Breeding green neon tetra

[zodiak245]

I want to try to breed my green neon tetras. Do I acclimate the fish when putting them in the breeder tank? Do I acclimate them when putting them back to the main tank? Do I need an air stone or sponge filter on the breeding tank? will the fry eat vinegar eels?

[Fish Folk]

I recommend diving deep into tetra breeding techniques via older videos from Mark's Aquatics (UK) and LRB Aquatics.

"Do I acclimate the fish when putting them in the breeder tank?"

- How different is the water? Is it R.O. vs. tap water? What's the pH / KH / GH / temp. difference? If you want to, you can take a tray or dish and siphon out ca. 1 inch water from their current tank, move them in, and then siphon-drip in water from the breeding tank slowly over the course of 30 to 60 mins. Finally, add tetras to breeding tank. But if the parameters aren't really all that different, I am not sure it will shock them any to just move them over. Now, if by "acclimate" you are referring to _feeding_ them a specialized diet in order to help them develop roe and milt, that can be done while they are in their current tank. 

"Do I acclimate them when putting them back to the main tank?"

- Again, this depends on how different your parameters are.

"Do I need an air stone or sponge filter on the breeding tank?"

- The answer to this depends on exactly how you set your breeding tank up. Mark's Aquatics video series is done with no filtration. Just peat, a small heater, and and cycled water. LRB Aquatics takes tips from Ted Judy (I think) and sets up a pass-through / fall through rested in a larger tank. That tank might do well with small sponge filtration.

"will the fry eat vinegar eels?"

Once they rise, they may. But at first, they'll stay very low near the substrate. They will need infusoria. But if you use some well-established java moss, molm, and maybe some sponge-filter squeezings, enough can make it to a size where they can eat vinegar eels.

I'll pause here. If you're very serious about this, I'll reply with loads of links, videos, and lots of other thoughts. We have never bred these tetras, but have bred a few similar species.