Baby ember tetra?

[Zep]

Hi guys,

Saw something surprising in my tank today. Is this a baby ember tetra?!!?

I thought these guys lay eggs. Didn't see any eggs at all. Maybe it's all inside the thick bushes. I have about 10 embers (didn't really count them) and other small fishes mixed together in my 2ft tank. Never expected this.

[Urban Aquaria]

Ember tetras do spawn in aquariums, apparently they are one of the easier tetras to breed in tank conditions. I kept a group of them before and did notice them scattering eggs from time to time too (but i also observed the adult tetras subsequently eating up the eggs too).

I guess your tetras scattered their eggs amongst the plants so a good number of the eggs got hidden (especially those that dropped into the hairgrass, which is excellent for protecting the eggs), some managed to avoid getting eaten and hatched, hence the juvenile one you see appearing in the tank.

[Guppendler]

Congrats, it must have been many weeks for the baby to grow into this size.

[Zep]

Really excited. Haha. First time anything spawned for me (except cherry shrimps).

Together with this group of about 10 embers I have another 20-30 slightly bigger tetras like cardinals and rummies. To have survived up to this size amongst these "monsters" this must be a really lucky fish.

I see only 1 so far. Hoping for more to appear

[Guppendler]

Very much a survivor indeed. Tough fish