Lamp eye Congo tetra,Phenacogrammus aurantiacus help.

[FrostiesFishes]

Hello, I’ve been trading in fish to my local store building credit for a few different breeding projects. And the last time I called my LFS they told me that had got in a group of the lamp eye Congo tetras (Phenacogrammus aurantiacus) in. A species that they knew I had been looking for over a year. So I Burned rubber over to the store and paced back and forth In front of the tank. debating on pulling the trigger on a group. The store employee and I talked it over and I left with what we Both thought were 2 pairs. They’re currently are in a 20 gal with some meds. I may go back and get 2-3 more but at 40 bucks each this is still up in the air. But to get to the point. I am going to attempt to breed this fish. I have Found Very little information on this subject. The only decent info I’ve found is an AMAZONAS magazine that features African tetras in a few articles. Outside of that I’ve done a lot of research on other Congo tetras sp. but I’m looking for anyone who has experience with this species And or advanced breeding tactics for African tetras. I haven’t taken any pictures of mine yet but you can find some awesome photos online of this fish.    

[Cory]

I don't have any personal experience with breeding african tetras. Perhaps @Dean’s Fishroom has?

[Nataku]

I've bred p. Interruptus before, not sure if that'll  be useful in your endeavor. They're fairly slow to mature, so it took me more than a year before I started seeing the males displaying breeding behavoirs. They flick their dorsal and pectoral fins while dancing around the females. I keep a fairly large group, 3 males and 11 females. The males will display to each other to determine who is top dog and  then that top dog will dance for an egg heavy female, separate her from the school and then its just a couple seconds of shimmying with the male usually slightly above the female and they release the eggs and milt into plants or a spawning mop below.

If you want the eggs to make it, I'd separate the egg heavy female and male to a tank where they can lay the eggs on their own. Other congos will dart over and gobble up the eggs as soon as their laid. 

Get them ready to spawn with lots of frozen foods. They gobble up bloodworms, krill, brine shrimp and daphnia. The females get notably heavier in the belly when they are full of eggs. Looking at them from below it almost looks like a rectangle shape.

Temps during breeding were recorded at 78, 80 and 81 when I remembered to write it down. PH of 7.8-8.0. Breeding always observed mid-afternoon. 

[FrostiesFishes]

@Nataku awesome, thanks for the info. I’m sure It will actually help me a lot.    Mine aren’t full grown yet so I’m curious to when I might start to see that behavior if I ever do. From what I’ve been able to to find rainwater/ro is basically required for spawning. 

[Nataku]

I certainly don't use rainwater/r.o. in the tanks with the congos. They get my florida rock water from the tap. They particularly like spawning over the amazon swords in their tank in my case. But I imagine any fairly thick, leafy plant bunch will do .

 

 

 

[FrostiesFishes]

@Nataku sounds like my ohio water and I have some plants that will fit the bill. But I think probably I’m at least a few months out from them being mature enough based on what you’ve said. But I’ll get some pics here soon  

Edited November 5, 2020 by FrostiesFishes

[Nataku]

I've ordered in fish that came from Ohio before and those fish adapted to my local water easily. I imagine they're fairly similar parameters.

Yeah they're not the fastest fish to mature, that's  for sure. Getting them from the store as 1" juvies meant I was in for a long, slow process of them growing out. But I found watching them color up as they matured to be a neat thing. You'll  really start seeing the males get distinctly more colorful than the females, and the males will begin 'racing' each other around the tank in between bouts of dance battles. When you start seeing them doing those behavoirs frequently, that's when you know you're close. Soon (within a couple months) after they start these behavoirs they'll start dancing for the females.

[FrostiesFishes]

Finally got a decent photo

[Colu]

On 11/5/2020 at 2:13 AM, FrostiesFishes said:

Finally got a decent photo

Beautiful fish did you ever manage to breed them

[FrostiesFishes]

  @Colu Still working on it, they often show activity of spawning but I haven’t found any eggs yet. I really need to set up a good egg collection style tank like you would use for barbs. They currently are housed with some orange laser corydoras and they may be eating them. I’ve been overrun by angelfish and plecos currently. And don’t have any spare tanks to set up a spawning tank for them. 

[Benjo]

Hi @FrostiesFishes! Have you had any success with breeding these beautiful fishes? I hope to breed them some day too