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Hey Guys,

I have 6 Black widows in my planted tank. I'm not sure if one of them might have eggs in them, as l can’t tell if it’s a female or male.. l don’t understand when people say "the anal fin runs parallel with the vertical black stripe in her abdomen". Can someone help me out here? Also l cant see which male she has paired up with. How can l tell?

Now as this is my first time l wanted to know "if" this so called female drops eggs and l have a male fertilising them, would l be able to siphon the eggs into a hatchery? The hatchery will be inside the main tank, but protected from my other fish in the tank.

Thanks for your help.

Wayne

If all your tetras are mature, then the females will be a little larger and look plumper, unless they just dropped some eggs, but I'm assuming you would have noticed any changes like that.

For the one who is full, look for any thin tetra who swims around her a lot, almost interacting. They would likely be a pair, and the best thing to do would be to isolate them in the hatchery ASAP, unless it's very small.
If you let the eggs drop in the main tank and then plan to siphon them, there are many risks along the way that could damage the eggs.