Royal tetra - care and maintenance in an aquarium

The maintenance of the aquarium, the improvement of the vital activity of fish, as well as the breeding of underwater offspring require a lot of energy costs and patience, and most importantly, knowledge. Each fish needs special habitat conditions. Today we will talk about the royal tetra, or, as it is also called, palmeri. This is an amazingly beautiful and graceful sea creature, the fish get along well with the neighbors of a different species, live for a relatively long time, and even live under ideal conditions. In this article we will analyze what the royal tetra is, how to care for it, what conditions of maintenance are necessary for this species, and also find out how spawning occurs and the appearance of the offspring of palmer.

Royal tetra

Palmer belongs to the carps of the order carps, family haratsinovyh. This species is absolutely non-aggressive, it gets on well with other tetras, sword-bearers, lanterns, neons, pulcheras, ornatus and other fish.The maximum body length is about 6-7 cm. The main color of the scales is golden, silver with splashes of blue and green glitter. Along the entire body, the fish is decorated with a long longitudinal strip of black or bluish color. The fins are yellow, slightly transparent. The males of the royal tetra are larger, with a pronounced dorsal fin and long tail feathers. The peculiarity of the tetra is that the fish can swim upside down with an inclination of 45 degrees. Palmeri will be a wonderful decoration of any aquarium.

How to keep the royal tetra in the aquarium?

The royal tetra is a rather unpretentious fish, even a novice aquarist can handle its content. Here are some aspects and important knowledge that will help you in the care of palmer.

1. It is advisable to keep the royal tetra in small flocks, at least 5-6 individuals. Then they will sort things out in a generic group. Otherwise, the fish may begin to bite the tails of other inhabitants of the aquarium.
2. Due to the fact that the royal tetra is kept in flocks, a rather large aquarium will be needed for the fish, not less than 60 liters.
3. Comfortable water temperature for palmer is 22-26 degrees.
4. Hydrogen indicator of water should be about 6.5-7.0.
5. The water in the aquarium should be changed twice a month, draining the twentieth of the liquid from the aquarium and adding fresh, defended water without chlorine and other harmful impurities.
6. Most modern aquariums are closed at the top, that is, equipped with special covers. However, some lovers can still find "open" aquariums, made by artisanal method. They should always be closed, otherwise the royal tetra can easily jump out of an artificial reservoir.
7. Remember that fish get along well with other species, but not with predators!
8. Feeding the tetra will not cause you much trouble. In nature, the fish eats small larvae, worms and other insects. In an aquarium, palmer will not refuse either dry or frozen food. Try to use different compositions in feeding, the more varied the food, the brighter and more beautiful the color of the fish. In order for Palmer to be not only beautiful but also healthy, regularly change its diet from dry food to live food and back.In addition, you should follow the gastronomic preferences of royal tetras. As a rule, fish are more eager to eat the food they most need. That is, if palmer grows alive worm or bloodworm, it means that there is not enough protein in its body, consider this in subsequent feedings. Such an approach will help prevent many diseases against the background of deficiency of protein or vegetable components in the diet.
9. The natural habitat of the fish is the Columbia River, in which dense and diverse vegetation is observed. That is why the tetra will feel much better if there are many plantations in the aquarium. In addition, the dark mound and dense green color of plants perfectly shades the color of the fish and makes the royal tetra even brighter and more spectacular.

Summarizing, we can say that the pledge of health of the royal tetra is based on three basic conditions - a good variety of food, peaceful neighbors and clean water, which must be replaced in a timely manner. Observe these conditions and the fish will delight you for a long time.

How to breed royal tetra?

In most cases, the fish spawn itself and no conditions for this are required. However, if you set a clear goal to achieve offspring, care should be taken of this. As a rule, if there are at least 10 fish of different sexes in the pack, then over time they will form pairs themselves. Distinguishing the female from the male is not difficult - the males are brighter and more beautiful. In addition, males have a pronounced blue iris, and females have this color green.

In order to get healthy and numerous offspring, fish should be resettled in another aquarium, as they become quite aggressive during spawning. But before that, the male and female should be held separately for several days, introducing only natural live food into the diet. After “feeding”, the pair should be transferred to a separate aquarium, and a bunch of small plants should be put on the bottom for spawning. Sprinkle the bottom of the soil is not worth it, it will add to you additional trouble when fry appear. Be sure to make subdued lighting, as at the very bottom of natural reservoirs. This is a prerequisite for spawning, so the fish feels safe. Natural daylight is sufficient, but not direct.It is also important to take into account that the water in the reservoir is soft.

Spawning, as a rule, begins at dawn, lasts several hours. During this period, the female lays up to hundreds of eggs. Sometimes parents themselves may begin to eat caviar, if any of the living conditions seems to them to be not perfect. Therefore, you need to follow the process and, if necessary, immediately remove the male and female from the offspring. Within two days, the fry are spawned from the eggs, which in 2-3 days will begin to swim independently. To feed the babies in the first days of life should be infusoria and acetic eel - these little worms will fill the lack of necessary substances and will serve as an excellent start in the life of new fish. When the new offspring is fully strengthened, they can be moved to a common aquarium. You shouldn’t do this before - fry can become prey for larger fish. Even if you do not specifically care about the breeding of offspring, the royal tetra reproduces well and can increase the number of the pack by 5-7 times over the year.

The royal tetra is an amazing, tenacious fish that adapts to different places of residence.Many aquarists admit that their journey in the world of artificial reservoirs began with the royal tetra, because it survives even in the most difficult conditions, forgives the owner gross errors in the content. Pelmeri is an easy way to decorate your aquarium in bright colors and colors.

Video: aquarium fish royal tetra