All About the Black Tetra in your Aquarium 

I have 17 of these black tetras and they school beautifully

These fish are criminally underrated. Back when I didn't care about fish (I was 10), the water would turn cloudy and yellow. These guys were still speeding around the tank just fine. Obviously I know better now, but the point is these guys have outlived so many tankmates, an ich outbreak, and multiple parasite outbreaks. These guys are bulletproof, what they lack for in color, they make up for in activity. Get a group of 4-5 and they'll keep the tank looking busy. The ones I currently have will actually interact with the red eyed tetras as if they were their own kind!

I actually got my first fish tank when in prison and got 2 of them because I thought they were rare and one of the other inmates had one that was really active, now I'm out I have 4 of them and one is currently pregnant, I've found them very Hardy and they are one of my favourites, I know alot more about keeping fish now. They differently enjoy being a school as before when I had 2 they would avoid each other and fight, now they best friends, never noticed them to nip and they will est anything and like u said including flies and spiders, definitely a good beginning fish.

I only have 4 because I wanted as many species as possible in my 29g, they're besties with my neon glofish., after this video I want about 6 more of these guys ❤

These can be VERY long lived fish. I bought two about two years ago- the glo type- and I can tell already,those stories of them living to be 16 years old? ..must happen. They never get sick..just look fine all the time..and that's with glo DNA. I thought my granddaughter would like them and made the huge mistake of picking pink ones-lol..like a sore thumb!..but give them credit..thriving.

Just got some for our 55 gallon, 7 to be exact! They are loving swimming in a school like crazy

I have 6 in my 40 gallon and they school beautifully! I also have two other globe(?) tetras that join. I had 3 black tetras and they were sad, now they’re all happy.

I have two black tetras ..... they always watching all the things around the room.............. its sooooo cute .......

Black skirt tetra is my favorite fish of all time

Just picked up some small ones up and the darting is crazy fun to watch

I feed my axolotls flies I find around the house! 😂 I’ve noticed that skirt tetras behavior does change depending on how many there are in their group and how big a tank they are in. For example, I have 3 in a 10 gallon and they are very territorial amongst each other and often get into small fights. They are tough fish! They used to push around my apisto until he was fully grown. In larger groups there was less aggression and I only notice them schooling where there is a perceived threat like during a water change

Nice presentation providing great relevant info. Thanks. I have a school of 13 in a 45 gal bow tank, with fancy guppies, and have no visible predation on baby gups, and no shortage of babies. Of course, there is no shortage of vegetation.

One of my favourite tetras 👍🏻👍🏻😎.

My brother left a tank in a house he was moving out of, there was only an inch of water at the bottom of the tank and it was basically green slushy mud. When I moved the tank to throw it away poor little black tetra was in the the mud... I took, the tank home and filled it with clean water and poor little fish actually survived and thrived!!!!! I named him "ghetto fish" he lived a long time!!!

I have 5 full grown Angel fish, 10 Long fin Black Tetras and 8 Cory Dora. Zero issues. 55 tall.

I throw camel crickets that I find in the basement into my tanks and they are gone in seconds! Always had a black tetra in my tank as a kid. I thought of it as my "angelfish." (My centerpiece fish) Really enjoy your videos! Mark

Darn, I do miss these I. My tanks. There was a time they were a staple in my 29 gallon, but during a descale of that tank, I lost all 6+ of them in a separate holding tank🤦🏾‍♂️. I haven’t replenished them since. I used to consider them a “poor guy’s silver dollar” for obvious reasons. I think getting another group of black skirt tetras will be high on my get next list😊.

You are so likable!

I have 15 black tetras and my puffer and rainbow shark swim with the tetras in their school. It's really freaking cool. A tank that swims together stays together lol

I had a school of them for about 9 years and they were doing great and expected them to live a lot longer. However a defective heater caused the demise of everything in the tank. Not to cold, die to heat. I assume the regulator went out or the sensor and the temperature was well over 100 degrees in the tank. I currently have a school of little ones I got last week in my 30 gallon. They even do well with the little electric blue acara and the Serpae in there.

I had a small school of neon tetras with several skirt tetras… in a planted tank…one by one my neon tetras went missing. When I had the light on in the tank I saw nothing fishy until one night I turned the light off and observed the skirt tetras munch down a neon live 😵 my zebra danios disappeared too! I have had these skirt tetras now for 8 years. Yesterday one died so now I’m down to just one. I am considering what to stock my tank with since there are not many fish left.

For me the black skirt tetras school when the flow is high and I tried small internal filter with less flow then they started swimming randomly

I keep a couple of these with my Angel Fish and Discus, they do well in 85° water

Nice planted tank setup!

thank you for this video!

The do nip like crazy. They did a number on my boesemani rainbows

I have 6 in my 20 gallong long and they are an interesting bunch. Its heavily planted but they still fight over territory and they also hate the light.

From 3 black skirt down to one, now the last one surviving in my tank became the center piece of that aquarium he/she (I really have no idea what gender it is) was accompanied with some rosy barbs and he/she stands out among the orange barbs around him/her.

