Family: Characidae
Distribution: The Serpae Tetra can be located in the Paraguay and Guaporé River basins of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. Reports suggest it may also be found in French Guiana. It prefers still (or very slow moving) waters of tributaries, ponds and small lakes. The areas which it inhabits often include vegetation or the submerged roots of trees.
PH: 5.5 – 7.5 pH
Temperature: 22 – 28°C (72 – 82°F)
Hardness: 5 – 20 dH
Description: Hyphessobrycon eques has a base red colour (including the caudal fin), with a black splotch around its gills. Its pelvic fin is also red but sports a white tip; the anal fin is largely red with black and white edging on the tip; whilst the dorsal fin is fantastic: a white base, large black area and white tip (looking almost feathered). The females lack the colouration in the bottom section of the dorsal fin, and will have wider bodies than their male counterparts.
The Callistus Tetra will grow to 4cm and are peaceful to other species. The males in a shoal will spend a lot of their time trying to gain rank over one another; however this will rarely result in injury or real aggression. Instead, they open their fins as wide as possible and circle around one another, with an occasional charge.
Diet: Its natural diet consists of small invertebrates, but will east anything in captivity. The diet should consist of flakes and granules with some small live and frozen foods.
Breeding: Hyphessobrycon eques can be bred like most Hemigrammus: in a group or in pairs. If breeding in a group, use half a dozen of each sex for the best results. Condition them with small live foods.
If wanting to use pairs, separate the groups of males and females into separate conditioning tanks. Condition them on small live foods and wait. When the females are showing that they are full of eggs, introduce the fattest female and most colourful male into the breeding tank. Do this in the evening and the following morning they will have spawned.
The breeding tank should be about 40L in size, with a pH of 5.5-6.5, dH of 1-5, and a temperature of 26-29°C. Use an air-powered sponge filter (small). Because the eggs are sensitive to light and the parents prefer to breed at night, ensure the tank is dimly lit. Use java moss, fine-leaved plants or spawning mops to give the parents somewhere to deposit their eggs.
Remove the parents immediately after spawning or their new eggs will become dinner. The eggs will hatch within two days and the fry will be happily swimming three to four days later. For the first couple of days feed them Infusoria but switch them to microworm or baby brine when they are big enough.
Comments: These are a hardy species to look after, and therefore any aquarist will find they have luck with them. If the tank is too small, they will begin to fight, so ensure you use at least a 40L tank (the more Serpae Tetras you own, the bigger the tank needs to be).
They can be kept in the general well-planted tank of most Hyphessobrycon species; but they will also enjoy an Amazonian biotope tank.
Article/Books:
Recommended Compatible Species: They should live happily with other Tetra species (particularly the Neon Tetra and Black Tetra). They also should be good tank mates with Discus, Apistogramma‘s like Apistogramma Cacatouides and Apistogramma Borelli, Corydoras Catfish (particularly Corydoras Sterbai and Corydoras aeneus) Angelfish, Clown loach, the common Guppy and Platy and most Gourami (such as the Blue Gourami and Dwarf Gourami like the Honey Gourami) Also should live happily with most Danio (particularly the Zebra Danio and Pearl Danio) and also many Killifish could make great tank mates.
Originally posted 2010-04-21 02:16:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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