Fat tetra, or illness?

[black ghost]

Neons don’t spawn in aquaria very often. They need very acidic and very warm water. She’ll probably just reabsorb them.

There’s nothing wrong with good quality flake foods. It’s the poor quality ones that can cause bloat. That’s the same for any dry food format.

[Martinspuddle]

Neons don’t spawn in aquaria very often. They need very acidic and very warm water. She’ll probably just reabsorb them.

@black ghost, have bred Neon Tetras before?

[black ghost]

Neons don’t spawn in aquaria very often. They need very acidic and very warm water. She’ll probably just reabsorb them.

@black ghost, have bred Neon Tetras before?

I haven’t, no.

[VikingMummy2015]

I’d ditch the flake personally and just use a mix of live, frozen and pellets/granules.

[Martinspuddle]

Neons don’t spawn in aquaria very often. They need very acidic and very warm water. She’ll probably just reabsorb them.

@black ghost, have bred Neon Tetras before?

I haven’t, no.

I have, successfully twice.

I will say, with Cardinals (Paracheirodon axelrodi) you do have use low water, high temperature parameters if you want to succeed breeding these Tetras ...they are very particular about their requirements.

Originally when I tried the supposed way for Neons, a low pH 6.0 and high temperature, think it was 82°F, and 85°F, on both occasions, the score was nil pois!

I managed it with a pH of 7.0, a temperature of 75°F, peat bottom, Java moss, and low light (important) in a 10 gallon aquarium. After adding some live daphnia, 20 minutes later after adding two males and female to the aquarium they spawned. I had around 30 fry. The second time I did it, I conditioned them with live foods for a week before adding two pairs to my breeder aquarium which resulted in over 100 fry.

The fry are super small when first hatched, so you cannot have a filter, just air stone at this stage, so live plants help with a daily 10% water changes done slowly. Also you must live Infusoria cultures running before spawning as the fry hatch in 24 hours of being layed. After ten days you can progress the fry onto Walter worms or Micro worms and finally newly hatched Artemia by which time the fry are just large enough to add a cycled sponge filter, with a water change of mature tank water plus some fresh.

It's very rewarding but labour intensive when you have a full time job as well.