Species - Hemigrammus erythrozonus
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Common name - Glowlight tetra
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Source of fish - Tank raised via the aquarium trade (Singapore)
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Number of adults - Single pair
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Date - setup on the 19/11/2012, spawned 20/11/2012
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Tank size - 14 x 8 x 8 holding approx 10litres.
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Tank decor - Bare tank, setup with fresh water, a stainless steel spawning grid and a single sinking spawning mop. Airline attached, no filter.
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Water parameters - PH6.9, TDS 55ppm, Temp 78f, No acid or tannin added.
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Notes - Single pair setup at 7.45pm on the evening of the 19/11/2012, i knew i would be around the following days to observe spawning, spawning activity started around 11am on the 20th, the male became increasing agitated and started to patrol the tank, he constantly flitted between the female and the woolen spawning mops (These are the finer 'Eyelash wool' mops that are a vast impovement on the standard wool mops i used in previous years. The female eventually could not ignore the males constant harassment and was prevoked into spawning, the male chases the female vigorously and the spawning act is a complete barrel roll by both sexes over the spawning medium, the pair come together side by side, slow down to an almost stop, then simultaneously roll over and expell slightly adhesive eggs into the spawning medium, the pair continued to spawn for around 2 hrs and as soon as they had finished (Noticable because the female seeks shelter and does not respond to the males adances any more!) the pair were netted out, many of the eggs had fell from the mop and through the mesh out of reach, many others were stuck to the mesh or mops, the tank was left alone and the eggs hatched after 23 hours, the fry were numerous and approx 80% were fertile, the infertile eggs were easily seen as they were completely white.
The fry were freeswimming on the 27th November 2012 and were fed Infusoria as a first food, the next day they took newly hatched artemia and grew quickly on this diet, at three months of age i raised 150 young fish which were large enough to sell or swap with other aquarists.
