75 Gallon Tank Black darter/shining tetras (Poecilocharax weitzmani)

[Gennasharples]

Sexing and breeding these fish? Raising the babies?
Any information about or tips relating to these tetras is more than welcome.
I work in an aquarium store and know what I’m doing in terms of looking after fish but this species I can’t find a lot of information on and none of my coworkers seem to have kept them before either.

I have a group of 5 of these tetras right now. 1 I’m sure is a male and 4 that I’m hoping are females. One of the hopeful females has a bent spine but I purchased her anyway and am keeping her with the rest just to keep the group number up and to keep the gender ratio good incase one of the other hopeful females ends up being a male. These were hard to find, got 2 the last 2 we had at the store I work at and then 3 from another store a few hours away. We had heaps in stock at my workplace a few months ago and I didn’t pay much attention to them until there was only 2 left for a few weeks and I realised we likely won’t be getting more anytime soon. Got those 2 and then looked online and could only find one other store in the country that had them available and they only had 3 (which I went and got).

It’s been about 3 weeks since I got the first 2 and 2 weeks since adding the other 3. They seem to be doing very well. I have them in a 315litre tank temporarily with a few other random fish.
I'll be setting up a 2ft (85litre) Blackwater tank specifically for them in the hopes of breeding them. I plan on having a lot of leaf litter and seed pods and other botanicals for them. I also plan on having driftwood and low light plants. And floating plants with long bushy roots. I want to try to have it set up so that they are comfortable and the water parameters match what they need so they will hopefully breed and I want to have lots of cover so that babies can hopefully survive.
I am currently and plan to continue using live daphnia as a main food source. I am aware that they are cave spawners so I will try to find and use driftwood with natural areas that can act as caves as well as picking seed pods that work as caves for them.

The attached photos the first is the male. The second last is from the day I added the last 3 and is the male and what I’m hoping are 3 girls (one missing is the one with the bent spine). Other photos are hopeful females (no idea of the photos are all the same individual or different ones as every photo was taken at different times.
In the time I’ve had these fish these are the only photos I’ve been able to get of them as they tend to very quickly hide the second I enter the room.

 

[TClare]

I have one male, but hardly ever see it, but my tanks are even more crowded with leaves, driftwood and plants than yours. I was given it very small and inconspicuous as it came with a shipment of cardinal tetras from Colombia, and was vey surprised to see how much it had grown and coloured up when it suddenly appeared one day! I think the set-up you have panned sounds perfect for getting them to breed, though you may not actually see much of what is going on, they are incredibly good at hiding. Maybe vary the food a bit if you can. Assuming your water is soft with low pH.

 

[Fishfur]

If you haven’t seen it, there’s a pretty good write up on them at Seriouslyfish, which is linked below.

Poecilocharax weitzmani (Black Darter Tetra) — Seriously Fish

Quote”Males are considerably more colourful than females, slightly larger and develop extended dorsal and analfins as they mature, to a spectacular extent in some individuals.”Unquote

They are cave spawners.

 

[chromedome52]

I knew one person who successfully bred this species. He built a cave out of PVC pipe with an elbow so that the back section was dark and very isolated. I heard of another spawn in a ceramic decoration that also had a bend in it to leave a very dark area in the cave. The male does no digging, he just uses the available space if it suits him. I attempted to breed them myself but had no luck.

Even in the USA they are not as available as they once were, and they were never easily obtained. You are on the right track with your parameters, I hope you have better luck.

 

[Hellfishguy]

I bred a related species, Crenuchus spilurus, in a tank loaded with Java moss. The male’s “cave” was a ceramic log. I had no idea that they’d spawned until I spotted fry emerging from the moss to feed on BBS.

 

[Gennasharples]

I think the set-up you have panned sounds perfect for getting them to breed, though you may not actually see much of what is going on, they are incredibly good at hiding. Maybe vary the food a bit if you can. Assuming your water is soft with low pH.

I’m fine with not being able to see much of what is going on. Although now in the tank they are in as long as I’m not near the tank and not moving I can see them a lot. Right now the male and 3 of the females are in the front of the tank swimming around in full view. If I were to stand up they would immediately hide but if I stay here I can watch them.

I plan on also feeding live blackworms when I can get them and probably starting a micro worm culture to try feeding them. There are also a few other live foods I could potentially culture. And if I do a shrimp tank again I could also put baby shrimp in their tank for them to potentially eat.

The water in my area is quite hard with a high ph. But I’ve had tanks before maintaining very soft water and a ph below 6 using tannins so I know it’s doable