Longfin Neon Tetra Project

[DavidMoss]

I have been growing out these LF neons for a couple of months now and I have tried to breed them by putting them in a container with RO water and Rhyzomat fiber but I haven’t had any luck getting eggs. I’m thinking maybe I’m having a problem sexing them since they all look like plump females. I’ve also gotten 2 normal males incase the LF males can’t breed but still nothing. My next attempt will be trying them with Java moss and a sponge filter in a 2.5g tank but any advice would be helpful. 

[Dtolb15]

On 2/25/2023 at 9:38 PM, DavidMoss said:

I have been growing out these LF neons for a couple of months now and I have tried to breed them by putting them in a container with RO water and Rhyzomat fiber but I haven’t had any luck getting eggs. I’m thinking maybe I’m having a problem sexing them since they all look like plump females. I’ve also gotten 2 normal males incase the LF males can’t breed but still nothing. My next attempt will be trying them with Java moss and a sponge filter in a 2.5g tank but any advice would be helpful. 

Hey David! They may need a "dirty" "seeded" "algae covered" "densely planted" (sorry for that mini rant) tank to feel comfortable enough to spawn for the first time. With many of my failed attempts, it turned out I was trying too hard, especially so for first time spawning groups.

[lefty o]

them are cool. ive never seen long fin neons before.

[DavidMoss]

On 2/25/2023 at 10:22 PM, Dtolb15 said:

Hey David! They may need a "dirty" "seeded" "algae covered" "densely planted" (sorry for that mini rant) tank to feel comfortable enough to spawn for the first time. With many of my failed attempts, it turned out I was trying too hard, especially so for first time spawning groups.

That’s the kind of tank they are in now except for algae covered but it’s densely planted,  seeded and kinda dirty but all I’ve read about breeding or videos I’ve watched they want low ph rain water type of setup. Sometimes I think I stress them out too much when catching them to move to a container so I wanted to try a short term tank to give them some time to relax although they stay colored up when they are in the container. I originally had a all clear container but I recently painted 3 sided black and the top with just 1 side clear to look inside but I haven’t had a chance to try them again but I think tomorrow will be the day to try. 

On 2/25/2023 at 10:25 PM, lefty o said:

them are cool. ive never seen long fin neons before.

They took me a while to find and I could only buy 4 at $15 a piece from a fish store 1 hour away and I wanted to breed them so I could stock a display tank with them and maybe take some to my LFS to sell. 

[Dtolb15]

On 2/25/2023 at 10:46 PM, DavidMoss said:

That’s the kind of tank they are in now except for algae covered but it’s densely planted,  seeded and kinda dirty but all I’ve read about breeding or videos I’ve watched they want low ph rain water type of setup. Sometimes I think I stress them out too much when catching them to move to a container so I wanted to try a short term tank to give them some time to relax although they stay colored up when they are in the container. I originally had a all clear container but I recently painted 3 sided black and the top with just 1 side clear to look inside but I haven’t had a chance to try them again but I think tomorrow will be the day to try. 

They took me a while to find and I could only buy 4 at $15 a piece from a fish store 1 hour away and I wanted to breed them so I could stock a display tank with them and maybe take some to my LFS to sell. 

Yeah, that may be a factor! If you could set up a tank just for them. and triggering a spawn with a large water change? 

[DavidMoss]

On 2/25/2023 at 10:58 PM, Dtolb15 said:

Yeah, that may be a factor! If you could set up a tank just for them. and triggering a spawn with a large water change? 

I really think my issue could be sexing them today I caught 2 neons maybe sparing but they were both LF so idk it was breeding behavior or just being a bit nippy since it’s only 6 in a 20L tank all 4 of my LF look fat like a female so I bought 2 short fin males but now idk it’s hard to tell apart the LF cause they all look the same. I’ll try to take some clearer pictures tomorrow to share since the pictures I shared aren’t the best but maybe you can see that they have a big blue curve compared to the short fin neons. 

[Sharon M]

David, have you ever watched the YouTube channel, KeepingFishSimple?

He was able to successfully breed his Neons!. 
He explained it in depth, so well, at some point I'm going to attempt it.

They're one of my favorite little fish

 

 

 

[Theplatymaster]

@DavidMoss

i agree with @Sharon Mcheck out the Keepingfishsimple videos on breeding these fish.

 

[DavidMoss]

On 2/26/2023 at 1:26 AM, Sharon M said:

David, have you ever watched the YouTube channel, KeepingFishSimple?

He was able to successfully breed his Neons!. 
He explained it in depth, so well, at some point I'm going to attempt it.

They're one of my favorite little fish

 

 

 

 

On 2/26/2023 at 8:14 AM, Theplatymaster said:

@DavidMoss

i agree with @Sharon Mcheck out the Keepingfishsimple videos on breeding these fish.

 

Yup I’ve watched like 6 different videos from him using the containers with moss and then coco fiber. Do you think you can sex the LF for me with the pics I posted? To me they all look female from the blue curve but I’ve seen 2 of them sparing or maybe being a bit nippy. I might try to get a short fin female to try with the LF since I’ve only tried the short fin males. 

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:37 AM, DavidMoss said:

Do you think you can sex the LF for me with the pics I posted? To me they all look female from the blue curve but I’ve seen 2 of them sparing or maybe being a bit nippy. I might try to get a short fin female to try with the LF since I’ve only tried the short fin males. 

1,2and 3 are definetly female, a Neon Tetra should not be that fat unless its

A.Full Of Eggs

B.Overfed

or

C.Bloated

and it seems in this situation A makes the most sense.

[DavidMoss]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:42 AM, Theplatymaster said:

1,2and 3 are definetly female, a Neon Tetra should not be that fat unless its

A.Full Of Eggs

B.Overfed

or

C.Bloated

and it seems in this situation A makes the most sense.

I think so too but all of my LF are that fat but I don’t think it’s over feeding since my SF males aren’t that big and I feed frozen cyclops and bloodworms most times and I fast them maybe every other day or very other 2 days so I’m just not sure why they aren’t breeding. 

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/26/2023 at 2:05 PM, DavidMoss said:

I’m just not sure why they aren’t breeding. 

it comes down to the trigger, i have had cories full of eggs for week, then triggered and boom they spawned,

[DavidMoss]

On 2/26/2023 at 2:06 PM, Theplatymaster said:

it comes down to the trigger, i have had cories full of eggs for week, then triggered and boom they spawned,

Agreed I’ve only been able to spawn my gold lasers when I feed live black worms and when it rains I do a cold what we change and like magic I see spawning behavior but I’m not getting the same results with the neons even when I use the RO in containers with fiber so I’m going to try Java moss next. 

[gardenman]

The fasting could be an issue. Fish tend to spawn when there's ready food available for the fry. Adding baby brine in decent quantities on a regular basis, no fasting, could motivate spawning. Why waste the energy to spawn if the fry will just starve? I'd forego the fasting and add baby brine to the equation and see what happens.