• Tetras, freshawater aquarium fish

Most Tetras are schooling fish and will not show their normal behavior patterns or colors unless the are kept in groups. You should keep a minimum of at least six individuals of the same species, with more being better.
In many species, the male will claim a small territory which they will defend against other males, but this just leads to the liveliness of the tank.

How to Feed Schooling Fishes

Tetras, barbs, and danios are omnivorous. Most tetras are insectivorous, but also feed on flake and pellet foods. Barbs and danios eat live foods but supplement on vegetation.

Schooling fishes prefer to swim mid-tank, and enjoy going after live food like mosquito larvae, bloodworms, and other small aquatic invertebrates. In the absence of wriggly live food, flakes floating in the current are just as delectable. In the absence of both, the nearby vegetation will do just fine for these omnivorous species.

Give your schooling fishes frozen foods if live ones are not available. Remember that live foods are essential to characins and cyprinids, especially to danios, because a diet rich in live foods enhances their coloration.

Picture a neon tetra, a black tetra, a lemon tetra, a cardinal tetra. The tetras are all members of a family called Characidae. They and members of several closely related families come from South America and tropical Africa. There are several hundred different species. In general, these fish are small, ranging from 1 to approximately 2 inches in length. They are active swimmers and spend their time in the upper half of the aquarium.

The tetras offer fairly bright colors, with silver, black and shades of red predominating. They display best in a small school in tanks with a large open area in front and some plants in the background. They accept all standard aquarium fare and are very competitive eaters. A varied diet is best, of course.

The tetras will coexist with most other fish who cannot have them for lunch. Except for breeding, the tetras do not require any special water conditions. Given proper water conditions and food, most of the tetras are easily bred. However, their fry are very difficult to raise, requiring very small food and very sanitary conditions. These requirements usually preclude all but advanced aquarists from rearing the young.

In summary, for active color in the mid to upper levels of a tank, any member of this group is an ideal choice. For best effect and normal behavior, a school of six or more of the same kind works better than one or two each of several different kinds.