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Does anyone have these little tetras?

I was reading about them in a German Aquarium Magazine and cannot find their profile here,
neither does the FP search result in anything.

This is not the Blue Tetra (Boehlkea fredcochui)
nor is it the Emperor Tetra (Nematobrycon palmeri).

As to what I know about it:

- size is 1.2 to 1.4 inches
- ph 6 – 7
- temp is low 70s to low 80s
- male is staking a small territory
- is a qualified community tank fish, less aggressive than the Blue Tetra and Emporer Tetra
- schools nicely with Black Neons
- Farm bread in Germany

King Tetra Image

It sounds like a good fish to me and I wonder why I have not seen it mentioned here.

Thanks for any info,

Ingo


Last edited by Little_Fish at 30-Jun-2005 08:56

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Yarr, that just be a regular emperor tetra. They be good, if a tad pricey for tetras.

Communist Hamster,

As I pointed out above - It Is Not An Emporer Tetra

I provided the latin names for this fish and the emporer, and they are different.

Thanks anyway,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

We had them at work, labeled as the "king keeri tetra". They're less common than regular emperors but look very similar, which is why they get less attention. They can be cared for in the same way as emperors; moderately easy to keep, easy to feed, are schooling fish but males will display at and squabble with each other, and all that good stuff. They do stay a little smaller than the emperors, but that only changes their minimum tank size.

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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."

these fish are not easy to keep what so ever. i had 4 and i slowly lost them because of inexperience. They need to have really closely monitored water parameters, they are super sensitive with that. A gentlemen that is or was on this website knows a lot about them, BruceMoomauw(sp, sorry) but please search as much as you can on the internet before buying them]]

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

Yes, bruce Moomaw introduced me to these beauties a while back. A species I'd love to keep sometime, but probably not for the inexperienced. This picture]http://www.vectrapoint.com/main/photo/dancehall/images/kerri-JPEG.html[/link] illustrates nicely why this species is sought after ... lovely shade of blue! Fishbase has some data on the species [link=here.

This page has some care and breeding information.

The majority of pages devoted to this species appear tobe German or French. Apparently the species is very highly prized in Continental Europe, though finding more in-depth information from these sites requires the requisite linguistic capability.

One factor making this species a challenge for the inexperienced appears to be its need for very stable water conditions. So they are NOT a fish to house in an immature aquarium with a recently cycled filter. Best to mature the aquarium with hardier species first, then add the Blue Emperors later. Also, water changes need to be conducted with some delicacy, because they are apparently less than happy with sudden fluctuations in water chemistry. Also, to get the best out of them, they should be fed on a fairly regular basis with live foods, and seem to need live food input more than the hardier and more familiar Characins.

However, in this respect, they're still a long way from being as difficult as another favourite rarity of mine, namely the beautiful (and expensive) Poecilocharax weitzmani, which is probably as much of a challenge as Discus to maintain successfully, let alone breed.




Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I used to keep some blue emperor tetras in my old 30 gal tank. Those are not too hard to keep if u can get them a planted tank (blue emperor is more hardy than cardinal imo )

There're few things I learned from them and hope they help:

1. lighting and tank background color could make a big difference on the outlook of this fish. I'd prefer dimmer light and dark background since that could better show the bluish/purplish color on them

2. Male emperor tetra is much prettier than female. Female ones do not have the cool bluish shade on them

3. For 2., unfortunately it's hard to tell the sex of the blue emperor tetras when they r small (female ones have a hint of orangy color on their fins I remember )

4. They r rare and I've never really seen them in any LFS around my area. However, I ordered mine thru http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=907 Those r reasonably priced and came in good health, but too bad u can't get to choose male ones...it's all random and good luck

They turn up pretty often in California now, and are not expensive -- but they are definitely delicate. (One possible tip: "Tropical Fish Hobbyist", in a detailed article on them in the mid-1990s, noted that they seem very susceptible to bacterial infections. The author developed a home brew out of alder cones which he found could prevent this -- but he suggests that plain store-bought Blackwater Tonic might work as well.) I will be taking another crack at them soon myself; I've had trouble keeping them in the public library tank that I maintain, but one adult male I had in another tank that I maintained survived just fine for several years.

Another note: as with regular Emperor Tetras, the females and the young of both sexes are very unimpressive -- a dingy purple-brown -- but the full-grown males are absolutely stunning: a brilliantly glowing, phosphorescent sky-blue and lavender mix which is definitely brighter and prettier than the adult males of the regular Emperor Tetra (which are no slouches themselves, and seem a lot easier to keep). They are, as one commenter above suggests, even more spectacular against a black background (which also greatly brings out the beauty in a lot of other fish, such as Black Neons, Glowlight Tetras and Harlequin Rasboras, that look rather plain against a light-colored backdrop). One little girl (who told me that she had a lot of experience with tropical fish) walked into the library when I had a school of adult male Blue Emperors and gasped to her mother, "Look at the purple ones!" -- which is pretty much my sentiment. (Why is it that the loveliest tropical fish are ALWAYS the hardest to keep? *sigh*)

Bruce, that is a sentiment I echo - why are the prettiest ones so hard to keep? Poecilocharax weitzmani is a case in point - a couple of years ago you posted some notes on this utterly gorgeous Characin for me, in which you mentioned that it not only needs live food on a constant basis, but live food that moves in a specific way near the bottom. Which means that I won't be keeping that little beauty until I have a pond I can cultivate live food in year-round.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

About time the good old Kerri came up again!
Me and Bruce have had some discussions regarding them before (this was before the site breakdown so those threads are history by now).

Anyhow, mine are still going strong. I keep them in what many would say is an overstocked, underfiltered 140 liters (36 USG) tank that gets random 50% water changes at least two weeks apart and they not only survive, they look good and spawn regularly. I bought six of them well over a year ago. After an, even for this tank, extra long time between WC (a little over a month!) I lost two of them (one, of course, being the only male) so I bought two new males. After quarantaining them one got to stay in the Qtank together with one of the old females. Since I after a few days couldn't see any eggs and had to leave town for a few days I put them back in the main tank. About a week later I realized there where fry in the still standing Qtank. A total of three fry where located of which one made it to adulthood and are still with us today. A later breeding atempt resulted in some 50 fry who all died within a few days when they where about 2-3 weeks old. This is apparently not uncommon acording to the articles Bruce was referring to and wich he also had the kindness to supply me with at that time.

I have never tried any additives, such as suggested in mentioned articles, perhaps that would have made the difference in the second breeding attempt and maybe not. I am planning on having anoyher go shortly since I've invested in a brand new 112 liter (30 USG) tank that so far only holds six ottos and a bunch of snails.

OK, that was the ranting. based on my eperience the Kerri tetra is not hard to keep (contrary to what most other says). Maybe I've been lucky or something (heck, in the same tank ten Cardinals have been living for three years without a single loss! It's only cories and guppies I can't keep alive in there).

Would I recommend them to anyone? Sure why not, mine show of their blue quite nicely but to get it all out of them you'd probably need a pretty dark tank. They can be kept in smaler groups (a male and one or two females) as well as in schools (just like the Emperor tetra) and are very lively and on the contrary to shy. All in all pretty nice tetras!

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So here I am once more...