This fish, the Black Phantom Tetra, is a full bodied tetra with a black diamond patch with a green or silver outline on the sides of its body. The male can take on a darker color when ready to breed or when defending it's territory in the aquarium against other black phantom tetras.
Just like other tetras, this one is no exception when it comes to wanting to school. Plan on keeping them in groups of 6 or more. They will develop a pecking order amongst the group. Males may spar with each other but this activity should not cause any significant amounts of damage to them. They should do fine in a community setup with smaller less aggressive species. They like to occupy the middle and bottom levels of the aquarium.

They are fairly good eaters and feeding them should be easy. The key is to provide a high quality and varied diet to bring out the wonderful colors of this fish. The photo with this fish profile doesn't do it justice. If you're planning on breeding them, your food selection becomes even more critical. High quality flake food with occasional live foods or frozen foods will fit the bill here.

 

 

The Black Skirt Tetra has a few different common names such as the "Black Tetra" and the "Black Widow Tetra". They are very popular among hobbyists and usually available at most fish stores. There are some different color varieties (may be dyed fish, look closely) and even some long fin varieties. They may lose some of the black coloration as they age. Also check out the White Skirt Tetra profile.
They can make a nice addition to a community tank with the right mix of tank mates. Avoid keeping them with known fin nippers like tiger barbs and likewise, avoid keeping them with fish that have larger fins such as Angelfish because Black Skirts have been caught nipping fins themselves. Try to keep your Black Tetras in groups of 5 or more to keep any fin nipping at a minimum, or at least amongst the school.

They are not very demanding as far as water quality goes and can be recommended to the freshwater beginner. Try to keep them in a large enough tank so you can get a school of them and keep up with those water changes. However, they probably won't make it through a complete aquarium nitrogen cycle, so make sure that your tank is cycled before introducing them. Yes, this means that you definitely need to have an aquarium test kit.

They are not very picky when it's chow time. Give them a variety of vitamin enriched fish foods and they should do well. Toss them some frozen foods every once in a while as a treat.

The Bleeding Heart Tetra is a fairly hardy tropical fish and a good one for freshwater fish beginners that practice good aquarium maintenance. They are sought after because they are a very nice looking fish and especially for the small red spot ("heart") located on the sides. This is a fairly active fish that should bring lots of activity to your tank if kept in a small school (shoal).
Like many tetras, the Bleeding Heart Tetra can be prone to fin nipping if kept individually. Try to keep 4 or more at a time to help make them feel more secure with their surroundings.

The Bleeding Heart Tetra will accept most tropical fish food including flakes, freeze-dried, frozen and live foods. It's acceptable to use flakes as their primary diet but try to supplement their diet with frozen or live foods from time to time.

This tetra is susceptible to the usual freshwater fish diseases. Even though they are usually farm raised now, they still may go through many shipping points and will be housed in various tanks by the time they reach your pet store. So don't forget to quarantine any of your new arrivals!

The Bloodfin Tetra is a mainstay of the freshwater fish hobby and for good reason. They have silver bodies with an almost greenish hue (depending on the aquarium lighting) and red fins. A great freshwater beginner's fish, they will to tolerate a wide range of water parameters. Some hobbyists even keep them in coldwater tanks or tanks without heaters. They will tolerate a lower temperature than other tropical fish, but use a heater to keep the temperature stable. Avoid widely fluctuating water temperatures that could stress your fish.
They can get a little skittish at times. Keeping them in a school of 6 or more should limit this behavior and a larger tank with lots of open swimming space will help prevent them from getting injured. They are quite active and should bring lots of activity to a community tank or a tetra tank setup scheme. You may see them nipping at each other from time to time and this is normal behavior amongst the school. It should not be a cause for concern unless it seems to be getting out of hand.

This is another fish that isn't too picky about what it eats. A good quality flake should form the main part of their diet with supplemental feeding of brine shrimp (live or dried), frozen freshwater foods and live foods such as worms or small insects.

The Buenos Aires Tetra is one of the hardiest of the commonly available tropical fish but it may not make a good choice for a community tank or a live plant tank. They will view your live plants as a food source and will nibble at them. Since it's best to keep them in small schools they can quickly destroy your live plant collection, so plastic plants are the way to go with this fish.
The Buenos Aires is a larger tetra, growing sometimes up to 3 inches (8 cm) and if kept in good water conditions can live 3 to 5 years or more. If you are planning on keeping them in a community tank caution is advised. They can be fin nippers and may bully smaller tetras and slower tank mates. Keep them in schools of 6 or more which should help direct their aggression towards the other tetras instead of their more peaceful tank members.

There is an albino type of this Tetra that will sometimes be available, but it is not as common as the regular version.

This fish is a great eater and you should offer them smaller fish foods including flakes, frozen, freeze dried and live foods. You may see more territorial aggression from them around feeding time.

