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Hi, I bought 8 Blue emperor tetras online and they arrived like 4 days ago. However, they dun look that colorful at all...just a black stripe on the body and a hint of red on the fins. I am wondering if I got all females or do I have to wait for the color to show up? My tank is only 10G but it's pretty well planted (well..at least they could hide in some places that I couldn't see..hehe) Also, they seem to be very active (too active?) in my tank and sometimes they chase after others of their own kind (sometimes my cardinals too)...is that a sign of stress or is it normal? (they eat alot tho..and getting all fat...)

Please help...thanks alot in advance

Yeah, you do have to wait -- both the females and the immature males are very blah-looking (just as with regular Emperors). Patience: when the males reach about 3/4 size, that beautiful blue/lavender glow will start to appear, and when they reach full size it will be amazingly intense.

As an example: several years ago, when I got the first batch of mature male Blue Emps in the library tank that I maintain, one 11-year-old girl (who, it turned out, had extensive experience with aquariums) saw tham and gasped at her mother, "Look at the purple ones!" My current young batch aren't quite there yet, but the larger males are already starting to show that lovely bright glow. (For a completely accurate portrait of how they'll look, see http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=4137791&uid=704672 .)

One other thing: make sure you use Blackwater Tonic. An article in "Aquarium Fish Hobbyist" suggested that this is necessary to help them fight off bacterial infections -- to which Blue Emps are otherwise extremely susceptible -- and my own experience with my new batch suggests that this works.

I think you are overstocked buddy. 8 3-4in tetras in a ten is way to much. even if they were the only ones in there.

Yeah, I'll agree with that. And don't forget that these are more delicate than your average fish. 20 gallons would be the minimum for a load like that.

One thing that Ive observed, but never got confirmed by anyone else, is that the adipose fin is blue on males and the same reddish as the other fins on females. Bruce, please check and see if you can confirm this on yours.

The only fry Ive been able to raise (not yet gotten around to try the Tonic) whent blue when he was about six months old. And as usual I must add that my grown ups have not been hard to keep alive although Ive lost the few batches of fry Ive tried raising in sudden mass deaths at about 3-6 weeks of age.

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So here I am once more...

I will indeed check on their adipose fin colors. As for your sudden fry deaths, that "Tropical Fish Hobbyist" article reported EXACTLY the same thing -- the fry are even more susceptible to bacterial infections than the adults.

He initially staved it off successfuly with gradually growing doses of antibiotics, but realized that this couldn't go on forever and experimented around until he came up with a homemade brew from alder cones that he says does the trick beautifully. Since a lot of us can't exactly get our hands on alder cones easily, he pointed out that Blackwater Tonic contains similar ingredients and might also work, which is what led me to use it on my adults. It might be worth trying on your next batch of fry.

Yes, you sent me that article (thanks again). Ive only tried two baches of fry so far, thought Id try without adding anything just to see, it could have worked and one fry did survive the first attempt.
When time and interest allows (laying pretty low on the aquaria part at the moment) Ill try out the Tonic, to lazy to start brewing my own mess! And for the grown ups, they seem happy and healthy without it.

On a side note. Wouldnt Black water tonic lower the pH? Im not sure but my impression is that thats really what its for and in the litterature they seem to say Blue Emperors should have a neutral pH (atleast in the Baench Atlas). My pH is usually at 7.2 and the few deaths Ive had among my BEs was when I had a pH drop due to delayed maintenance (the water quality went down quite a bit and Ive allways blaimed that but pH might have something to do with it as well).

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So here I am once more...

EVERY article I've run across on Blue Emps -- including my two printed ones -- says that they prefer mildly acid water. Wild ones live in water of about 6.0 to 6.8; they apparently breed best at about 6.2 to 6.5. But all articles also agree that they prefer very soft water for breeding.

However, I've run across an intriguing Web piece by someone who says that pH is actually not that important in breeding many tetras -- including Blue Emps -- and that the secret to bredding them lies in other things: http://www.flippersandfins.net/tetrabreedingarticle2.htm

And, yes, my female Blue Emps have a very definite orange-colored adipose fin, while the males have an adipose fin which (like their other fins) has no strong color to it.

hm..how lame..all 8 of the blue emperor tetras I bought online were female (no wonder they r on sale ..]:| ) Those blue emperor tetra were pretty tough tho (so far), none of them died yet (stay alive for 2-3 weeks already ..but one the other hand..the cardinals I bought were almost all dead, only 2 made it )

Anyway...I just bought a bigger tank (a 26g one), so that they could live happier (hopefully)...

So my question is...should I get more blue emperor tetras (and hopefully they sent me some male ones). Or should I get some other fishes?

Now its a 26 g tank with
4 guppies, 2 otto, 3 cardinals and 8 blue emperor tetras.

BTW, blue emperor tetras only grow up to 2" long...right?

Yeah, they only hit about 2 inches. I'd be a bit leery, however, of putting more than 8 of them in a 26-gallon tank UNLESS you remove some of your other fish first. They ARE delicate (as I've found out the hard way, although my latest batch seems to be doing pretty well).

If your enlarged load of Blue Emps seems to be doing well, you might try re-introducing a few other small fish.

(And remember to use Blackwater Tonic -- that seems to be the magic spell where keeping Blue Emps is concerned.)