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I buy fish,filter,plantes and sand 4 days ago.And two days ago I decide to try new thing.I use a spoon of tea for every 10 liter.After 5 minutes,fish got more active and after 15 minutes fish spawned.

Here are egg photos.



After 1 hour



After 6 hours,two of eggs got fungus.



Then, To prevent fungus,I use twice dose of tea,so I add a spoon tea for 10 liter again.And as ı hope,remaining eggs didnt get fungus.



Fry is left side.



And the right side.

Excellent photos. I have raised the majority of the most available Tetra species so I know how small your subjects are to try to photograph. I wish I had the equipment that would let me take similar macrophotos.

I am not familiar with what you call "sponge tea". Could you elaborate a little?
I have used peat extracts and similar potions when trying to breed various S.A. Characins with varying degrees of success.
I never had much trouble breeding Lemon Tetras in very soft, slightly acidic water without any peat or other plant extracts. I do use methylene blue and very little light in most Tetra breeding set ups but not all eggs are fertilized in the first place so some eggs decay regardless of what techniques one uses.
The one Tetra that has so far eluded me is successfully breeding common Neon tetras. I have had the eggs hatch but I fail to maintain the delicate balance between feeding the fry without polluting their water.
I have been able to raise 100's of Black Phantoms, Black Neons, Hypessobrycon amandae, Lemon, Glow Lights and Nannostomus beckfordi to name a few. Raising Tetras makes one appreciate the gift of large well developed fry the plecos give us. Most pleco fry could easily eat dozens of Tetra eggs or larvae. I am about due to try breeding Neons again but first I plan to try breeding some wild caught Red Phantom Tetras I was able to buy earlier this summer. They are just now coming into their full glory as young adults. Breeding Tetras is a lot of fun. Few sights warm a fish keeper's heart more than having a few hundred young but fully colored home bred Tetras set up in a planted display tank.

Great photos.
Larry you have just finally tipped me over the edge and I am going to have a go at breeding some tetras!
I have been toying with the idea for a while now, so when I get back I'm gonna do it.

Matt

Matt,
Black Neons are one of my favorites to breed. They are fairly predictably easy to spawn and not very hard to raise. Not as touchy about water chemistry as many other Tetras. They can take newly hatched brine shrimp after just a few days on mikroworms. For a small fry they have large mouths which matters more when it comes to feeding micro foods. Some species need Infusoria but Black Neons let you skip that. I usually set up a trio, two males and one female. 3 Black Neons cost about US$6.00 and can yield 150 or more fry in a few hours of spawning around dawn. They are a change of pace from Catfish. You get quick results which is nice.

apistomaster wrote: I am not familiar with what you call "sponge tea". Could you elaborate a little?

Sorry Larry,I wrote sponge instead of spoon.I tried to say "a spoon of tea".Sometimes I can be confused due to my lessons and homeworks.I am a dentistry student.

Oh

I assumed sponge tea was a sponge squeezed in the tank - to help starting nitrate forming bacteria

Larry, thanks for asking

(me being dumb) Is it actually a spoon of tea? ie tea leaves, the liquid (what strength)?

Have you tried alder cones?

Richard B wrote:(me being dumb) Is it actually a spoon of tea? ie tea leaves, the liquid (what strength)?

Have you tried alder cones?

I use the liquidIt occurs tein,tannin and gallic asid.So that I decide to use it.I use oak leaves before.

Me being dumb too when tried it.

Fry are start to swim free.

3 days old.

very amazing pictures!

What are you feeding them?
They appear to be going hungry.
Next time set up infusoria cultures well ahead of when you plan to spawn them.
they may need it for 5-7 days before they can take newly hatched brine shrimp.
Walter worms or vinegar eels can be used as a starter food or at least a transitional food from infusoria to brine shrimp nauplii.

apistomaster wrote:What are you feeding them?
They appear to be going hungry.
Next time set up infusoria cultures well ahead of when you plan to spawn them.
they may need it for 5-7 days before they can take newly hatched brine shrimp.
Walter worms or vinegar eels can be used as a starter food or at least a transitional food from infusoria to brine shrimp nauplii.

Larry,I give them sera micron but they run after cyclops nauplii.Before,when I spawned other three species I did the same thing.For 2-4 days I give anything to fry.And I didnt see any of fry died.In my aquarium there are many cyclops,various little worms and little pods.I put the leaves(loquat,oak,chestnut,salix etc.) from streams,so that I carry so many zooplanktons to aquarium.Perhaps they wont grow fast but they will survive before they were.

That is to say,I dont set up infuseria culture due to I have many very small zooplanktons.

And here some cyclops pictures from my tank.





Their size change only 0.5 mm(as far as ı can see,) to 2 mm.

Crazy good photos!
Amanda

Hi unotim-

You have way too good photomicrographs, I am jealous. I have a good microscope so seeing these things is not a problem but taking photos with my microscope is problematic.

