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Tetra Fan alerted me to a hitherto unreported fact about Black Phantom Tetras in another thread - he claims that they are a nippy species.

This struck me as somewhat unusual, not least because male Black Phantoms have enlarged finnage compared to the females (aside from the colour distinction which makes gender determination so easy with this fish). Consequently I'm inviting Black Phantom keepers to report whether or not they've observed nippiness in their specimens, and whether this trait should be added to the Profile for the species.

Usually, fishes with long flowing fins themselves are not, in my experience, fin nippers, and if the Black Phantom possesses this trait, then this will make it, to my current knowledge, highly unusual among the fin nippers. The other notorious fin-nipping fish species, such as Tiger Barbs, Serpae Tetras and Puffers, don't have long trailing fins themselves, which is why Tetra Fan's inclusion of Black Phantoms among the nippers struck me as worthy of comment. Likewise, he mentions Diamond Tetras as being a potentially nippy species, which given the extended finnage of the male also strikes me as somewhat odd, though in the case of Diamond Tetras the fins aren't strikingly marked with high-contrast markings to advertise their presence.

Any comments?


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

i cant say for suer, but i dought it. ive watched them at the petstore for a long time and just seem to hango out and not to cause trouble good luck

Okay...

I actually dont post in this forum...ever...but I am going to comment this time, because I've kept and really like black phantoms.

IME, they are not fin nippers at all. I've kept them with all other community fish and never had a problem. I had about 6 I think.

Their fins will get shredded by tiger barbs and other fish of that nature. Luckily, with a little melafix, they grow back very quickly.

Not nippy IME. Dunno if the same goes for red phantoms and/or serpaes though.


-Ferret [img src='/images/forums/halo.gif' border=0]


PS: Dont tell the salties I was in here.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

I've never had them but they look cool. Havent seen 'em in any local stores here in Indiana, but the info I read on them implied that they were nocternal and require alot of live plants to hide in. This to me implys a less nippy nature, but then again I never personally owned them... I really wish I could find some they are so cool!!!

Inky

You were told that Black Phantoms were nocturnal???

I'd find someone else to get your information from. They're about as nocturnal as George Hamilton - have you SEEN his suntan?

In case you're wondering, I'm on about this guy ... and wait till you see his suntan ...


Last edited by Calilasseia at 28-Dec-2005 16:22

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I have a similar species (looks similar)
Xray tetras, and they dont bother anything, My guppies and bettas are fine!

i keep 25 black phantoms in a community SA tank, and they are utterly peaceful. they are spectacular fish en masse and do not nip the extended radials of my sturisoma panamense (and if those extensions don't look like a worm i don't know what does!!)or the rather gorgeous finnage of my a. cacatuoides, or angels.

my verdict: soooo not nippy.

So when people are looking for Tetras that are compatible with Angel Fishes, Black Phantoms won't nip the Angels' fins? Is this a consensus verdict? Only if so, we can add them to the list cited in the relevant thread. I held off adding them myself because of Tetra Fan's assertion that they could be nippy, but if everyone here agrees they're safe, I'll add them to the list.

I thought it was strange that they should be nippy, because the Black Phantoms I've seen at my LFS have amazing finnage - the males have fins that are almsot Betta sized in relation to the body, and never ceased looking for opportunities to show them off! I never say anything that looked like nipping among them - although they DID engage in the sort of 'jousting' I've seen happen among Lemon Tetras, and again for much the same apparent reason. Namely, the males doing their macho thing to impress the females and set up a 'pecking order' for mating.

Someday, if I upgrade the Panda Fun Palace™ to a 6ft aquarium, I may get Black Phantoms. I reckon 16 of them in a 6ft long aquarium would be a stunning sight!



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I've kept black phantoms for most of my 30+ years of fish keeping and have never found them to be nippy. I agree with you Calli a large school in your future 6' tank would be awesome. I know you'll have it someday.

Jim

---

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

I probably should have noted that the tetras were nippy only in my experience. They would constantly nip at my Angelfish (which moved to the 40 tall, now empty though) and would pick on my other fish. I got them because I had heard they wern't nippy, but perhaps I just got an odd batch? *shrug*

It was just in my experience keeping them is all...

As for the diamond tetras, I was told not to put them with Angelfish by someone on this board, because they would be nippy. I can't remember who, but I guess it was just bad info.

Last edited by Tetra Fan at 31-Dec-2005 09:44

Ah, this now leads me to ask what size aquarium the Black Phantoms and the Angels with sharing ...

In my experience, quite a few so-called 'peaceful' fish will become more aggressive if they feel that they have insufficient space. There are some exceptions to this observation (for example, I've never seen a Corydoras catfish exhibit a fit of tank rage, and don't know anyone else on the entire planet who has!) but in the case of Characins, quite a few will do this. Consequently I tend to recommend bigger quarters than those stated as norms in the textbooks for certain species, particularly those species that exhibit 'jousting' behaviour among the males. I suspect that in the wild, they hover within reach of plant thickets to provide cover if a predator turns up, but prefer being in open water if there's space and safety associated with it.

Certainly in my experience, Silver Tip Tetras (which I kept as a teenager) like their open spaces, and use assorted aquarium décor protrusions such as Cabomba stands and vertical pieces of bogwood as 'display stations' to flash their fin tips at each other. Lemons will also do this, and so I gather will Black Phantoms, which engage in displays of this kind even in bare dealer aquaria.

On the subject of space for Characins, one lesson I've learned the hard way is that while Beckford's Pencil Fishes are labelled as 'peaceful' in the textbooks, they can be anything but if they feel crowded. Males in particular will undergo a total personality change and start behaving like badass Mbunas if they don't have space. As a result, now that I've lost all my Beckford's Pencils (the remaining two were wiped out in my October catastrophe) I won't be putting them in anything less than a 4ft aquarium because if they don't have decent amounts of space, they can turn vicious with each other. They may only be small fishes, but they make, in my experience, unusual territorial demands for their size, on a par with some Cichlids.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

i totally agree with your statement about giving these little jems (all characins) more space to live in. the bigger the space and the bigger the school, the more natural behaviour you will see. these fish swim in their dozens, scores, in their hundreds and daresay thousands in the wild. as you up the ante, so the fish reward you with clearer activity and behaviour. it's the next step in the 'super-colony' system used by bees and ants. we see quirks, but not individuality in these fish - they are small parts of a single 'host' - the school.

there's my hippy herbal thought for the day...