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I have noticed that one of my two Pristella Tetras is chasing the other. I used to have more, but they have died. They are a few years old. The one that appears to be the male is chasing the female and sort of coming right beside her, and sometimes sort of pins her to the side of objects in the tank. This seems like breeding to me. Is it? Also, if it is, what else can I do to make it successful? This is the first time I have observed this behavior. I replaced the power filter last night, and it pumps water out at a much faster rate than the old one. Is this filter causing this behavior, possibly because it is creating a stronger water flow simulating a river or rain? Your thoughts?

IMO.. It does sound like your tetras could be breeding. The changed of the filter could have done it, but to be honest I have never heard of it working as I have tried it my self.

"Party it up, Drink it down"

The change of filter is one possibility if you're looking for a spawning stimulus. Water changes act as another potential stimulus.

Pristellas are fairly ready breeders. If you have fine leaved plants for them to spawn amongst (Cabomba for example) or nice clumps of Java Moss for them to spawn in, then they'll appreciate your generosity.

Usually, a slight increase in temperature, an influx of fresh, new water, and the presence of nice forests of plants to spawn amongst provides them with an environment conducive to spawning. If you go one step further and condition them with live foods, then chances are they'll spawn with little or no other prompting.

If you wish to maximise fry survival, there are two steps that need to be taken, and this will involve you setting up a special purpose breeding aquarium. One, an egg trap will be required, because Pristellas are among those fishes that eat their own eggs. If this sounds counter to common sense from the standpoint of reproducing the species, then the following explanation should clarify matters. In the wild, Pristellas spawn in large groups - their shoals number something like 10,000 to 20,000 individuals in the wild, and when it's time for them to breed, they spawn en masse. The idea being that 10,000 pairs of fishes all dropping 300 eggs per pair is going to saturate the environment with eggs, and any egg thieves are going to be full to burping long before they've made even a tiny dent in the numbers of eggs laid. However, with all of these eggs being thrown about and fertilised, any particular randomly chosen pair of Pristellas in that frolicking mass of spawning fishes will be producing eggs, that when hatched, will have a LOT of other baby Pristellas competing for food. So, the parents will, on the sly, help themselves to the eggs of rival pairs - reducing the competition a little. The trouble is, that in the aquarium, the same behaviour, pre-rpogrammed through millennia, kicks in, but of course there are no competing fishes spawning, and the only eggs flying about are the parents' own. However, they're programmed to expect other fishes' eggs to be present, and so, they see some eggs in the water, and hey presto, start chomping on them, thinking that they're eliminating competition for their own fry later on.

How do you get around this? You use an egg trap. An egg trap is, in its simplest form, any physical barrier that allows eggs to fall out of reach of the parents, and prevents the parents chasing after tham. Numerous designs exist, ranging from glass marbles (the eggs fall between the gaps and the parents can't reach them) to closely spaced glass rods suspended in a framework with small gaps between the rods to allow the eggs to fall out of reach.

The second step, once the parents have spawned in the purpose built breeding aquarium and you have then rehoused the parents in their original home, is egg and fry care. Once the eggs have been laid, you need to add an antifungal agent to the breeding aquarium to prevent fungus from attacking the eggs. It won't stop fungus attacking infertile eggs, but it'll protect the fertile ones. Leave the eggs for about 3 days or so, whereupon they hatch. The fry then take some time to become free swimming.

During this time, fire up an infusoria culture to feed the fry with. There are numerous recipes for this, but they all do the same job - cultivate lots of little micro-organisms that act as your baby fish food. Fry fed on these will grow fairly quickly, and Pristella fry do VERY well indeed on infusoria. If you can't fire up an infusoria culture, Liquifry fry food is the next best thing.

Once your fry are big enough to eat newly hatched Brine Shrimp and finely powdered flakes, you're more or less home and dry. From that point, it's a matter of continuing to feed and clean the nursery. Transfer the fry to a larger rearing aquarium once they're about 3 weeks old, and in 3 months time, you should have a fine lot of juvenile fish.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002