I have 12 black skirt glo tetra and 7 danios tetra and 2 betta all lives together peacefully in school except those 2 betta they are pair so they usually hang out together

thanks for this.

Are they okay with shrimp? Currently have a big tank with 5 of these (plan on getting some more once I find someone who sells some at a decent size) have a pair of CPO crayfish (dwarf Mexican crayfish which are cool with plants, fish and shrimp) and plan on getting some amanos, which get about as big as the black tetras. Are they cool with neocardinia shrimp tho, since I have a bunch of colourful culls, which I would love to add to my big community tank.

i love tetras they have a lot of personality than my other friends hahahhas

didn't know you were from Central NY! great fish for almost any community tank, I find that they will occasionally nip at the tips or angelfish fins rays but not necessarily long flowing fins of their long finned cousins or even guppies. Usually when kept in a group they go after each other more and ignore others similar to tiger barbs but not even close to the nipping that those devils can do!

I have 4 black skirt tetra's I already had one that survived my tanks heater failure. I just picked up 3 small ones, I would of liked to have gotten 5 but I didn't want to introduce to many fish at a time. They were school together for the 1st 2 days following the original one around probably because he is so much bigger. But on the 3rd day I found that 2 of them have become extremely territorial ganging up on the larger one. His fins are all torn appart he doesn't look very good at all. They also chase another similar size one into a corner. The tank is 20 gallon btw they must of been fighting a lot last night because everyone of them seems to have some fin damage. I'm not really exactly sure what I should do, if i should get another one to try and have a school of 5, I've heard that they school better in odd numbers or if i should just take them back and maybe try to have a different fish in with the original one. I'm really not sure.

I have some that are pretty old but still have that black "skirt". Are there breeds right now that were made so the black stays? Cause I remember when I was young they gept getting grey with age.

Please update us on your Electric blue acara pair. Where you able to have a successful fry batch??

my black skirt tetra I names chicken, when I got him/her home I noticed the fin was clear, and initially shyish behavior, chicken sh*t was the name we decided on. Chicken only took a couple days to being comfortable and full of color again and bonded w my pink glo tetra, now chicken is an a*hole now, mostly food aggresive first one to eat. So my female yellow betta "lemon" is so inquisitive and squints studying us so damn cute, so I feed her some blood worms by hand before feeding everyone since chicken is an a*hole. Have a see through tetra along w chicken pinky and lemon, and there's bob aka skinny man, is a purple glow i think danio, he's black tipped bug eye fellow lol. I didnt think id enjoy having these guys but i thought it'd be an "easy" pet for my toddler. Easy was a foolish thing to think, however Ive grown to like them and seeing their personalities come through and the learning just wow so much to learn initially. :)

I have seen mine eating cardinal tetras all 12 cardinals were devoured overnight. They tend to nip at any new fish you introduce too.

I keep the zebra Danios that you also have. If you want a schooling fish (that isn't the rummy nose tetra always😜) I would recommend to get mlre of them. There's nothing better to whatch than how they make groups of 5-7 individuals and hunt each other through the aquarium ✨😁 🇩🇪 GRE from GER 🇩🇪 Greetings from Germany

Do babies about 3-4 months old have red fins on bottom? Mine do and they are so cute.

The do school well in the right conditions ..I have 8black tetras in a 130gal long with 7 african cichlids for 6 months , they always bunch together great ..none were lost , a black neon school and tiger barb school were both eaten ....I also have a 225gal tall with 8 black tetras plus 5angels with 11convict cychlids plus 2 full grown Preditor cichlids ,a green terror and a jack dempsey ..zero losses ,they school fantastic

I was told to get multiple black skirt tetras so the could school. I found that one tries to be dominant in the tank. Everyone who gets in his "area" gets nipped. It is very stressful for the other fish. I have a 75 gallon with 5 white skirts, 3 red eye tetras, 3 serpaes, 5 rasboras, 1 betta, and 8 or so guppies. My guppies were being killed so I moved the black skirts out and the tank is much calmer. In summary, I will not get anymore black skirts, they are JERKS, and are banished to a more aggressive tank. NOT a good community fish.

May you pls suggest a remedy for my black tetra's tumour like outgrowth over its gills...

I have like 8 widow tetras and they work great in a school

I have two black tetras and those same fish have been with me for over ten years now is that unusual?

I know now why my neon tetras have disappeared. I do have a betta fish that is the same colour as my skirt tetra and there has been no fin nipping. I think it's due to the colour being the same. My skirt tetras just had a baby. I didn't know they laid eggs in my tank due to extremely heavy planting. So now I apparently have a baby that I wasn't expecting.

I forgot about these guys.... I have congo tetras with my red severum but maybe getting 6 of these is an option I have to catch that iridescent shark though... he grows slowly and is too small to eat anyone though.

Whats different about the opal goirami to the dwarf gourami? I had two dwarf gouramis in with my black skirts and they killed one dg and are attacking the shit out of the other. Going to have to bring him back to the LFS before they kill him.

