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Has anyone kept these guys. I saw them for the first time at my lfs and bought a few. They have a very shiny gold skin (not dyed). They never stop moving and have a hugh appetite. Here's a Pic:




tetratech attached this image:


My Scapes

I have kept them before tetra. I have a school of about 12
in my 75G. they are really awesome fish IMO.

The discrepency that arises with them it that th gold
coloring as apparently do to the eposure to some parasite
that resides within their skin. this is supported by the
fact that spawned gold tetras in an aquarium yield silver
colored instead of gold colored offspring. the good thing
is that this parasite doesn't spread,

at least this is what I ahve heard. I have never seen them
show discomfort to thei pigmentation so personally I think
it is an unimportant topic. Anyways they never stop
moving, are always hungry and I pesonally have never seen
them be agressive to any other fish. they love to play
with each other and when in low numbers spend alot of time
chasing their reflections.

HTH,
Megil.

P.S. at the fishstore, they often look rather skinn, but
they definetly plump up after several days in a tank, and
also their colors get even more impressive as the fish are
covered in a full shade of gold, you can't usually see the
stomach and the like like in the picture you linked.

Last edited by Megil Tel'Zeke at 01-Nov-2005 08:29

Thanks for the info, yeah I did read that about the parasite. They do seem to be aggressive. Right now their in a 12gallon with a bunch of guppy fry and they might have done a few in. I was thinking of moving them to my 72 gallon, but I need to find out more about this parasite. BTW - Are they good schoolers. They seem to scatter in my 12gallon and I only have 4 of them.

My Scapes

They are not as tight a schooler, as say neons or cardinals.
and like many other schooling fish, the formation is rarely
visible in few numbers.

In my 75G my 12 gold tetras stay close to each other, to a
form a relative school. they will occasionally split off but
the always get back together, I am sure the schooling
behavior becomes even more accentuated with an even larger
school of golds, say 20,24, 32 36 or even 40 >.< . from
my experience they aren't that agressive to other fish, and
keep mostly to themselves, though mine had a pair of breeding
angels as their tankmates(unintentional pairing). so that may
have had to do with the behavior of mine. they do no bother
the cardinals in the tank though so *shrugs* depends on what
you define as agression, mine just chase each other never seen
any nipping or badgering.

HTH,
Megil.

the parasite is harmless n yes tank raised fish often look not as gold n tend to b more of a silvery colour
its also said that cardinals n neons posess a parasite to disply thier neon blue colours as does the gold tetra shows gold
they r a beautiful fish and look amazing in a 125gallon tank wit 15 cardinals 30 rummynose tetras 50 neons 20 golds 12 harliquin raspboas 10 green flames n 25 black phantoms in that tank i also had 2 peacock eels i put in 10 kulies n 4 bushy nose plecos the tank was well planted had a lot of drift wood n 2 filters n 2 powerheads the golds loved the current n showed best colours in the darker parts of the tank as they moved throughout the entire water coloum

Wow, that's alot of fish :%)
Thanks for the info. That's good to know. Right now their in my 12 but I might get more and more them into my 72.

BTW - Why did you go with 50 neons and less much less cardinals?


My Scapes

ive had great success breeding neons so ive always had them n in the proper lighting n vegitation i find them more attractive then cardinals there white bellies add alot of contrast

As I understand it, regardless of whether the parasite that gives Gold Tetras their coloration causes them any discomfort, at least it doesn't spread to any other species of fish.