An Unexpected Spawning Of The Emperor Tetra By Alan Ford
It was probably late March 1993 when I drove from Gilmore to Kaleen to pick up the 6 Kerri Tetras that I had ordered. Peering into the bag I saw 6 fish which I thought were Kerris, but in fact later turned out to be Emperor Tetras (Nematobrycon palmeri). I will try to get some Kerri Tetras at a later date. After losing 2 fish to Popeye, (the disease not the sailor) the remaining 4 have grown quickly. Their diet is mostly flake supplemented with baby Brine Shrimp, frozen Bloodworms and green vegetables. They are fed a small amount twice daily. Now that they have grown they are easy to sex. The males have pointed tail fins and the females' tail fins are very rounded. Also closer examination reveals the females have green eyes and the males' eyes are blue. As things turned out I only have 1 female and 3 males.
The 4 Emperor Tetras are in a 2 foot x 1 foot x 1 foot community tank. Their tank mates consist of a small Bristlenose Catfish, 2 adult Neon Tetras and a small Silver Shark. For the time being they get along together just fine, but things may change as the Shark and Catfish get bigger.
Filtration is by undergravel. Lighting is provided by a home-made wooden box containing a 25W clear incandescent light bulb. Tank furnishings consist of a few rocks and numerous plants both planted and floating. Conditions in this tank must be good as the plants grow at an amazing rate, something I cannot achieve in my other tanks. pH is 6.5 and steady and temperature 19 maintained at approximately 26 C. I still have to purchase hardness, nitrite and nitrate test kits, so 1 can't tell you any other readings.
My son Matthew first noticed a couple of fry approximately 12 mm in length, and after sitting beside the tank for over an hour his mum spotted 6 fry in all. I stated before that the tank is heavily planted so there may be more fry. I feel very lucky to have had 6 fry survive as feeding on eggs and fry by other tank mates must have been almost a frenzy. Constant observation shows 1 male guards the fry closely and woe betide any of his tank mates crossing over any of his invisible (to me) territorial lines. I don't know if this is normal behaviour for Tetras (Editor's Note: very few Tetras have this paternal streak in them, but we are lucky that one so freely available as the Emperor has it) but it is enjoyable to watch. For the fry to be this large I feel that they have been in the tank a long time, and I may have siphoned any number of them out in the 20% water change that this tank is subjected to only once a month, as against weekly in the other tanks. As the fry weren't noticed until recently, they were not fed any special fry food, but I presume that they thought it was Christmas when I occasionally fed the baby Brine Shrimp to the community and it's my guess the fry found come form of live food growing amongst the vegetation and made the most of whatever flake ete they could find. Fearing more predation I had fellow members and friends the Keenans verify the spawning (I normally wait for Doug or Andrew) and I feel guilty claiming spawning points but a spawn is a spawn is a spawn! One day soon I will separate the pair and have a serious attempt at spawning them. I'm not sure if it's only wishful thinking but Matthew believes the female Emperor is ripe with eggs again - only time will tell. In the meantime the tank sits in Matthew's bedroom and gives him many hours of pure enjoyment, as any fishoholic will testify.