Long Finned Tetra
Bryconalestes longipinnis
- Care level
- Intermediate
- Adult size
- 12.5 cm
- Minimum tank
- 173 litres
- Temperature
- 22–26 °C
Species profile
Lemon Tetra
Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis
Common names: Lemon Tetra
Recognized speciesTetras
Adult size
Up to 4 cm
Typical adult length 3–4 cm.
Up to 4 cm
Countries of origin
Good fit for your tank?
Good fit for
- A gentle community of similarly sized fish
- A planted tank of around 70 litres or more
- A keeper who wants a calmer alternative to red tetras
Think carefully if
- Your tankmates are boisterous or large
- You want strong colour straight away from young fish
- You can keep only a few fish
A peaceful Brazilian tetra with a soft lemon body and yellow-and-black fins. It is an easy community fish whose colour improves in a well-kept group.
Appearance and Identification
A translucent lemon-yellow body, a bright red upper half of the eye, and an anal fin marked in black and yellow.
The combination of the yellow-and-black anal fin and red eye separates this fish from other pale tetras.
Males are less deep-bodied and slightly smaller, with more intense colour, especially in the dorsal and anal fins.
Tank Requirements
- Suggested filter
- About 280–350 litres an hour
- Suggested heater
- About 75–100 W for this tank
- Minimum tank volume
- 70 litres
- Minimum tank length
- 80 cm
- Minimum group size
- 8
- Recommended group size
- 10
- Activity level
- Moderate
- Flow preference
- Low to moderate
- Planting preference
- Moderately planted
- Hiding places
- Yes
- Lid recommended
- Yes
- Jumping risk
- Low
Provide planted areas with open water. Dark substrate and a varied diet help bring out the yellow.
Behaviour and Tankmates
Very peaceful. Males often display their fins to each other without harm.
Keep a mixed-sex group of at least 8 to 10.
Not territorial, though males display to each other.
Suitable with similarly sized characins, small catfish, and non-predatory small to medium cichlids. Avoid fish large enough to swallow it.
Water Parameters
Adaptable to soft and moderately hard water. Keep nitrate low with regular water changes.
Parameter caveat
Most fish sold are farm-bred and more adaptable than wild stock. Acclimate slowly and use the seller's water as a starting point rather than chasing an exact number.
Feeding
- Diet types
- Insectivore, Omnivore
- Feeding frequency
- Once or twice daily
- Preferred foods
- Fine micro granules or crushed flakeUse a particle size the fish can swallow whole, and feed only what is eaten within a couple of minutes.
- Frozen or live daphnia and cyclopsSmall crustaceans add variety and help bring adults into breeding condition.
- Frozen or newly hatched brine shrimpA good small meat food a few times a week rather than the only food.
An omnivore that takes most small foods.
Regular frozen or live foods noticeably improve colour.
Breeding
- Breeding type
- Egg Scatterer
- Breeding difficulty
- Moderate
- Brood or egg count
- Typically dozens to a few hundred small eggs
- Incubation
- 1 days
- Parental care
- None
- Baby foods
- Infusoria or parameciumNeeded for the first days after fry become free-swimming, because the fry are very small.
- Fine powdered fry foodUse sparingly as a supplement, and siphon out anything left uneaten.
- Newly hatched brine shrimpIntroduce once the fry are large enough to swallow it, usually after several days.
- MicrowormsA useful next step for fry that are still too small for brine shrimp.
An egg-scattering free spawner with no parental care. Use a separate, dim tank with mature water and a spawning substrate such as mesh, plastic matting, marbles, or fine-leaved plants, then remove adults once eggs appear.
Habitat and Origin
- Geographic origin
- Amazon Basin, Brazil, South America
- Natural habitat
- Clearwater, Freshwater River, Vegetated Shoreline
- Aquarium contexts
- Breeding Aquarium, Planted Aquarium
- Audience level
- Beginner
Classification
- Profile type
- Recognized species
- Genus
- Hyphessobrycon
- Family
- Characidae
- Species group
- Fish, Tetras
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Longfin Diamond Neon Tetra
Paracheirodon innesi var. "Blue Diamond Longfin"
- Care level
- Beginner
- Adult size
- 3 cm
- Minimum tank
- 54 litres
- Temperature
- 21–25 °C
Longfin Serpae Tetra
Hyphessobrycon eques var. "Longfin"
- Care level
- Beginner
- Adult size
- 4 cm
- Minimum tank
- 72 litres
- Temperature
- 20–28 °C
Loreto Tetra
Hyphessobrycon loretoensis
- Care level
- Beginner
- Adult size
- 2.5 cm
- Minimum tank
- 54 litres
- Temperature
- 22–28 °C