If you want more info on the fish featured in this video check out these species profiles! Red Cherry Tetra: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9Sqk7ij5I0k.html Black Neon: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-USPeZ0Pk_L0.html Green Neon: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jHvqzidgbgg.html Neon Tetra: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-inKAXsRyIWc.html Cardinal Tetra: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-w53iGJEpkJg.html Ember Tetra: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ON5dvCVy4ts.html Rummy Nose Tetra: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uV9eGH9y0PU.html Von Rio Tetra: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vKFZAkA4J20.html
One I would recommend is the Lemon Tetra. Passed by because they look bland as juveniles in bare dealer tanks. Take home a shoal of 8 or more, give them a *properly* furnished aquarium with decent plant and bogwood provision, then feed them colour enhancing food and live food. After 6 months, they'll become little bursts of sunshine in your aquarium. Small enough to live in a relatively compact aquarium, but big enough to live with the likes of Apistogrammas, they're pretty much bomb proof hardiness wise in my experience. Oh, and give them Java Moss, and they'll even spawn in your community tank, as mine did semi regularly over a 7 year period, and yes, they lasted 7 years.
This is just a great list. The number one was just stunning. I am a big fan of the Buenos Aires tetra and the pristella tetra they look so pretty and the yellow white and black on the pristella is awesome on the fins. I love the Buenos Aires tetras and the schooling behavior with the bright red tail and black looks and the schooling behavior.
The most bullet-proof tetra that I had is the serpae. I can also say the same thing about the black skirt. Their only main drawback for me is that they tend to get too big and aggressive for cherry shrimps. Another tetra that people may want to consider is the glowlight tetra, thanks to its nice pinkish neon line that runs along its body, which really looks cool when hit by light. Unfortunately, their hardiness is also comparable with the neons, so you might not be able to keep them for too long.
Thanks for differentiating. Most resources clump all tetras together. I would have no way of getting this knowledge it seems. Thank you for sharing your experience. This may save fishie lives!
Think I might have slipped Silvertip Tetras somewhere into my top 10, but some great picks there. Those Red Cherry Tetras are in a different league. So cool!
For years I would have said that my favorite would have also been the standard Neon Tetra. They were a staple of pretty much every community tank that we had growing up when I was a kid. My brother has a small school of them in his tank currently as well. But I think that is I were to pick today I'd go for the Ember or the Cardinal with the standard neon coming in 3rd place on my top 3.
I love my Columbian Redfin tetras! Bought 6 & within a couple months they bred & now I have 6 babies! Very active but not aggressive with my rainbows or scissor tails.
I love my Pristellas, too. My water is on the opposite end of the spectrum. I've got a big group in a heavily planted 75g with some Scissortail Rasboras and an Angelfish.
I have some pristella tetras also and they look amazing in a community tank. I actually like them over the serpae tetra because they tend to be fine nippers the serpae are. Where pristella tetras have that beautiful yellow black and white. I also really love the Buenos Aires tetras they are a bigger tetra so need a bigger tank they tend to grow to about 4 inches or so. But the schooling behavior is so unique and they have lots of energy in a 55 gal I have a school of 6. With some black skirted tetras. It is going to be my angel tank hopefully.
I’m currently dealing with ick rn but I saw pristellas (we call them x rays) when picking up the medicine and wow! They look so cool! Freaky but the fins have such nice yellow and black stripes
I can't believe I'd never even heard of a Red Cherry Tetra before. What a beautiful fish! I have some Ember Tetras, and I agree, they're great. I love their small size, and they're pretty tough little fish. I even spotted a baby today, and the tank's only been set up for about a month and a half. They're in a heavily planted 10 gallon with a Betta and a few nerite snails. I'll be setting up a 20 gallon early next year, and Cardinals and Diamond Tetras are both on my short list for that, although the Diamonds would be pushing it, in terms of size, as I prefer tiny fish in larger numbers most of the time. I'd also like to try the Green Neons at some point. As pretty as they are, I'm over Neon Tetras, for the hardiness issues you mentioned. My housemate kind of has her heart set on them, I think, but there are too many other fish out there that are just as pretty and less prone to illness.