 

The Cardinal Tetra looks very similar and is often confused with the Neon Tetra. The Cardinal Tetra will have the red stripe the full length of its body on the lower half, whereas the Neon Tetra will have the red stripe only half way. These tetras make excellent community tank mates and for best results you should keep them in a school (shoal) of 6 or more.
The cardinals prefer water slightly on the acidic side and for best results you'll want to acclimate them very slowly to your tank. Slowly mix in a little water from your tank to the bag they came in over a period of an hour or more. They can be very sensitive to dramatic changes in water chemistry (especially pH). Though these tetras should fare well if properly acclimated, this is not the fish to add to a new aquarium. Make sure that your tank has completed the aquarium nitrogen cycle. Give them a tank with low light levels and lots of aquarium plants.

It can be difficult to differentiate the male from the female, but there is speculation that the females are a little bit larger than the male.

They will accept all sorts of tropical fish food, including flakes, frozen and freeze dried foods and definitley live foods.

 

The Head and Tail Light Tetra gets it's common name from the way two small areas on the body seem to reflect light. One area is right behind the eye and the other area is at the base of the caudal fin. It may be hard to see this in tanks with lower lighting levels.
Like other tetras, the Head and Tail Light Tetra likes to be in small schools of 6 or more. They are generally peaceful fish and do really well in live plant aquariums. Water should be kept slightly on the acidic side. Since they come from the slower moving waters in the Amazon Basin it may be a good idea to give them a slower current in the home aquarium as well.

Breeding them in the home aquarium is possible but requires pre-conditioning with live and premium foods. You will need a separate breeding tank for the spawn and then to raise the fry in. Water must be on the soft and acidic side with low lighting levels. Parents should be removed after you see the eggs.

It's always a good idea to keep any new fish in a quarantine tank for a few weeks for monitoring before introducing them into your main tank.

They will accept most fish food including flakes, frozen, freeze dried and live foods.

The Glowlight Tetra is a really nice looking tetra with an orange-red stripe that runs the length of its semi-transparent body. Proper aquarium lighting levels with a dark fish tank bottom can help enhance the colors of this fish. They are slightly smaller than other commonly available tetras and should be kept with similar sized and non-aggressive species. They will do really well in an aquarium with live plants. Like other small tetras, such as the Neon Tetras, this fish does best in small schools (shoal) of 5 or more. Do not keep them with larger species that could potentially eat them. Even if you keep them in schools they can still be a little shy, keeping a low profile most of the time.
Glowlight Tetras are readily available and are usually very inexpensive. There is a golden Glowlight and albino variety being offered for sale too.

It's always a good idea to keep your new Glowlights in a quarantine tank for a few weeks for monitoring before introducing them into your main tank. Many of the Glow-light tetras available are now being farm raised but this fish can still be sensitive to fluctuations in pH and temperature. You may want to take a little longer when acclimating them to your tank water. Take an hour (instead of 15 minutes) and slowly add small amounts of tank water to the bag every 10 minutes or so.

This tetra will accept smaller fish food including flakes, frozen, freeze dried and live foods (crickets and worms). They may also eat smaller top dwelling fish.

 

The Neon Tetra is one of the most attractive of all the readily available tropical fishes. They have been getting a bad reputation in recent years for the difficulty in keeping them alive in the home aquarium. This bad reputation could be attributed to the increasing public demand and the methods by which breeders are meeting those demands by the inbreeding of this once hardy tropical fish.
Try to add at least 6 or more neons to your mature, fully cycled aquarium in order to increase your chances of success. Spending a little more time during the acclimation process may help as well. If you do the floating bag method, at least try to add small amounts of the tank water into the bag every 10 minutes so that they can slowly adjust to pH as well as temperature. Float them and add the small amounts of tank water for an hour.

Keep up with those water changes to prevent the nitrate levels from getting too high!

These tetras, like many, will accept tropical fish flakes, frozen and freeze dried

 

The Piranha is an infamous fish known for its meat eating capabilities and although it is an extremely interesting fish, we do not recommend them for the beginner. They can get quite large and expensive to feed. I also wouldn't want to put my hand in a tank full of piranhas while performing tank maintenance. Yikes!
Use caution if you plan to feed your Piranha a steady diet of feeder guppies or feeder goldfish since these may introduce many different diseases to your tank. Try to get them on flakes or pellets as soon as possible and only give them live foods as a supplement to their diet.

The Pristella Tetra can be a really good fish for the freshwater fish beginner. They are fairly hardy and should do well in a somewhat broader range of water parameters than other tetras. The Pristella tetra is very peaceful when kept in small schools of 6 or more. However, they may become skittish if kept with larger tank mates.
Physically, these tetras get to be about 2 inches (5 cm) and they are sometimes called the X-Ray tetra because of its almost transparent body. Look for the signature black stripe across the middle of the dorsal fin.

There is an albino Pristella (golden x-ray tetra) that will sometimes be available, but it is not as common as the regular Pristellas.

It's always a good idea to keep any new fish in a quarantine tank for a few weeks for monitoring before introducing them into your main tank.

This tetra is a decent eater and will accept smaller fish food including flakes, frozen, freeze dried and live foods.

