I had a school of Diamond Tetras breed w/o assistance. They are truly beautiful when mature.
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Thanks for the input, they are indeed beautiful, although I would ideally find a species that is a little more subtle in its coloring. Did the fry that grew up in the tank manage to increase the size of your shoal over time? I would be very interested to get an idea how long it would take to e.g. double the shoal size and if less fry made it to maturity once overall bioload increased due to reproduction 
Thanks for the input, they are indeed beautiful, although I would ideally find a species that is a little more subtle in its coloring. Did the fry that grew up in the tank manage to increase the size of your shoal over time? I would be very interested to get an idea how long it would take to e.g. double the shoal size and if less fry made it to maturity once overall bioload increased due to reproduction
yep! I started with 8 and had 12 within a year.
Most small tetras and danios produce very small larvae that tend to attach themselves to the glass for the first day or so, making an easy buffet.
The easy way to make tetras and danios, just look in the gallery under my pics there is a photo of a small 10 gal setup, but change the filter to a foam type, and have it barely running( otherwise you will churn the baby fish to death).
You place a few pairs of adult fish with big fat-bellied females and thin males (smaller males are more effective at fertilising) In the tank for a day or two, they normally spawn in the morning almost every day.
Return adults to the community/large tank and now keep an eye out for fry. You can pretty much ignore the tank for the first week (2 for tetras). Just put a crap-tonne of java moss in after pulling the parents. It will keep the tiny larvae alive until you can start feeding them. You can leave a large tub of water outdoors where it can go green in the sun, pour some of that water in the tank to feed very young larvae.
This method can net you 200 fry in a go... I use it for danios and tetras. (I do not recommend breeding danios without outdoor ponds), they are incredibly sensitive to getting all the nutrients they required in the first days and weeks of life or they will all be deformed.
You can buy 6 corys, two fat girls and 4 small males. After the fry are out of the 10 gal, you put the corys in there. Try and keep them happy with lots of water changes, a nice sandy bottom, regular frozen bloodworms and treats. They often respond to water changes. You will learn to recognize when the females are swimming with their ventral fins cupped like praying hands... eggs are deposited on the glass and on plant leaves. Scrape em off with a razor blade and deposit in a guppy breeding net. Babies will eat powdered food and love BBS, actually the parents too... they will keep the net clean by sucking leftover food from the bottom.
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The easy way to make tetras and danios, just look in the gallery under my pics there is a photo of a small 10 gal setup, but change the filter to a foam type, and have it barely running( otherwise you will churn the baby fish to death).
You place a few pairs of adult fish with big fat-bellied females and thin males (smaller males are more effective at fertilising) In the tank for a day or two, they normally spawn in the morning almost every day.
Return adults to the community/large tank and now keep an eye out for fry. You can pretty much ignore the tank for the first week (2 for tetras). Just put a crap-tonne of java moss in after pulling the parents. It will keep the tiny larvae alive until you can start feeding them. You can leave a large tub of water outdoors where it can go green in the sun, pour some of that water in the tank to feed very young larvae.
This method can net you 200 fry in a go... I use it for danios and tetras. (I do not recommend breeding danios without outdoor ponds), they are incredibly sensitive to getting all the nutrients they required in the first days and weeks of life or they will all be deformed.
You can buy 6 corys, two fat girls and 4 small males. After the fry are out of the 10 gal, you put the corys in there. Try and keep them happy with lots of water changes, a nice sandy bottom, regular frozen bloodworms and treats. They often respond to water changes. You will learn to recognize when the females are swimming with their ventral fins cupped like praying hands... eggs are deposited on the glass and on plant leaves. Scrape em off with a razor blade and deposit in a guppy breeding net. Babies will eat powdered food and love BBS, actually the parents too... they will keep the net clean by sucking leftover food from the bottom.
Nordic, many thanks for your elaborate advice! I definitely agree that a separate breeding tank will yield much better results, but I was curious if there are tetra species that breed prolific enough that they will naturally balance their numbers in a large enough mature aquarium with plenty of plants and java moss. However, I will keep your advice in mind if natural propagation won't work!Most small tetras and danios produce very small larvae that tend to attach themselves to the glass for the first day or so, making an easy buffet.
The easy way to make tetras and danios, just look in the gallery under my pics there is a photo of a small 10 gal setup, but change the filter to a foam type, and have it barely running( otherwise you will churn the baby fish to death).
You place a few pairs of adult fish with big fat-bellied females and thin males (smaller males are more effective at fertilising) In the tank for a day or two, they normally spawn in the morning almost every day.
Return adults to the community/large tank and now keep an eye out for fry. You can pretty much ignore the tank for the first week (2 for tetras). Just put a crap-tonne of java moss in after pulling the parents. It will keep the tiny larvae alive until you can start feeding them. You can leave a large tub of water outdoors where it can go green in the sun, pour some of that water in the tank to feed very young larvae.
This method can net you 200 fry in a go... I use it for danios and tetras. (I do not recommend breeding danios without outdoor ponds), they are incredibly sensitive to getting all the nutrients they required in the first days and weeks of life or they will all be deformed.
You can buy 6 corys, two fat girls and 4 small males. After the fry are out of the 10 gal, you put the corys in there. Try and keep them happy with lots of water changes, a nice sandy bottom, regular frozen bloodworms and treats. They often respond to water changes. You will learn to recognize when the females are swimming with their ventral fins cupped like praying hands... eggs are deposited on the glass and on plant leaves. Scrape em off with a razor blade and deposit in a guppy breeding net. Babies will eat powdered food and love BBS, actually the parents too... they will keep the net clean by sucking leftover food from the bottom.
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I will do a measurement of my water tonight, maybe that info will provide some additional insights for selecting the right species.
Agree, that is certainly a good point, and I might end up using a breeder tank to help my odds a little bit. However, it would be an interesting experiment to see if creating a self sustaining population/ecosystem would work in a very natural and lightly stocked 250g tank Do you happen to have experience with the tetra species I mentioned in my original post and know if they breed easily in the aquarium? I would also love to hear some other species that forum members have had success with that do not require very specific parameters and could potentially multiply under the conditions I described!
I quickly checked my water parameters and got the following:
PH: 7
KH: 3
GH>7
Happy to hear some ideas! Ramon
Do you happen to have experience with the tetra species I mentioned in my original post and know if they breed easily in the aquarium? I would also love to hear some other species that forum members have had success with that do not require very specific parameters and could potentially multiply under the conditions I described!I quickly checked my water parameters and got the following:
PH: 7
KH: 3
GH>7
Happy to hear some ideas! Ramon
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