I bought some Buenos Aires Tetras about 6 weeks ago. I hadn't seen them before. I love them. Beautiful red fins and a silvery blue sheen to the body. They get about 3" long and I have mine in a 55 gallon. They are a very active schooling fish and pay attention to you when you are near the tank. I think I paid $3.50 each. I also have ember tetras and neon tetres in the same aquarium and haven't had any agression problems.
Love my 15 Cardinals in a planted 20 Long. Do ok in my hard water, but lucky enough to have acquired a tank raised group. Cherry tetras definitely on the bucket list!
I've always loved the Lemon Tetra. I love their color because it's unusual and different from other fish. One of my other favorites is the Serpae Tetra. I just love the combination of the red and black coloring. Both of these have been pretty hearty for me. I've had pretty good luck with them in my 55 gallon.
Serpaes are beautiful! The local Petco has some and god, they’re so beautifully colored. A great deep vermillion red! I got them as a beginner (I mean absolute beginner) and was so disappointed bc they’re fin nippers! (I’ve only got a 20 gallon tank) Hopefully with more experience I may keep some
I've got Cardinals, Black Neons & Rummynoses in a 200 litre tank. The three species really compliment each other with their lack of aggression and they occupy all areas of the Aquarium.
Managed to get my hands on a group of red cherry tetras, they're still young but wow they're stunning and look as if they'll only get better, they're in with 3 line pencil fish and yellow phantom and it works so well
I've got Congos, Rummy-nose, neons. I'm relieved to hear that neons are hard to keep, since I've had my share of loss with them. I thought they'd be easy since they're like the old school vintage fish! I have now a nice school of purple-blue emporers (Kerri) and they were a little spendy, but they seem to hardy. they eat good and are not shy!
Beautiful tetras! I just bought 7 neons and 3 embers today. Embers are super popular apparently, as nobody ever seems to have more than 2 or 3 if that. I can't wait for them to get through quarantine!
I absolutely love the rummy nose tetra. I had planned on getting 7 of them and naming them after the 7 dwarfs (who were named for seven types of being drunk) but we have really hard well water so I had to pass on that. I'm going to stick with the live bearers and rasboras for now. Though I've had my cherry barbs for a year now and they've handled the hardness quite well.
Candy Cane Tetras are my new favorites that I just learned about. Similar to Black phantoms in terms of shape and possibly size but just red and white instead. Really neat, one is what I'd call the "alpha" of the group with the more solid color of their taller and brighter dorsal signal fin and slightly bigger than the rest too. Had them for more than 6-7 months now and they're the pop of color I was looking for. No sickness here either. Rummy Nose and green neons have been my favorites for years too.
I went to the LFS recently with the intention to get some Glowlight tetras. My 4 year old son, who was with me, was very insistent on getting Lemon tetras so we left with 8 of them. Pretty cool so far. Probably better when they color up. That said my favorite tetras are neons, glowlights and colombian tetras which aren't very common.
