Breeding Royal Tetra (Inpaichthys Kerri) In The Aquarium

Location

This freshwater species lives in slow-flowing tributaries of Amazon River in Brazil. These are dark-water reservoirs with a lot of tannin and other compounds soluble in the water.

Body description

Colour of the male and female is different. Colour of the female is beige-olive with black, wide horizontal stripe along her lateral line. Her fat fin is orange-red. Colour of the male is intense blue with shine and it has a navy-blue horizontal stripe. His fat fin is blue.

Temperament and behaviour

This is an active and shoal species. Fish prefers to live in a group of 8-10 minimum and then the fish are less shy and timid and their all aggressive behaviours stays within the group. You should keep these fish with other peaceful species e.g. small tetras, dwarf cichlids, gouramies, rasboras, corydoras, otos, botias, pencilfish etc. The fish can loose its colors when it is stressed or when it is kept in bad conditions.

Aquarium decoration

This species prefers a spacious tanks. Aquarium should have a lot of plants (on the sides and at the back), hiding-places among roots, dimmed light, space to swim, floating plants. You may also keep them in the "black-water" biotope tank with sandy substrate, peat in the filtration system, dry leaves of oak or beech which should be changed every few weeks, roots and branches. The species is sensitive to water quality and accumulation of nitrates.

Breeding

This is an oviparous species. You should breed these fish in a separate tank. Breeding aquarium should have soft and acid water, dimmed light, fine-leaved plants or fish hatchery. You should separate males from females before spawning and you need to feed them with plenty of live food. You transfer the most colourful male and the thikest female in the breeding tank in the evening. They should spawn next day in the morning. Female lays eggs among plants. You should remove parents after spawning because they will eat the roe. The eggs hatch after 1 day. The fry starts to swim and feed 5 days later.