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Most of the tetras we have at the store are pretty well labled, but some of them, mostly contaminates in shipments of common tetras, need some IDs.

Fish 1: Plain, silver colored tetra with black spot on the caudal penducle. Arrived in a shpment of silver-tipped tetras.


Fish 2: Small tetra with greenish iridescent body. Arrived in a shipment of rummynoses.


Fish 1 and 2: As above...


Fish 3: Characin that is very cichlid-like in appearance and behavior. I'm thinking maybe it's the Sailfin tetra.


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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Don't no it's name but a nice looking tetra.

Fish 1 maybe Bucktooth Tetra
fish 2 Maybe Gold Tetra

That's what I think any way.

Actually, I believe that fish #1 is the gold tetra. They are sometimes silver or chrome colored if raised in captivity (the gold color develops in response to an environmental stimulant in the wild). Not sure of the others.

Looks like a gold tetra to me. Many of them are not gold, instead they are silver.

I think gold tetras and silver-tipped tetras come from different parts of SOuth America.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I said bucktooth tetra for number 1 because of the spot on its tail

the gold color develops in response to an environmental stimulant in the wild

It's actually a skin condition...er...scales

[span class="edited"][Edited by Tetra Fan 2004-07-21 18:17][/span]

It may be a bucktooth tetra, but don't they have a spot in the middle of their body? I may be wrong, but that is what many pictures I've seen look like.

Top one could be Hemigrammus rodwayi, but the picture qulaity needs to be a little better for me to be certain ... sorry, Cory Addict

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Almost forgot - the gold colour of the Gold Tetra is caused by a parasite. Encrusted trematode metacercaria in the subcutaneous guanine iridocyte layer. And yes, I typed that without a spelling mistake first time

[span class="edited"][Edited by Calilasseia 2004-07-22 08:53][/span]

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Nice job on the spelling! Now if I could only ounce what you wrote!! I used the word 'stimulant' instead of parasite, as some may get the idea that the fish is diseased, or could spread the parasite to other fishes. This is not the case, and other fish (including their own offspring) are not affected in any way. Gold tets are a nice, peaceful, and hardy fish for the community tank, and are usually inexpensive and easy to find, at least here in the mid-atlantic parts of the US.

I used the term 'parasite' because I have yet to find a term that describes an organism that may have started out as a parasite, but has since become simply a sort of 'fellow traveller', in a manner akin to the Remoras hitching lifts on sharks. The organisms in question don't seem to have any deleterious effect on the fish (there was a letter about this in one of my infamous TFH back numbers from the 70's) and some specimens have lived to be 8 years old or more.

There is a possibility that the 'parasites' may be digenetic, i.e., need a second (non-fish) host for completion of the life cycle, as 'gold' tetras that have been bred in captivity have all ended up silver!

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002