Lemon Tetras tend to look bland and insipid as juveniles in a bare dealer tank, which does NOT suit them at all. However, if you put your shoal of 8 into an aquarium with decent provision of live plants and bogwood decorations, and feed them decent quality food, they colour up beautifully as adults and become little bursts of sunshine in your aquarium. Mine were kept in a lavishly planted aquarium with Java Moss growing on the bogwood, a nice centrepiece Amazon Swordplant and a row of Vallisneria at the back. I fed them Tetra colour food and live Daphnia. They not only turned a truly brilliant shade of yellow as adults, with intensely black contrast fin markings, but lasted 7 years and spawned intermittently in the tank. They team up brilliantly on my experience, with Cardinal Tetras, a brace of Otocinclus algae eaters, and a big group of Corydoras panda catfish (which also spawned frequently in the same aquarium, which led to me calling the aquarium the Panda Fun Palace). If you want a really spectacular display, put together 20 Lemons, 20 Cardinals, 10 Otocinclus and 20 Panda Corys in a planted 55 gallon with ornate bogwood arches covered in Java Moss. Feed them all colour food and live daphnia, plus live bloodworms for the Corys, and you'll end up with a jewel of an aquarium in your living room. Furthermore, in a 55, there'll still be room for you to add some other fish to complement your tetra swarm. I'd run with a male/female pair of Apistogramma panduro if you can get them, or one of the other more peaceful Apistos in which you can tell male and female apart easily, or if you can find them, a pair of Laetacara curviceps (one of the few truly peaceful Cichlids you can buy). If you're not worried about mixing fish from different continents in your tank, something else that would go well would be that other criminally overlooked (and beautiful in breeding dress) Cichlid, Anomalochromis thomasi. This is about as close to a "pacifist" Cichlid as you can get, and because it lives in boggy conditions in West Africa, it likes the same sort of soft, slightly acid water as the tetras and catfish I've mentioned. With this Cichlid, it stays small enough for you to add 8 of them to the aforementioned 55 gallon setup, and develops lovely sapphire blue spangles against a magenta background when it's truly happy.
Good list, right now I love my glow light tetras. They don't look like much in the fish store, but when they get bigger they get cool markings on the fins. Have been super hardy, peaceful and show good schooling behavior.
Thanks Jason, great breakdown. As much as I love rummy nose they just will not live long for me - ever! My wife wasn't thrilled with my black neons until I got them in the tank with good lighting. Their lateral lines really pop off under great lighting and they tend to stay mid to upper water so they are always hitting light. Mine think they belong with all my zebra danios hahaha. I've seen the cherry tetras once and they were fantastic except the cost! I went with the serpae tetra for their deep red and black. Now they have great white tips as well. Absolutely fantastic fish! Again, great rundown of my style fish. Have a 75 gallon but really only wanted smaller fish including most on your list. So much more enjoyment to my family over watching two Oscars haha. Hope you have a blessed day brother!
Bloodfin tetra is one of my favorites so far, super active beautiful Fish. They even spawned for me unexpectedly doing regular weekly water changes and I dont test my water lol.
I've really enjoyed watching my Emperor Tetras grow and bloom. They may not be the most striking fish to look at but the blind cave tetras are awesome to watch in a decent group
I personally think all types of Tetra's are the best fish to keep, my aquarium is mainly full of various Tetra fish including the Standard Neon, The Lemon, The Colombian, The Glow light and my personal favourite which is number 2 on this list The Black Neon but I am now interested in The Ember because that looks very nice
We currently have a school of ember tetras and we love them!! When they color up they're just gorgeous. My son is looking into black skirt tetras for our next project. 😁
Nice list! Some here I’ve not heard of before. I have a small school (11) of red eye tetra. I do like them a lot. By the end of the week I’ll have them, rummy nose and XRays together in one large tank.
Those red cherry tetras are just spectacular! I've tried neons (they all die) and black neons (they all die)... maybe it's my water or the fact I just don't pay attention to water parameters like i could? I've never had ick issues with them, tho. Whatever it is, I won't be getting any more tetras although I love those fish! But this video gave me a lot of great information and I will come back to it if I ever decide to try it all over again. Thank you for all the great content! I enjoy all of your videos very much. I'm doing Joanna's thing - nano fish. (and corys) Best regards.
I love my black neons. They're doing great in my hard well water. I also love my diamond tetras, but I have had more bad luck with them. I got them from the same tank as the black neons, but 9/10 quickly died of cotton mouth (I think) while not a single black neon got sick. The diamonds have big personalities for tetras and are very active. My newer batch of diamonds is living it up with a couple danios. They often shoal together!
