Breeding Emperor Tetras

[DaneG]

Hello, I was hopeing someone could help me fine out how I can breed my emperor tetras. I have a 40g heavily planted. There is I think 4 males 4 females. I have been able the accidentally breed panda corys and reticulated hillstream loach but can not get my emperors to breed, it seams they like softer water, my water is very hard (well water) but I wpuld like to try and see if I can. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Edited November 3, 2020 by DaneG

[FinalFins]

You will need soft water and water of low TDS- collecting rainwater is a good strategy I found. Emperors aren't very tricky to breed and I would assume that they are similar in most tetras  in breeding fashion. So low TDS, soft water and I believe the eggs are light sensitive. Most tetras spawn in the morning so you will want a separate aquarium in darkness for a couple days while conditioning and then once light comes in the morning you should see spawning behaviour.

When researching tetra breeding techniques for my lemons I found this video fairly useful as a 'general' guide. 

[DaneG]

Thank you for the reply. I think I will try the rain water, being in southern MO we get a good amount of rain. As for the darkness part should I black out the tank or just keep the lights off for a few days? The tank is near a window so I assume I should keep light from the window as well.