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All the fish sold in the trade have been captive bred and as such are unfussy regarding water chemistry and diet. This species is ubiquitous in most dealers’ tanks and is one of the best choices for the newcomer to fishkeeping.
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The eggs and fry are light sensitive in the early stages of life and the tank should be kept as dimly lit as possible. They should be fed on an infusoria– type food for the first few days, until they are large enough to accept microworm or brine shrimp nauplii. These will hatch in 18-36 hours, with the fry becoming free swimming a few days later. In either situation, the adults will eat the eggs, given the chance and should be removed at the first opportunity ie. The pair should spawn the following morning. When the females are noticeably full of eggs and the males are displaying their best colours, select the fattest female and best-coloured male and transfer them to the spawning tank. Keep the temperature of the spawning tank a few degrees higher than the main tank, say around 82-86☏, with a pH on the acidic side of neutral. Under this technique, the fish are conditioned in male and female groups in separate tanks on a high quality diet of frozen and live foods, at a temperature around 75-78☏. Condition these with plenty of live and frozen foods and spawning should not present too many problems.Īlternatively, it can be spawned in pairs. It can be spawned in a group, with half a dozen specimens of each sex being a good number. This should be of a large enough grade so that the eggs can fall through it, but small enough so that the adults cannot reach them. You could also cover the base of the tank with some kind of mesh. This should be dimly lit and contain clumps of fine-leaved plants such as java moss or spawning mops, to give the fish somewhere to deposit their adhesive eggs.
![white skirt tetra white skirt tetra](https://www.fishkeepingworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/white-skirt-tetra-together-300x225.jpg)
Something around 18″ x 12″ x 12″ in size is fine. Quite easily bred, although you’ll need to set up a separate tank in which to do so if you want to save any fry. The male also has more pointed dorsal and anal fins than the female. Males are noticeably slimmer and a little smaller than females. When maintained in these kind of numbers any squabbling is generally contained within the group. Although it has a reputation as a bit of a fin nipper, this behaviour can usually be rectified by keeping it in a small shoal of at least 6-8 specimens. It also makes a suitable companion for more robust dwarf cichlids such as kribensis, and due to its somewhat rounded shape is unlikely to end up on the menu if combined with larger species such as angel fish. It can be kept with most livebearers, danios, rasboras, other tetras and peaceful bottom dwellers such as Corydoras or smaller Loricariids. The black widow is both peaceful and lively, and its subdued patterning makes a good contrast to more colourful species. One of the better tetras for the ‘general’ community tank. To find other high quality, highly recommended foods click here.