Black Neons are a solid choice. Confident: so it won't be hidden all the time. The colour is subtle... but still attractive, and a big shoal moving in unison in a well planted tank is amazing. Substrate colour choice needs some thought in order to work with the fish's colour. Reddish-brown works best for me. They get lost against a fully black background and totally washed out if the substrate is way too pale. Cheap as chips as well - so a big group isn't going to break the bank.
I have ember tetras and I love them. It started with a friend who had three fish that she was giving away. She told me they were "goldfish"... well, two were platys and one was a little ember tetra. I don't know how she wound up with just the one tetra, but he was a pale tan color and nearly clear when I got him. The fish were in an unheated aquarium with no real plants. In the UK during the winter, it's a bad idea to keep an unheated aquarium unless you have goldfish (my house would get to be 15C because it is so drafty). So I got them a large aquarium, real plants, a heater, and finally (after the tank was well-established) some more tank mates. So now he has a little school of buddies that he hangs out with. They get fed all kinds of things- brine shrimp, krill flakes, crushed up crisps, even daphnia. And my little buddy looks more orange by the day. :)
Lemon Tetra is a good replacement for the Red Cherry Tetra, at a fraction of the price and a lot easier to find, if you enjoy its look, its actually one of my favourites
Most of my favorites were already in your list! In addition to the rummynoses, neons (“original”, green, and cardinal) and black phantoms, I also love glowlight, pristella, emperor, and gold tetras. Thought I saw those last two swimming in the background with some of your favorite tetras in this video.
I love all tetras. I think it's hard to go wrong. I need to shout out the Red Eye though. I have a school of 16 in my 75G and they're a great fish. They are a truly solid silver and the black and white bars really pop. And of course the bright red eye. Definitely hardy fish too.
Great list. I would have trouble ranking my favorite. Tetras are my favorite group of fish. I just love the variety of colors and peaceful behavior. They are a wonderful fish.
i saw some Buenos Aires tetras in your tank, no mention. I kind of like them, they can go with bigger fish and they add a lot of movement in the Aquarium.
Great list. I have Embers, Cardinals and Rummies as well but would add my others to that list, Diamond, Columbian Red Fin and Emperor Tetras. Never seen your number one here in South Africa.
My weird brain just thought it would be funny if you added ph to one of the scoring categories: so they get points depending on their recommended ph. Anyway, this video was great for learning about tetras and just seeing your opinions.
Love your list and I have to try red cherry tetras some day. My favorite is the purple emperor tetra. The color is killer and they’ve been incredibly hardy despite my 8.0 ph. Out of my original 15 I still have all of them after a year…plus one because they bred for me. 😊 LOVE them. 💜
When it comes to 20 gallons max my pic is green neons. 💚😉 But 29 and up black skirt, white skirt, and even the glo version of skirted tetras will always be my favorite. Have a 50 gallon dedicated to them (soon to be a 60 breeder) and it is a beautiful, peaceful tank. 😊
Bought 7 red cherry tetras a few weeks back for 10 euros for all 7 of them, the man i bought them from ended his hobby, so i was lucky to buy at such low price of 1,50 euros a piece. Also my favorite tetra!!!!
My all time favorite tetra are Black Phantom tetras, I don’t get why but I just LOVE that tetra. Then my second favorite would probably be the Congo tetra, amazing tetra with amazing colors, the only downside is their size but if you have a tank for it, they are amazing. Then I also love the Ruby tetras, very small and quite shy but I just love how you gotta look for them in the tank and I love their little neon red dot/stripe by their back fun
I have a bunch of Black Neons who are also with some Lemon Tetras and Candy Cane Tetras. All of them get long great and have no issues in my hard water. The Black Neons are the oldest fish in the tank and are pretty much bullet proof.
