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Wow they do look alot nicer than when i saw them.
Right, it looks like im going to drop a shoal and put three shoals of 15. I know its still slightly overstocked.
I think that im going to go for a shoal of lemon tetra's and a shoal of rummy noses as my experience with rummy noses is that they are great tight shoalers and are very active. However im still undecided on what other tetra to go for. I like the cardinal but they are a bit too common, can anyone recommend a nice tetra.

Cheers for your help everyone

If you're going with Lemons, then this article should be of help (shameless plug ). They'll integrate nicely with Cardinals and Rummies (as mine did for 7 years until I swapped the Rummies for Beckford's Pencils) and will probably integrate nicely with many other tetras too, with the exception of the infamous Cochu's Blues cited above that, as Sirbooks has already pointed out, are anti-social little critters best left to more advanced aquarists. Mind you, having said that, I'd be wary of Beckford's Pencils also: they're hardy fish, the most bomb-proof of the Pencil Fishes by a good margin, but males can be both territorial and nasty. My males behave more like Mbunas than characins!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I will be added 12 of each.
The problem im having at the moment is that im slightly worried that the shoals will be too small, so the shoals wont look as good as if i was to have two big shoals of say 20 per shoal.

How many are you going to have of each? 6? If it's more than that, you might even want to split the school in half and add a little at a time.

It's best to go one school at a time, that way the tank's filter (with its accompanying bacteria) doesn't get overwhelmed by all of the fish at once. You want to let your beneficial bacteria have a chance to build up, so that there will be enough to handle the ammonia and nitrite that the new fish will directly or indirectly add to the tank.

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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."

yes they are very nice,
thanks for that, the only problem with these is that they might look similar to a rummy nose in the tank.
I think that im going to go with the cardinal tetra, the reason is that these are mainly blue so this shoal will stand apart from the others i.e.

Lemon - yellow shoal
Rummy - red/white shoal
Black neon - back/ white shoal
Cardinal - blue shoal

Would you add all four shoals together or would you just add one at a time?

bloodfins are nice, there's also a closely related species called the green-fire or emerald tetra which looks beautiful

They seem ok, but i still think i prefer the blue emperor tetra heres a link for them, tell me what you think:

www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk

if you use the search engine and type in emperor tetra and the click on the Blue Emperor, it shows the photos for it!

The Cochu's blues are the ones I talked about above. More information about them is available at the following links:

[link=http://fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/bluetetra.xml]http://fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/bluetetra.xml" style="COLOR: #808080[/link]
[link=http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Boehlkea_fredcochui.html]http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Boehlkea_fredcochui.html" style="COLOR: #808080[/link]

Pictures can be found below:
[link=http://www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/aquarium/boehlkea_fredcochui_x.jpg]http://www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/aquarium/boehlkea_fredcochui_x.jpg" style="COLOR: #808080[/link]
[link=http://www.akwafoto.pl/fotoreport/ostrava2002/boehlkea_fredcochui1.jpg]http://www.akwafoto.pl/fotoreport/ostrava2002/boehlkea_fredcochui1.jpg" style="COLOR: #808080[/link]

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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."

Thanks,
ive never heard of the cochus blue tetra.
Do you have any photos or know a website which will show them?

If you're looking for a semi-unusual but small tetra, maybe a school of black neons or the cochus blue ones. If you're willing to go a bit larger, diamond tetras are an often overlooked tetra that can be very beautiful when well cared for.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Ive recently decided to change my tank set-up.
Im planning on having a heavily planted tank with four shoals of 15 tetras per shoal.
The problem im having is choosing which four shoals will go nicely together.
I would ideally like the four shoals to be different in colour, however having spoken to many people they are all recommending different things.
At present here is the shoals that i am planning to have;

15 rummy noses
15 cardinals or blue emperor tetra
15 black neon or black widow
15 lemon tetra or albino beuno aires

Does everyone pretty much agree with this selection or can someone recommend some others. Some photos would be very helpful.

Thankyou for your help

Yeah, they do get a lot nicer than the store fish. My lemons looked kind of shabby when I bought them, and now they're nice and bright.





The pictures suck, but you get the idea.

The more tetras you have in one school, the nicer they'll look and the happier they'll be. If you want to drop one species, you could go with eleven or twelve fish for each of the others. [/font][/font]

Last edited by sirbooks at 14-Jun-2005 13:45

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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."

Really, any group 6 fish or more will shoal. Although the more the better, I'd do whatever you want.

Sir thats great thanks for the help.
I dont suppose you have any photo's of your lemon tetra's. When i went to look at some in a shop, they did'nt impress me too much but the dealer said that if they become established in a planted tank, the colours on them really stand out.
Will shoals of 8-9 tetras still shoal up? Or would a be better off with 3 larger shoals?

If it is only a thirty gallon tank, then you'll have to tone down on the numbers. Though they aren't heavy waste producers, sixty tetras in a thirty gallon is just too much.

Here's what I might do:
8 lemon tetras
9 rummynose tetras
8 black neon tetras
9 flame tetras

That list gives you tetras that stay at approximately the same size, will usually hang out towards the middle of the tank (though the rummies that I've seen school towards the bottom), and will school a good deal of the time. Emperors aren't great schoolers, and black skirt and Buenos Aires tetras grow larger than all the rest.

Regarding the blue tetras, I personally wouldn't add them. They are very nippy little fish, are fond of damaging the fins of themselves and other tetras, and will stress out tankmates. I'd only keep them in a tank with no other tetras, as I had a bad experience with one of these fish dominating my seven lemon tetras. Also, the blue tetras at my work are chewing off each others' fins. I don't think you'll want that in your tank.

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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."

The tank size they are going in is 36" x 12" x 21" (Approx 30gallons).
Im looking for similar sized fish, nothing that grows over 2inches long.
Id prefer to have mid-water shoals.
There will not be any more fish added to the tank at first, but i might add a couple of rainbowfish at a later date.
I will ideally like four distint shoals.
Someone has also mentioned having blue tera's but im struggling to find any photos of them

If you have a tank that can fit 60 Tetra's, then i recommend these:-

15 Rummy Noses Tetra.
15 Cardinals Tetra.
15 Black Neon Tetra.
15 Lemon Tetra.
With a heavily planted tank, they'll look wonderful.


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Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
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I have rummies with black neons and they get along fine together.

15 lemon tetra or albino beuno aires

Do you mean 15 aires tets because that is a much much higher bioload then 15lemons would produce

15 aires tetras alone would need a 5foot tank
15 lemons would be fine in a 2 foot tank

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''