General Aquaria Discussion • Lets talk Tetra's!

[yamadog]

Ok, I know tetra's have been discussed many times before.....What I haven't read to much about is swimming level of them all. In my 135 gallon 6 foot tank, I have amased agroup of about 30 Serpae Tetras. I am very happy with how well they school (usually two large groups), but they mainly stick to the lower third of the tank. I also have a smaller group (10) of zebra danios that swim almost exclusively at the water line. What i'm looking for is a more colorful tetra, or other type of fish all together, that school and swim in the upper third of the tank. I tried cherry barbs and they don't school at all and swim all over the tank.....So, what have ya got? Thanks. Jason

[JoeE]

Blue tetras apparently like to swim at the top of the tank. Somewhat hard to find, though.

Hatchetfish (not tetras, but still characins) will swim at the top of the tank exclusively, but they are somewhat expensive, a bit skittish and require a tight lid as they like to jump out of the tank.

[yamadog]

I thought about hachet's but I think they are weird looking.....I wanted something with some color too. I'll definatly check out blue tetra's. Jason

[Chromedome52]

Bloodfins and their relatives tend to stay near the surface, they are basically the Tetra equivalent of Danios (Danios are Cypriniforms, Tetras are Characiforms). It is strange that Blue Tetras are hard to find these days, as they used to be one of the most common Tetras. Some of their relatives are very unique looking and also used to be regularly found in the hobby, but have strangely vanished from commercial sources. If you should reconsider Hatchets, there are a couple of interesting dwarf species in the genus Carnegiella.

I can think of a few others, but they tend to be very large. They are also harder to come by, as people rarely want large Tetras. Pink Tail Chalceus is one that comes to mind.

[mambee]

How about Harlequin Rasboras?

[BelieveInBlue]

Not tetras, but IME they prefer the middle to upper regions of the tank. My cardinals also stay near the top/middle, and so do silvertips.

[yamadog]

Thanks for the info everybody.... Believeinblue- When you say not tetras, are you refering to the Harlequin rasbora sugestion? Jason

[mambee]

I think that is what is saying.

[yamadog]

So I ended up with a shoal of black neons....They were on sale for a buck each and the local store. While not as colorful as I wanted, they look really great in the tank. And I also ended up with more serpae's as well.So that makes for about 50 serpae's and 25 black neons. The two species swim where I want them (serpaes in the lower half, and black neons in the upper half)and when schooling, they look great. These guys are all in a south american eartheater tank and it looks great!