I have my 8 or 9 hanging out with 3 male swortails and they haven't nipped the swortails fins once

Are sarpae tetras compatible with widow tetras?

I have 2 black and 2 white that live with my angel fish and my bala shark all in one 29 gallon tank but I'm worried my skirts have made babies and about to lay im not sure what do I do I know its good to put male and female in one tank alone and let her drop them but they could eat them after they are dropped

how to keep the glass of your fish tank so clean? I have the magnetic scrubber (white)

I bought 5 black tettra fish and 1 angel fish they are both in the same aquarium but i have no decorations only stones

I have 6 Tetras. I'm not sure what kind they are. They are the glofish ones. I have one of every color. The body looks like the Black skirt tetra so I've been learning about those. They school on and off. When they are not schooling they usually hang out in their own areas.

My fish is losing balance, what should I do please?

Can you please do a care guide on the elephant nose fish.?

Black skirts are my absolute favorite fish to the point it *pains me* to see so much misinformation out there Don't believe people saying that 15 or 20 gallons is fine for them, these are active mid-sized fish that need nothing less than 30 gallons, with bigger being better

Go well with rainbow. And Congo tetras

do they need air pump?

My Black Tetra is dying. It’s fin is injured somehow it’s by it’s self so I don’t know what to do. We had it for 8 years named Outlast. Sad day today.

If you have black skirt tetras and their being aggressive to tank mates you may need to add more of the tetras because their schooling fish and they may be aggressive if their not kept in a school of 6 or more

I got 6 of them in my 30 gallon maybe i want to make it 8-12.

Can I keep rainbow shark with black skirt tetras?🛸🛸🛸🌍

i prefer the wild types over the glofish

Hello sir!! Can I keep my black tetras in an air conditioned room?

Mine school very well together

I had a black skirt that ate all of it tank mates it ate 3 full grown gruammis the thing was huge I had to get a cichlids just so it couldn’t eat it.

We have 2 of them with 2 guppies and they don’t mess with the guppies but just mess with each other.

Могу ли я сохранить это с Oranda?

I have 5 white and 5 black

What is the best fish food for widow tetras black skirt??

PLEASE HELP ME! I have a school of 5 these exact tetras in a 30 gallon tank we have been struggling to get the ph right recently. But they all have been doing completely fine and looking very healthy. Today I had one of them have a complete spasm and dropped to the floor. I’m not sure if we don’t have enough oxygen or it’s something with the ph. So if it’s just a seizure or something and it’s going to me ok PLEASE LMK.

Mine stuck with schooling of 6.. but the problem is they dint come up to get the food when i feed them.. not to mention i got 19 green apple danios and 12 neon tetras in the same tank.. how i wanna feed my 6 black tetras if they just wait at the bottom while danios will clean it all.. huhu

Why do other tetras their dorsal fins is very black and aome is not??

My black tetras ate my neon tetras like some savages😭😭 I was sooo sad

Its so good to see a big tank that's not overpopulated

Hi there I have a question I have 6 of this fish I was wondering if I could mix gold fish with them

You can have albino type

How do I breed my tetra and I have 10 but when I woke up one day I saw my fish and I saw baby fish 🐟😒

I have two of these and one of them seems to nipping the others sometimes

Mines don't school, they are territorial, and each has its own area in my tank

What can cause tetras’ to lose their blackness in their fins or bodies ???? I bought a new one 3 months ago, and I’m sure he/she is more whiter in the fins, body and tail than when I bought him.

Can they be tank mated with silver dollars

Added 6 to my tank and they instantly attacked both my dwarf Gourami and then my rasboras. Had to take them out immediately. Didnt like them.

I have five of these in a tank with two female bettas. They really don’t bother the bettas at all

How big does this fish grow ?

I got 2 a long fin and an albino the long fin is a bully toward my neon blue glofish and the albino he chose his space and defends it he doesn't chase the barbs or red tail sharks he has his picks.

My black widows occasionally attack my neons

Honestly many people will disagree , I strongly dislike black skirt , I am team Bleeding Heart, Head and Tail Light, and Jack Roberts Great story though!

In india it price is 8 rs or 0.10$

why mines keep chasing each others???

I have 4 of these should I use an airpump for these little guys?

my tetra only school if they get spooked. they don't have much room to school in my tall 20 gallon

Two dollars lol.... not in my country of Canada

Sadly one of my black skirt tetra was fin nipping my betta so I moved my betta to another 10 gallon with some guppies and dwarf gouramis, I’m thinking about moving all fish from these 2 10 gallons to a 29 gallon, hopefully my betta does not get fin nipped

I got 7 of these in my 55 gallon. I've been getting some contradicting information. Some people say they do just fine with Angel Fish as long as they're fed well and have lots of room others say they'll nip their fins guaranteed. Anyone have any experience with this scenario?

They are more shoaling

Yo

Do the need oxgean

I have too angel fish ,i love them but im not gonna put there fins at stake get this fish outta here