Small fish fry usually takes three months or several years to become adult fish. Of course, it is not all the same but determined by the fish species. However, small fish may spend less time. And it is said that tetra fry can grow quickly with proper care and diet. Without further ado, we will talk about it in this article.
The truth about tetra fry
It is said that some tetras are not easy to spawn, small tetras from South America for example. Generally, one tetra can produce 50 tetra fry on average. Nonetheless, it is determined by habitat as well as the health and age of parent tetras. If everything is ideal, one tetra can produce over 200 tetra fry. Also, tetra fry sometimes is hard to survive. Taking care of tetra fry is just like caring for a young child. It takes your time and attention.
As tetra fry are tiny and tender, it is critically crucial to ensure a safe habitat, plenty of food, stable and great water quality, and ideal light. The first week is the most important. You should make sure sufficient food to allow the fry to survive. However, do not feed food of large size in the early period, such as microworms and brine shrimp.
How long does it take for a tetra fry to grow?
There are usually six stages of tetra – egg, larvae, fry, juvenile, young, and adult. Tetras fry is small and thin. Adult tetras can grow up to 1.5-2 inches. They grow slowly, and they may only reach 0.25 inches after the 2 months they are born. Generally speaking, tetra fry takes about 8–12 months to mature. It depends on the fish species, habitat, and diet. Provided that your tetra fry is 1 centimeter in length, then 3–6 months are enough. But you should make sure proper care as well as sufficient food and nutrients. By the way, we will cover the tetra fry care guide in the next segment.
Tetra fry care guide
Tetra fry can easily get sick, catch diseases, or die. But as they grow up and are strong, the problem can be alleviated. In this part, we will provide a few ways to make tetra fry grow quickly.
1. Set up a breeding tank
Some fish or parent tetras fish may eat the tetra fry. Thus, it is better to set up a separate breeding tank. A 10-gallon or 15-gallon fish tank is a great choice due as the tetra can lay 40–100 eggs at a clip. Moreover, tetra fry requires adequate rooms. As they grow up, you can transfer your fry to another large tank. When tetra fry can eat Miro worms and freshly hatched shrimp, you can move the fry to adult tanks.
Here are some requirements for a tetra fry breeding tank:
| Tank size | 10-15 gallon |
| Hardness of water | Lower than 30 ppm |
| pH level | 6.0-6.7 |
| Water temperature | About 75-80℉ |
| Plants or gravel | Thick plants or gravel for eggs to fall |
| Light | Dark light (turn off light/cover with a towel) |
2. Regular water change
With proper feeding, tetra fry can grow quickly. It means more feces or debris in your tank. As a result, changing the water regularly is critically crucial. Or the water quality will be poor. Then your tetra fry may get bad impacts. Changing the water once a week is feasible. A fish tank gravel cleaner can help you change the water and remove waste from your tank. For the first week, it is recommended to change 10-15 percent of the water. In the following three weeks, you can change 30 percent of the water.
On the other hand, applying a rechargeable air pump can play an important role in maintaining great and stable water quality. An aquarium air pump can expel excess carbon dioxide and oxygenate the water in your tank.
3. Provide proper filtration
Seeing that tetra fry are tiny, it is better not to use an aquarium filter possessing small holes. Otherwise, tetra fry may get trapped in the holes. On the other hand, aquarium filters that produce bubbles in the water should be avoided. Or the bubbles may hurt your tetra fry. A sponge filter is the best choice. It won’t suck or bring damage to your tetra fry. Meanwhile, it can provide biological and mechanical filtration, while it also makes sense in cleaning your tank.
4. Do not overfeed
It is best to feed tetra fry with multiple small meals a day rather than a large meal once. For example, feeding your fry a week’s diet in one day is not recommended. A balanced diet is necessary for your tetra fry to prevent disease. Nevertheless, if you are busy or on vacation, an automatic fish feeder will help you a lot. It can automatically dispense food at a scheduled time. The feeding time and quantity can be set in advance. With it, your tetra fry can get a constant quantity of food at the same time.
5. Diet for tetra fry
What to eat is also important, or it will limit the growth of tetra fry. Newly born tetra fry can only eat microscopic food, such as infusoria and green water. After 1–2 weeks, they can eat food similar to adult tetra, but just a small quantity. Furthermore, if you want to make your tetra fry grow faster, you can feed some nutritious food that is easy to digest. Because it can strengthen tetra’s health and enhance the immunity system. But some living food will eat tetra fry, including dragonfly larvae, leeches, and hydras. Consequently, you should avoid this living food.
Next, we will share some excellent diets for tetra fry.
- Infusoria: Small creatures and ideal for newly born tetra fry.
- Green water: One kind of algae.
- Microworms: Enrich with carotenoid astaxanthin.
- Brine shrimp: Provide high proteins and nutrients.
- Lettuce: Green leafy vegetable.
- Boiled rice: A home-based food.
- Sprouts: Cheap and affordable.
- Fish fillets: Frozen fish millets are better.
- Boiled peas: Suitable for most fish fry, including tetra fry.
- Egg yolks: Provide high nutrients and proteins.
6. Tetra fry deaths
The causes of death include poor water quality, frequent water change, overstock, and inappropriate diet. Besides that, do not feed your tetra fry until they are starving. Or tetra fry may die because of starvation. You should ensure the food is in small size, or it will choke tetra fry and lead to death. Meanwhile, it is vital to keep regular water changes to keep good and stable water quality. If one tetra fry dies, you should remove it from your aquarium as soon as possible. Then, you should clean your tank in time.
Points to note
Adult tetrafish can enjoy many kinds of foods, including flakes, bloodworms, brine shrimp, microworms, mosquito larvae, daphnia, and insects. Tetra can live up to 2–3 years in general. Nonetheless, you can take action to prolong the tetra’s lifespan. For one thing, keep tetra in the water with ideal parameters. Tetra prefers faintly acid water with 75-80℉. For another, feed them nutritious food, which contains carbs, fats, proteins, and nutrients. It will help to strengthen the fish’s health. Furthermore, you should regularly check whether your tetra gets sick or not. Once got sick, you should deal with it as soon as possible.
After reading, we hope you have learned more about ways to make tetra fry grow quickly and the methods be helpful in practice. Furthermore, if you have any unique ideas, welcome to share them with us in the comment. Finally, thanks for your reading!
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