You use a more natural method of fry raising than I do but it depends on one's goals which is best. I want 100+ fry from most Tetras and can't use a natural approach to raise that many. I do appreciate the benefits of providing a more natural environment. I tend to strive for creating as complex an ecosystem as possible but I do use a more sterile approach to breeding Tetras and must use supplementary microscopic living foods to get the highest survival rate.
I have introduced some of the predatory species of Cyclops from ponds and have seen them go quickly through very small fry. It is just a risk I am willing to take. Overall, the benefits of collecting live foods outweighs the risks.

merhaba unotim,
very nice photos...

what kind of tea did you use ? and how soft (how many KH) is the water???

thanks for more infos

good luck from switzerland
farid

I use Camellia sinensis.In Turkey,we called it tea and drink every morning.Can be used several thing in stead of Camellia sinensis.I try it and achieve.

I dont know kH but I know the city water pH,it is 7.8 and I think it is now 7 or below 7.Because tea's pH almost 5.

I dont give any food to mature fish for 3 days.And 2 days ago I start to feeding.This morning I make a little water change and add some tea again.They are breeding now.

hi unotim,
this is just great...i think i will head to the teashop soon

just great!

farid

That is Camomile Tea, correct?
I know that some wild Angelfish keepers gave using some tea, a special blend of conventional tea as an additive to their wild Altum Angelfish water although most people ended up drinking that tea instead of using it on their fish.

The teas like Camomile may have an astringent quality that may be slightly bacteriostatic. You are breeding and raising Tetras in harder water than most but although you have said you have raised Neon tetras and Rummy Nose Tetras, I don't recall a description of how successful you were. I would not be happy about raising only a 10 or 12. Depending on the number eggs from a spawn from a pair or trio, I would expect to raise 75 to 150 fry to a salable size as success. Most Tetra eggs require very soft water, much softer than yours, for most of the eggs to even hatch. Only a relatively few eggs hatch in water with a KH of 6. Most do much better at no more the a KH of 3. General hardness should be as low or lower.
One trio of Lemon Tetras should be able to produce 150 salable fry per spawn.

apistomaster wrote:That is Camomile Tea, correct?
I know that some wild Angelfish keepers gave using some tea, a special blend of conventional tea as an additive to their wild Altum Angelfish water although most people ended up drinking that tea instead of using it on their fish.

The teas like Camomile may have an astringent quality that may be slightly bacteriostatic. You are breeding and raising Tetras in harder water than most but although you have said you have raised Neon tetras and Rummy Nose Tetras, I don't recall a description of how successful you were. I would not be happy about raising only a 10 or 12. Depending on the number eggs from a spawn from a pair or trio, I would expect to raise 75 to 150 fry to a salable size as success. Most Tetra eggs require very soft water, much softer than yours, for most of the eggs to even hatch. Only a relatively few eggs hatch in water with a KH of 6. Most do much better at no more the a KH of 3. General hardness should be as low or lower.
One trio of Lemon Tetras should be able to produce 150 salable fry per spawn.

Larry,I dont know exactly it is camomile tea.I wrote that I used.

I raised rummy nose and neons.Perhaps,there arent many fry but I raised around 15 and neons around 25.You ask,I have hard water,how my eggs hatch?I use now tea but before I use oak leaves extract.This protect eggs and fry get fungus.Gallic asid and catechin are very powerful antifungal,antibacteria,antiviral and antioxidative.These features let me raise fry without any problem.I dont mind fry number.I only mind get fry.This is a choice.

Could you please clarify "1 spoon of tea per 10 liters"?

Did you add 1 spoon of dry tea leaves to 10 liters of water, or did you add 1 spoon of the brew obtained by boiling tea leaves in water to 10 liters of water?

retro_gk wrote:Could you please clarify "1 spoon of tea per 10 liters"?

Did you add 1 spoon of dry tea leaves to 10 liters of water, or did you add 1 spoon of the brew obtained by boiling tea leaves in water to 10 liters of water?

I use 1 spoon of the brew obtained by boiling tea leaves in water to 10 liters of water.In other words I boil tea and add well-stteeped tea as liquid.

Thanks!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia_sinensis

That is the stuff you get in England for breakfast (and midmorning, afternoon and evening). It's a stimulant variant (it has caffeine (aka tein when not in tea)), which , not like the camomille or any other "relaxing" variants.

--
Mats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5GMpWiYZXc

We catch them while breeding 3. time.And prepare a smart video.

Fry are 10 days old.There are still 4 fry.I will start to give artemia tomorrow.

I would have thought these fry could begin taking newly baby brine shrimp(bbs) by their 5th day of free swimming.
For small fry, most Hyphessobrycon fry have fairly large mouths relative to their size. That is what matters most when deciding when to begin using bbs.

Again, excellent photo.

Thanks Larry,

Artemia didnt hatch.I opened the package 10 months ago and closed it but in spite of this they didnt hatch.

Anyway,the fry feed with these and several miniworms 1mm to 1 cm different from them.

Here is one of them.



And another.

That first photo is a planarian worm which the fry will not eat.
But it seems fairly obvious that the fry found only enough to eat to support the few survivors. It is easy enough to try again once you have some fresh brine shrimp eggs to use.