Ember tetras are prevalent fish for the aquarium hobby. They’re beautiful, peaceful little fish that come in a variety of color patterns. Unfortunately, they also happen to be one of the easiest species of fish to breed in captivity! So, where do these ember tetras lay eggs?
Ember tetras will lay eggs all over the tank. Some specimens will lay eggs on plants, the glass of the tank, or even in other fish’s territories. It can be hard to find them sometimes!
Most tetras will lay their eggs on rock or wood surfaces in your tank, but ember tetras are a bit different. They lay their eggs on rocks and plants in the tank. They’re egg-scatterers!
It’s easy to tell if they are mating! Look for them swimming side by side, circling each other and flaring their fins. They’ll also be chasing each others’ tails in a figure-eight pattern.
This article will discuss what ember tetras eggs look like, how long it takes to hatch, and whether they are easy to breed in the tank.
This blog post will cover where they lay eggs, how long it takes an egg to hatch, and some tips on breeding them.
Let’s get started.
Where Do Ember Tetras Lay Eggs?
Ember tetras lay eggs in the bottom of your tank. This is a common misconception that people often have about these fish. In reality, they’re egg scatterers and will scatter their eggs all over the place! Therefore, they need to be kept with other fish for two reasons: one, to protect them from predators, and two, to find a mate.
Ember Tetras need the same things that other fish do for breeding to happen: they need water at 79-84 degrees Fahrenheit with clean gravel or sand as spawning substrate, overhanging plants, and some floating vegetation!
Why Do People Call Ember Tetras Egg Scatterers?
Ember Tetras are popular egg scatterers because they tend to lay eggs in any tank. However, they do not discriminate when it comes to the location of their eggs and can end up laying them on plants or rocks, gravels, etc. The point is that Ember Tetras will lay eggs anywhere with soft water for them to do so.
How To Tell If Ember Tetras Are Pregnant Or Just Fat?
There is no way to tell if a tetra is pregnant. However, you can tell that they are getting fat because these egg scatterers love to eat. They will also have a fuller body shape when they’re about to lay eggs, so try paying attention to the size and weight of your Ember Tetras before you add any more fish or invertebrates to the tank.
How Many Eggs Do Ember Tetras Lay?
Ember Tetras will lay anywhere from 15 to 20 eggs in one go. The number of eggs they lay can depend on the size and age of an individual fish. However, a mature Ember Tetra could likely have between 150-180 eggs in its lifetime.
How To Find Ember Tetras Eggs In The Tank?
Ember Tetra eggs are tiny, and it is difficult to see them in the tank unless you have a magnifying glass or microscope handy; however, there are methods of locating them in your tank, including:
- Inspecting all plants for eggs
- Use a turkey baster or syringe to suck up water from the bottom of your tank and then squirting it out to see eggs that may have sunk to the bottom.
What Do Ember Tetras Eggs Look Like?
Ember Tetra eggs are small, round, and whitish or yellowish in color. You can identify the eggs that the male tetra has already fertilized by noticing the black dot in the jelly-like tiny globe.
The egg sac of an Ember Tetra is a milky white color, and the eggs inside are clear. The egg sacs themselves resemble small strips of toilet paper that have been neatly folded in half.
How Long Does It Take For An Ember Tetras Egg To Hatch?
It takes about 24-30 hours for an egg to hatch. This time varies depending on the temperature of your tank.
Do Ember Tetras Eat Their Eggs?
Yes, they can and do eat their own eggs. This is why it’s so important to provide them with the right food sources, which they need to produce healthy eggs to enjoy watching hatch.
It is neither intentional nor do they want to do it. But these fish are famous for eating anything that fits in their mouth like any other tetras. So they tend to overfeed, and if the food is something like eggs, they will likely eat them.
Are Ember Tetras Easy To Breed?
Ember tetra breeding is not difficult, but it does take a lot of patience and commitment to providing these fish with what they need for their habitat and food sources if you want them to produce eggs consistently. In addition, you have to be careful not to overfeed them and provide a safe place for the eggs to hatch.
Ember tetras can lay eggs up until the day before they die, so make sure you have plenty of tank space for them to do so.
Breeding them is easy, but you need a mating pair of Ember tetras and plenty of room in the tank for them to lay their eggs! You will also want some caves or plants with enough space inside that you can’t see from the outside.
Is It Possible To Tell If Ember Tetra Are Mating?
Yes, it’s possible to tell when two ember tetras are mating because they usually become very active with their body movements and protruding from one another.
How To Know If Ember Tetras Are Mating?
Male and female tetras will typically form schools with one male in every group of females, so keep an eye out for this behavior when breeding your fish. The males also have a gonopodium, an organ that they use to transfer sperm from the anus of one fish to another.
Things Ember Tetras Need To Breed In The Tank
Ember Tetra Breeding can be a daunting task for many aquarists because these are delicate little creatures with specific needs when breeding them.
Water Parameters
Soft water or water with a pH of between six and seven on the hardness scale (dH) is required for breeding. Soft enough not to harm eggs, but hard enough so that there are not too many minerals in it, which will make it difficult for them to hatch.
Temperature
The water temperature should be about 75 degrees Fahrenheit, or 24-25 degrees Celsius (you can use a thermometer to get this exact number). If it is too cold in your tank, there won’t be enough oxygen, and if it’s too warm, eggs will die because they are more sensitive than fry.
Feeding
Ember Tetras will eat any aquarium fish food, but they also need to be fed rotifers and brine shrimp nauplii for their eggs to have the best chance of hatching. However, these two types of live foods are not always available at your local pet store, so you may want to remember that these fish need to be fed every day.
Can Ember Tetras Die After Laying Eggs?
No, female Ember Tetras can lay eggs many times over the course of their life. Therefore, the death of female ember tetras is not normal.
But it can happen if you fail to maintain good water conditions and temperature for these vulnerable tetras.
Pregnant fish are weaker than normal fish, so it is much more likely that female tetras will die if you have other aggressive species in your tank.
It is possible for eggs and fry to die after being laid because it relies on other food sources, such as rotifers or brine shrimp nauplii.
Conclusion
Ember Tetras are excellent egg scatterers in the fish tank because they will lay eggs anywhere that there is soft water for them to do so. They don’t care where their eggs end up. The good news about this type of behavior is that it makes breeding these fish easy and convenient.
Ember Tetra breeding is not difficult, but it does take a lot of patience and commitment to providing these fish with what they need for their habitat and food sources if you want them to produce eggs consistently. So you have to be careful.