I've just got into blind cave tetra the past couple months, their behavior is very strange, once acclimated they actually have a sharp silver on their flanks that look great. They're also by far the easiest fish to net out of a tank as needed lol
Cardinal Tetras are my dream tetra. Eventually I want to set up a South American community tank with Cardinal Tetras being the centerpiece. I'd love to include Black Neons, Purple Emperor Tetras, some Ginga or other smaller but brightly colored guppies, maybe a trio of Platies, Skunk Corydoras, I'm sure there's one or two other kinds I'm forgetting... That's my dream tank that I'll set up eventually when I'm able to.
My favorite tetra is the Amapa Tetra (Hyphessobrycon Amapaensis). They look like a Black Neon but with a red stripe running along the black. Absolutely gorgeous fish but I've literally only seen them in one of my LFS once in 20 years of being in the hobby. Hoping to get some online at some point.
Half the fish listed are neons. Of the 4 listed I'd knock out at least two just to allow for more variety. I'd keep the Cardinal and the Black neon and I would add Emperor Tetra, and lamp eye tetra. I'm actually really surprised Emperor Tetra did not make the list.
I have Redeye tetras in a large South American tank. They are a larger tetra and keep in a tight school. Having an upturned mouth means they really fill out the top of the tank.
Blue Green Neon Tetras aren't hiding that much if there are other fish, which don't and ideally have similar size like guppies. Some fish like Ramirezi cichlids work too, but they may end up the reason tetras hide. Black Skirt Tetra - I'd put them above Von Rio Tetra, because while they aren't that colourful and they end up more grey as they age, they are interesting hardy fish. I've seen some of them in the video with Cardinals and Discus. They are similar to Von Rio Tetra, but bigger and taller. They can catch Ich and other diseases, but usually pull through. They can be kept with anything from guppies/cherries to angelfish, although they eat any fry they find. Like Emperor Tetra they also eat duckweed. They don't school unless threatened, but their interaction is fun to watch. Also it's one of the most common and cheap tetras. Emperor Tetra - I have never kept them, but they have nice colours, similar size to Black Skirt Tetra, eat duckweed and popular for community tanks. I think it was the black-stripped fish in the first tank with Von Rio Tetras in the video, but I'm not sure. All the fish on the video are great choice, too.
My experience with tetra...in my water that has a hardness of over 22 dGH and PH of 7.4, I have great succes with rummy nose, callistus tetra and black phantom, I constantly get at least 4 years from them. I've lost my entire population of cardinal and neon tetra, atm I have one of each from initial groups of 10. As a rule, if I have two failed attempts to keep a species alive in my tank, I will not make a third, so cardinal and neon are on my "never buy again" list. So, for my top 3, I have the 3 tetras that I CAN keep: number 1 - rummy nose. Great group behavior (best schooling), great colors, great life span. I also enjoy their role as "mine canary" for the tank, when you see their red noses, you know that all is honky-dory with your water. If I find them, I buy them, they are rather scarce in my area. number 2 - callistus. Same, great group behavior, great colors, great life span. The behavior criteria for them is different, they don't school, they pester each other, tiger barbs style. I could say they are the "cooler" tiger barbs. They are fin nippers as well, but they stay smaller, so you can keep more of them , and they are entertaining at "old age" as well, while tigers become rather "lazy" when they mature. Same, if I see them, I buy them. When they were everywere, I did not care for them...after experiencing their behavior I wanted more, but I could not find them...🤪 number 3 - black phantom. Saw a couple of males flaring for some females, I've bought them, I bought an equal number of "ladies", enjoying the show ever since. 😁 Had them for 5-6 months, so far so good, remain to be seen if I can get from them the years I get from rummy and callistus tetra. 😉
I have a personal bias toward the rummy nose tetra. I absolutely love them. No other tetra peaks my interest like they do. My hubby suggested I put other kinds of tetra in my tank with my rummy nose and other fish and I said something along the lines of.. are you mad?! Lol.
