Neon tetra mating behaviour

[Nick_Pavlovski]

Could anyone tell me what Neon Tetra mating behaviour is like, please?

I've got two Neones always circling eachother and nipping at eachother - but neither seems hurt - and when another comes along they both push it away...to me this seems like mating behaviour, can anyone confirm?

[Lady Hobbs]

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[2manyfish]

Mmm....that article was okay but left out quite a bit. Like the fact that neon eggs are UV sensitive so the tank must be left in darkness from the time the eggs are fertilized until the eggs hatch. Any light entering the tank will destroy the eggs. They also didn't mention that neons are sexually dimorphic meaning you can tell the sexes apart. Male neons are longer and slimmer in body shape while females are shorter and stouter. Looking at a lone neon in the pet store it would be hard to tell the difference but in a group it can be fairly easy especially if you can view them from above.

My experience with spawning neons; I had them in a 29g along with some juvi discus and some platies. There was about 10 of them if I remember correctly. Even though these fish aren't territorial the males did stake out a spot over some java moss that was growing in the tank. They only did this when a female was getting full of eggs. The most dominant male got a really good spot over the moss and other males staked out areas around him. When all was ready the dominant males' blue stripe turned the most lovely shade of lavender and he led the female over the spot he had chosen. Spawning was very quick and really was more of several dashes over the chosen spot. Other females were quick to dive in to try to grab some of the sinking eggs while other males were trying to spawn with the egg laden female too. Really, the whole thing was rather hapazard and very quick. If you looked away for a minute you would have missed the whole thing. I never tried to hatch the eggs as I never had a spare tank at the time.
HTH :c12:

[Nick_Pavlovski]

Thanks all!

[MeganL3985]

Could anyone tell me what Neon Tetra mating behaviour is like, please?

I've got two Neones always circling eachother and nipping at eachother - but neither seems hurt - and when another comes along they both push it away...to me this seems like mating behaviour, can anyone confirm?

Kinda old thread, but I was just about to post my own thread about this. I've got 2 neons doing the same thing, I noticed today. I was like "Whoa....what is going on!" Usually they're so docile and just swim around the tank calmly. Today the two of them were just darting all over the tank circling and nipping one another. Did you ever find out what type of behavior this was? Mating?

[Nick_Pavlovski]

I think it may have been the school sorting out its hierarchy. It was probably bullying in order to sort out the pecking order.