# 15 gallon Emperor Tetra breeding experiment.



## Danw (Feb 26, 2011)

Good evening fellow hobbyists! tonight i am posting my newest project; an Emporer tetra breeding tank. this is exciting to me because, i have never bred any species of tetra. ive bred a number of cichlids and guppies and some corydoras but now i want to try my hand at something completely different.








So this is the basic layout. It is a 15 gallon standard tank filled with rainwater and RO water. temp set at 78. as pictured there is some large clumps of java moss and a couple homemade spawning mops. filtration is a corner filter with activated carbon, and a sponge filter. I added the filters straight from preexisting tanks, so im not too worried about the cycling issue. ive been feeding live daphnia, mosquito larva, flake, FD daphnia, and cyclopeese. the plan is to start a culture of brine shrimps for them as well. 








Now i have added some peat, about 1/4 of an inch or less covering the bottom. My biggest male is now chilling in his new digs, and two females are hanging in a 5 gallon. And in a day or so i will introduce the females to the males tank.








Thats my plan but ive never bred tetras before, so if anyone has any advice or suggestions i would love to hear them.


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## Dunbar Painting (Apr 24, 2010)

Emperor tetras are a characin that breeds intermittently over a few days instead of all at once. They are ideal for a continuous breeding set up instead of just a pair over night. So make sure you have tons of java moss and floating plants + a few breeding condition adult fish and you should be fine. You won't see any babies for a few weeks as most will get eaten and they are absurdly small. If you have any questions PM me, I have bred about 20 different tetra species,.


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## mollyb (May 18, 2010)

the only thing I might do different, and it is only based on nothing, would be to have the females chillin in the breeding tank, then add the male(s). It looks great, this is a direction I would like to move into as well, having similar experience, cichlids, corys, etc, definitely looking forward to seeing how you are doing. I have some serpaes and lemons that I am contemplating....

Nice job - keep it up.


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## Dunbar Painting (Apr 24, 2010)

mollyb said:


> the only thing I might do different, and it is only based on nothing, would be to have the females chillin in the breeding tank, then add the male(s). It looks great, this is a direction I would like to move into as well, having similar experience, cichlids, corys, etc, definitely looking forward to seeing how you are doing. I have some serpaes and lemons that I am contemplating....
> 
> Nice job - keep it up.


Setting up a continuous spawning system and setting up a pair to spawn require different methodologies. Emperor tetras lend well to continuous set ups, where as serpae and lemon are better for a one time spawning set up.

In the former, which fish you ad first is inconsequential, in the latter, you can add the female first... but the pair should have been conditioned separately anyway.


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## Danw (Feb 26, 2011)

*update july 9*

Thank you everyone for your feed back, here is an update.



> Nice job - keep it up.


 Thanks, molly. i will.


> If you have any questions PM me, I have bred about 20 different tetra species,.


thats wicked man thanks alot i will most certainly shoot you some questions.

so ive had this tank up and running for about two weeks and have yet to see any fry, trying the patience thing.
i have 4 females and 2 males here in my tank and ive read that this is a good ratio. 
ive been feeding them heavily on live daphnia, some flake, some cycopeeze, and whatever else i collect when im collecting daphnia. i also have been adding a few drops of liquid fry food daily. So here is my latest video.


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## Danw (Feb 26, 2011)

*Success!!!!!*

its pretty hard to see but i think he should be visible. anyway hes eating live black worms, daphnia, and mosquito larva.


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