What Tetras(Characidae) do you have?

[Doodles]

Thought it would be an idea to list some of the tetras we have due to them being pretty good pleco tanks mates. Also include whether they are shy and whether they stick together. Pics would be great although it can be pretty difficult to get half decent pics of really small fish.


I have a group of 14 Rummynose Tetras.

Behaviour
Can be shy and seem to spend a lot of time near the bottom of the tank in the mornings and early afternoon. Become braver as the day progresses and spend much more time in the middle/top of tank late afternoon and evenings.

They do generally stick together as a group

They have a bright red nose and stripey black and white tail. When they are stressed or the water parameters aren't good, the red nose fades, also the stripes on the tail can fade. They are fairly hardy, ive had mine for around 18 months and haven't had any problems with them at all healthwise.

A couple of pics

 

[thegeeman]

I also have loads of rummy nose and I am not sure if its true or not but if they lose the red nose then all is not well in the tank. I think this could be a good indicator of health issues

Cheers

thegeeman

 

[Bubbles]

Hi

I have a group of 5 Glowlight tetra that we were given by a LFS when we lost a couple of Rasbora a while back, which we will be adding to their numbers when the commons are moved to their larger tank, unfortunately they are too quick to get a half decent picture but they shoal together and somtimes with the Rasbora, sometimes at the bottom of the tank and sometimes in the middle. They love to swim through the plecs caves, they slowly enter then zip through which is a funny sight.

Sometimes they group behind the commons tail and they just sit there like they are trying to fathom out what it is lol.

 

[indigoj]

I've got 5 penguin tetras that I got free a couple of weeks ago form a guy moving house.

I do want some rummynose as they would add a lovely flash of red/white to an otherwise very blue/green/brown tank, just waiting to find some decent ones.

 

[Scrapman53]

9 Neon Tetras (my first ever tropicals) in my L134 tank

And 8 Bleeding Heart Tetras in my 300 Litre tank

Hard to geta a good pic of them though.

 

[SmithRC]

I've got 6 rummy noses that spend their days shoaling with the 14 Dwarf chaif loaches in there

6 Congo tetras and 6 Buenos Aires tetras shoal together in our 350L trigon
4 phantom tetras - keep themselves to themselves and hide in plants or wood.

1 lonely prestila tetra - had a group of 8 about 5 years ago that has slowly dwindled...

 

[scatz]

I had a group of 18 rummy nosed tetras, may have lost one or two over the past few years, also had a group of 20 neons that must be fairly old now so doubt i have all of them anymore either.
i have heard the same thing about rummy noses being a good indicator of water quality as far as the bright red colouring is concerned

 

[Doodles]

I think the rummy nose fading has pretty much been proven now. Ive never found any evidence to say otherwise.:dk:


There are actually three different types of rummynose, there's a write up here.

http://aquariumlore.blogspot.com/2006/04/rummy-nose-tetra.html

 

[Big-B]

I have alot of Tetras. :yes: I keep a shoal of Rummynose, which I believe are probably my favorites. They are a good indicator of water quality and temp. as well as being one of the coolest looking Tetras IMO.:thumbup: I also keep Bleeding Hearts which have a very interesting social structure among their school. Cardinals, which add a ton of flash to the tank. Bloodfins, which are probably the hardiest Tetra I've had. Bloodfins seem to like to stay in the upper reaches of the water-column most of the time. I have been thinking about adding some Lemon Tetras to the mix. :-/ In the past we have also had Emperors, Neons, Diamonds, Flames, and a few others.

 

[Princess x]

I also have loads of rummy nose and I am not sure if its true or not but if they lose the red nose then all is not well in the tank. I think this could be a good indicator of health issues

Cheers

thegeeman

This is indeed very true :yes:

i have rummies too and wild green neon's

 

[FF MkII]

I have 40+ buenos aires tetras, great fish nearly always shoal together but dont use in a planted tank, they will eat a surface full of duck weed in a rio 300 in under 24 hours! also some "elongate hatchets" dont know the scientific name but if any of you want to have look they are very nice, they tend to shoal with the buenos aires'. In my rio 180 i have a shoal of 10 lemon tetras. In my opinion they are very underrated tetras, in shops they look drab and colourless, in my tank they are stunning with bright red eyes and gorgeous yellow, red and black in their fins.

 

[Doodles]

in my tank they are stunning with bright red eyes and gorgeous yellow, red and black in their fins.

You are good with the camera, no excuse for no pics:thumbup:

 

[Scrapman53]

I seen some Hatchets the other week when I got my Bleeding hearts. They were labeled as marbled hatchets, but looked like they were covered in tinfoil! Like a piece of chrome. They were stunning and I wasn't really into Hatchets until I seen these. I took the BHTs instead though as I've been after them for a while.

 

[Doodles]

Tough choice lol, hatchets are pretty cool and quite pretty. I read somewhere that they are jumpers though:dk:

 

[Princess x]

yes this is true, a tight fitting lid is required if you wish to keep them, water changes can be tedious as they will jump at the chance again. fascinating though.

 

[Big-B]

Hatchets are notorious jumpers. Any little gaps in your tank lid and they will get through it too.

 

[Doodles]

Shame really, was getting interested then lol

 

[FF MkII]

You are good with the camera, no excuse for no pics:thumbup:

Im OK at taking pics of fish that stay still lol tetras are a different matter.

 

[FF MkII]

The ones i have, one of them jumped out not long after i got them with a very inquisitive kitten standing next to me, if she wasnt so shocked at seeing it land at her feet she would have had it.

Pics of Lemon tetras


And Elongate hatchets (not for the smalll community tank) biggest one is about 4" at the moment and they grow faaaaaast

 

[Doodles]

Very nice:clap::clap:

if she wasnt so shocked at seeing it land at her feet she would have had it.

That was lucky, not for her tho lol, bet she won't be so slow if it happened again.