The Red Belly Pacu fish looks very similar and is sometimes sold to customers as the Red Belly Piranha. However, they only look like piranha as juveniles. The red belly pacu will grow rather quickly and may reach 12 - 24 inches (30 - 61 cm) if properly taken care of. Given their potential adult size you will need an enormous tank to keep one at home, at least 250 gallons (940 liters). You will also need an extremely efficient aquarium filter to filter the tank water.
The Red Pacu will accept flake foods in the home aquarium but will need to be given pellets as they grow in size. It's probably best to keep them in tanks without live plants because they may eat your live plants.

Use caution when selecting tank mates for this fish. Even though they are herbivores, they may go after smaller fish in their tank. They can potentially be kept with arowanas and plecos.

The Red Bellied Pacu one of those fish that is best left to the advanced freshwater aquarist with a very large tank.

The Red Colombian Tetra is a relatively recent addition to the list of aquarium specimens available for sale. They are a somewhat larger tetra than can be semi-aggressive with smaller tank mates and may fin nip fish with larger fins. They do really well in schools (shoal) of 6 or more and may be behave better if kept in schools. They come from Colombia, South America - hence the common name.
It is difficult to determine the difference between male Colombian Tetras and females by visible signs, but the female should appear slightly thicker when swelling with eggs.

The Colombian Tetra should accept common aquarium foods such as flake, frozen and freeze dried foods. They are not picky.

It's always a good idea to quarantine your Colombian Tetras before introducing them to your main tank so that you can monitor them for disease and also provide them with optimal water conditions and no competition from other tank mates for fish food.

The Red Eye Tetra is a great little tetra that needs to be kept in a school of 5 or more. They make ideal members of a planted, peaceful community tank and should bring a decent amount of activity to your aquarium. The top of the eye socket is red, hence the name. The first half of the caudal fin (tail fin) is black and the main part of the body is silver.
This fish is very peaceful if kept in groups, but may get a little fin nippy if kept as a single. Other tetras may pick on them at times, so keep an eye on them. They do make a great freshwater aquarium beginner fish because they can be relatively hardy and their peaceful nature.

Breeding them can be challenging if not kept in a separate, bare bottom breeding tank. They are egg scatterers and will abandon the eggs and even eat them if not separated.

The Red Eye Tetra should accept nearly all aquarium foods including flakes, frozen and freeze dried fish food. Give them a variety of vitamin enriched foods for best results.

The Rummy Nose Tetra is a popular choice for live plant keepers and Discus fish keepers. They are very peaceful and can make excellent community tank mates if housed with similar sized and non-aggressive species. The do best in schools of 6 or more and may stress if not provided with hiding places and plants (plastic or real). They have a red colored nose and it can be quite striking to see a school of them swimming around a tank.
The Rummy Nosed Tetra can be sensitive to pH fluctuations so take more time during acclimation and during water changes.

This is one of three species that can be easily mis-identified because they all look very similar. There is the True Rummy Nose (Hemigrammus bleheri), the Rummy Nose Tetra (Hemigrammus rhodostomus) and the False Rummy Nose (Petitella georgiae). The H. rhodostomus and P. georgiae grow to about 3 inches (8 cm) whereas the H. bleheri only reaches about 2 inches (5 cm). The H. bleheri will also have more red coloration on the head and appear skinnier than the other species.

For food, they are omnivorous so try to give them a varied diet. They will accept flakes, frozen, freeze dried and smaller live foods.

 

The Serpae Tetra is one of the more colorful tetras that sometimes gets a bad reputation for being a fin nipper. This behavior is usually brought on because they are not being kept in schools of 6 or more. Provided that you have the room for a small school of these fish, the Serpaes can make a good addition to a community tank.
They have a brown body, almost amber colored with a black dorsal fin and red caudal and anal fins. They look really good in an aquarium with a lush growth of live aquarium plants.

You can usually find them swimming in a shoal in the middle to bottom regions of your tank. They should leave other fish alone and chase each other playfully around the tank.

Serpae Tetras will accept nearly all fish food such as flakes, frozen, live and freeze dried.

 

The Silver Dollar fish comes from South America and has been a favorite among tropical fish hobbyists for many years. The Silver Dollar gets to be about 6 inches or about the size of a saucer. They are a brilliant silver in color and in some varieties, the male will have a small amount of red on its anal fin. They do best in schools of 6 or more and can become scared easily if not in a school. However, even in small schools they can still be very skittish, especially if you approach the tank too quickly. If you come up too fast or if you make quick movements they may start darting around the tank and could possibly injure themselves. For this reason, make sure that there are no sharp tank decorations in the aquarium.
Silver Dollars are mostly peaceful but can be extremely aggressive eaters. Watching them eat can be fun. Drop an algae wafer into your tank and watch the other silvers chase the one that gets it around the tank. For the plant keepers out there, they are herbivores and notorious for the serious damage that they can do to your live plants.

For food, they will accept most foods including flakes, pellets, frozen, freeze dried and live foods.

They can be fairly hardy once acclimated, but avoid fluctuating water parameters. When you are doing your water changes try to put in water that is as close to the same temperature as possible and don't let those nitrates get too high!