely be the easiest to breed as they’re live bearers. Just add a male and you’ll have fry in no time at all. Just make sure there are plenty of hiding spots for them or the other fish will eat them.


----------



## NaturalAquarist (Mar 30, 2018)

I actually just wrote an article on this: Breeding Neon Tetras - A Comprehensive Guide - Natural Aquarist

*mods please take this down if it's against the rules, I just felt like this would be easier than rehashing the post*


----------



## DrOctavius (May 2, 2018)

NaturalAquarist said:


> I actually just wrote an article on this: Breeding Neon Tetras - A Comprehensive Guide - Natural Aquarist
> 
> *mods please take this down if it's against the rules, I just felt like this would be easier than rehashing the post*


NaturalAquarist, I just read your guide and it was great! Thank you for a well written guide.

I have a small school of 8 neons living in a heavily planted 55 gal. community tank. Ph has been at 8.0 for the last year and a half.
Should I be able to drop the neon pair in my 10 gallon breeder tank with RO water (7.0 ph) without too much worry (acclimate for temp. diff etc.)?

Do I need to run through a normal cycle like when breaking in a new tank or is the breeding pair (male + female neon) in the tank for such a short time that I shouldn't worry about cycling the tank?


----------

