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I've cycled my tank and gotten my fish priorities out of the way, now what would be a good school of tetras? I want
really small ones for some reason, and I like the ones that are taller but not nippy like serpaes. What are good ones? I read something that pristellas are very small but I wouldn't know where to find any around here. Any suggestions?

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I like Led Zeppelin.

What about flame/von rios tetras? They are little guys with a great red color. They play amongst themselves but don't nip other fish when kept in a large group. They are nothing like Serpaes IMO.

Just noticed you are from Decatur, AL...cool. I am around Birmingham.

*Kristin*

Schweet. I added the Decatur part recently, and my brother has a soccer tournament in B'Ham this weekend. I would have gone, but it may ice over tonight.

As for the tetras, I bought 4 gold pristellas and I love them already. They're so small and cute!

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I like Led Zeppelin.

Smallest Tetra species I've found to date is Hyphessobrycon amandae, the Ember Tetra. Maxes out at just two centimetres in length.

Here's a page about them with a pic ...

You could keep a pretty big shoal of these guys even in a modest aquarium ... imagine how many you could keep in a 55? You could have something like 60 of these guys in a 55 and they'd look AMAZING!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Those embers are cool, but probably hard to find. I like the pristellas though, fun and playful. Also, will freeze-dried brine shrimp/daphnia and a once-weekly frozen food cube help bring out color and occasionally cause ram spawning? I think I'm going to get some of each.

One last thing, will similar-colored and -shaped tetras(like rummynoses) school with the pristellas, or should I just buy more pristellas to fill the school?

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I like Led Zeppelin.

Just buy more pristellas. Usually tetras only school with their own kind. They might school if you have a few of each and they felt threatened...but I wouldn't recommend trying that. Just get more of the same type. The fish will be alot happier that way.

*Kristin*

OK, because some people on another thread were talking about mixing tetras to school.

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I like Led Zeppelin.

I bought some rummynoses and to my surprise, the pristellas were schooling with the rummynoses, but not vice versa! The rummynoses were tank pacing(surprise) and the pristellas are either curious about their new tankmates or schooling with them! It wouldn't surprise me, they look alike, and I have 4 of each. I know I'm gonna get flak about not finishing the schools but I just wanted some diversity.

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I like Led Zeppelin.

Ember Tetras turn up occasionally here in California -- and when they have turned up, they've turned up in huge numbers. In my experience they're rather washed-out looking, though -- more a pale orange than the bright red-orange in the photos. (They may have been inbred in captivity.) There are a few exceptions, though; the very first one I saw came in with a shipment of Glowlights and had nice color on it. I bought it, and it lived happily for months in a tank full of considerably bigger fish that never molested it -- until it died in one of those damned epidemics that seem to sweep regularly through my tank.