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I've got my eyes on blue tetras and according to the info here at FP they tend to be kind of anti-social of all the tetras, do not need a school, and can be aggressive to each other and other similar shaped tetras. I have cherry barbs (very peaceful) and harl. rasboras (very peaceful) would a couple of blue tetras be okay or not? Does anyone have any experience with blue tetras that they can share????

Last edited by crazyred at 07-Oct-2005 11:23

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Hi crazyred,

This Link might help you with your search on Blue Tetras (if that's the one you mean).

Hope this helps,

Ingo

Edit: Oh sorry, now I see that you might mean a totally different fish (or maybe you don't). At least the linked post shows you that there are various kinds of tetras out there that are blue.

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 07-Oct-2005 11:28

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I this this fish second fish down http://null]http://null[/link][link=http://www.azgardens.com/schooling_fish.php

Last edited by crazyred at 07-Oct-2005 11:36

Last edited by crazyred at 07-Oct-2005 11:37

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Sorry,

My link was of no help then, I guess, as you are looking for a different fish that I know nothing about.

Sorry again,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

A couple of links for you:

[link=http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Tetra%20Talk/61903.html?200507230213]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Tetra%20Talk/61903.html?200507230213" style="COLOR: #808080[/link]

[link=http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Tetra%20Talk/55541.html?200503010556]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Tetra%20Talk/55541.html?200503010556" style="COLOR: #808080[/link]

In my experience, these fish technically do not need a school. They do fare better when housed in groups, but a school of blue tetras will nip amongst themselves, and they will sometimes single out a fish or type of fish (usually long-finned tankmates) to nip at. These fish are beautiful, but they're little terrors. I've never seen them housed with rasboras or cherry barbs before, but I'd be wary of it.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I've kept them for three years and mine have never been "little terrors". They just keep to themselves and swim right above the gravel. They chase each other, but they don't do any damage.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I have seen so much conflicting information on this fish, I'm beginning to wonder if the fish have multiple personality disorder! Gee, all my fish are so happy right now I would hate to put a fish in there that may or may not be aggressive towards them. I would have to be fairly sure. I think my water parameters are a bit of a problem too. My water is a little acidic...6.8, but the hardness is off the scale hard. The only way I could change that is to start using enhanced RO.....that is a plan for the future, but not just yet. Any others want to chime in here?

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

The fish usually referred to as "Blue Tetras" (Boehlkea fredcochui -- a name that always sounds to me like a sneeze) -- seem to vary a lot in their degree of anti-sociality. I've had some who have been pretty bad about chasing other fish around the tank aggressively (including each other), but my current trio seem well-mannered (if constantly fast and active). And even the more aggressive ones that I've had never seem to actually bite.

They also seem to vary a lot in hardiness. I've had serious trouble keeping them alive in the past -- but, once again, my latest batch seem to be holding up very well. It's possible that the ones available in stores now, which are captive-bred, may be hardier than the wild-caught ones we saw earlier. (They may even be less anti-social because they grew up from the start in a crowded tank -- an upbringing environment does have some effect on the psyches even of fish.)

Anyway, if you want to try keeping some with your Harlequins and Cherry Barbs, I'd say: go ahead, and see how it works out. Just remember that they do require pretty clean water.

Good tips Bruce. I do keep my water religiously clean. I feel bad if it's I wait 7 days between water changes.

I much prefer to do 15% every 4 or 5 days. I do believe the ones I have my eyes on are captive bred.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

To add to the blue tetra thread..
The lfs has had 2 of these left in their tanks for months. I'd really like to keep some but hearing how agressive they can be I don't know if it would be a good idea. Do you think they'd get along ok in a 90g planted tank with congo tetras, blue gourami, threadfin rainbows, and bottom dwelling fish or is that just lining up targets for them? Most of the sources I've seen say they are peaceful toward other tank inhabitants but agressive toward their own species.

I'd be wary about keeping them with the Threadfin Rainbows, but other than that they should get along.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Crazy fish, mine dominates half of my 55. He scares the tetras and rasboras to death. And chases away the giant danios (bout twice his size) tiger barbs, and just about everything else. I would not recommend one unless you have some fish that don't take a lot of crap.