How long do we have to worry about our baby tetras

Question
After reading your answer and doing a little research 2 of the fish could possible be fancy guppies (when we bought them they where labeled male tetras) and the 3rd I'm still not sure of (its similar to the others except its all silver with no fancy color at all). I have no problem moving the babies at all my only concern would be that I wouldn't remove them all and the the variation of the water temps. Any suggestions? Or maybe I should go with the baby net thing? Sorry this is my first fish tank, so I am kinda don't have a lot of knowledge. Thanks so much!! One more question do you know how many they usually lay?

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Followup To

Question -
About a week ago we discoverd baby tetras in our tank. We are not sure how long they have been there or who the mother/father is. We didn't even know that one of them was carrying babies. We have counted about 7 or 8 babies but not really sure. Everything we have read says that the other fish will eat them, so I have made a point to count them on a daily basis, but usually the number increases. How long do I have to worry about the others eating them? We have 1 red eyed tetra, 1 neon tetra and the other 3 are tetras also but not sure what kind. (from the looks of the babies the mother/ father could be the red eyed and the neon) We have had out tank for about 3 months and it is a 10 gallon.

Answer -
Hi Julie;

It is very unlikely that a neon and a red-eye would spawn together. Even though they are in the same family they are just too genetically different. Not impossible, just unlikely. Tetras are egglayers so a male and female would have had to lay eggs and fertilize them together. It was probably the trio of other fish. It is more likely for the little ones to be the babies of livebearing fish such as guppies, platies, mollies or swordtails. Livebearers are born larger than egglayer babies. Do you have any fish that could be livebearers?

Any other fish will eat the babies if they can get them into their mouth. You might consider moving the babies to another tank to get them to grow big enough. Until then, provide lots of live plants for the babies to hide in. They also like to eat the tiny microorganisms that grow on live plants. It's really good for them.

Good luck and have fun watching those babies grow!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

Answer
Hi Julie;

Move as many as you can and just watch for more. Sometimes the babies are not all born at one time. A breeder net is only a temporary solution. It's really too small to leave them in for very long. Guppies can give birth to up to 50 babies about every 4 to 6 weeks. Here is a pretty good article about breeding guppies;

http://www.aquariumfish.com/aquariumfish/printer.aspx?aid=15787&cid=53

Have fun!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins