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Congo Tetra

Congo Tetra

Family: AlestiidaePhenacogrammus interruptusPhoto © Animal-World: Courtesy Ken Childs

   The Congo Tetra has opalescent scales that shine in all the colors of the rainbow!

   An incredibly beautiful fish, the timid Congo Tetra is the most gorgeous of the true African Characins. Along with its fluorescent colors its tail fin develops into a most beautiful feathery appendage. It is a peaceful schooling fish and needs a large aquarium, not only to provide plenty of room to swim around, but to thrive and develop their full beauty as well.

   The Congo Tetra prefers soft, peat filtered water and a darker substrate. They are most comfortable in an aquarium with lower light levels which can be provided by floating plants. The beautiful rainbow colors of this fish will also show off best in lower light levels. These fish are easily frightened by aggressive tank mates and loud noises. Do not tap on the glass! These fish are also timid eaters and may wait for you to leave the aquarium before they will feed.

For more Information on keeping this fish see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Freshwater Aquarium

Habitat: Distribution / Background

   The Congo Tetra was described by Boulenger in 1899. They are found in Africa, in the upper Congo Basin where they feed on worms, crustaceans, insects and plants.

• Scientific Name: Phenacogrammus interruptus
• IUCN Red List: NE - Not Evaluated or not listed

Description

   The Congo Tetra has a full-bodied typical tetra shape with rather large scales. When mature, the fluorescent colors of the Congo Tetra run through the fish from front to back starting with blue on top changing to red through the middle, to yellow-gold, and back to blue just above the belly. The fins are grayish violet with white edges.

• Maximum Size: 3.5 inches (8.89 cm) - The males get up to 3.5 inches (8.9 cm). Females up to 2.75 inches (6 cm).

Fish Keeping Difficulty

• Aquarium Hardiness: Moderately hardy
• Aquarist Experience Level: Intermediate

Foods and Feeding

   Since they are omnivorous the Congo Tetra will generally eat all kinds of live, fresh, and flake foods. To keep a good balance give them a high quality flake food everyday. Feed brine shrimp (either live or frozen) or blood worms as a treat.

• Diet Type: Omnivore - In the wild these fish are insectivores but can usually be trained to take live, flake, and pelleted foods.
• Flake Food: Yes
• Tablet Pellet: Yes
• Live foods (fishes, shrimps, worms): Some of Diet
• Vegetable Food: Some of Diet
• Meaty Food: Some of Diet
• Feeding Frequency: Several feedings per day

Aquarium Care

• Water Changes: Bi-weekly

Aquarium Setup

• Minimum Tank Size: 40 gal (151 L) - This fish should be kept in groups of at least six and requires plenty of swimming space.
• Substrate Type: Any
• Lighting Needs: Low - subdued lighting - Low lighting and a shadowy tank set up will bring out the best coloration on this fish.
• Temperature: 73.0 - 82.0° F (22.8 - 27.8° C)
• Range ph: 6.0-7.5
• Hardness Range: 4 - 18 dGH
• Brackish: No
• Water Movement: Moderate
• Water Region: All

Social Behaviors

   They are generally a good community fish but they may try to bite smaller fish. Also, watch that they don't eat your smaller plants. They sometimes like to nibble on softer plants and young shoots.

• Venomous: No
• Temperament: Peaceful - This fish has a very timid temprament and should not be housed with aggressive or fin nipping fish.
• Same species - conspecifics: Yes
• Peaceful fish (): Safe
• Semi-Aggressive (): Threat
• Shrimps, Crabs, Snails: Safe - not aggressive
• Plants: Safe

Sex: Sexual differences

   The male is larger with more color, also the tail fin and dorsal fin are more extended. If you look at the picture above, you can see the extension at the center of the tail fin. A mature female will be more rounded.

Breeding / Reproduction

Photo © Animal-World

   The Congo Tetras are egg layers. Some keys to breeding them include a large aquarium, peat filtered water, a planted substrate, and bright lighting to initiate spawning. They will lay up to 300 eggs that will drop to the bottom. The fry are large enough to eat freshly hatched brine shrimp. See the description of how to breed Characins in Breeding Freshwater Fish.

• Ease of Breeding: Moderate - Getting a pair to spawn is moderately difficult. The morning sun will initiate a pair to spawn in more shallow water. The parents should be removed after spawning.

Availability

   The Congo Tetra is readily available but is more expensive than many tetras.

References

Animal-World References
Freshwater Fish and Plants Tropical Fish ~ Freshwater Fish ~ Aquatic Plants

Author: David Brough, CFS.

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Lastest Comments on Congo Tetra View all 7 comments on Congo Tetra Add Your Comment

Ted22 - 2012-02-22 I've got 19 of these beauties in a 100gal in an african biotope tank with other congo basin species of fish, mixed sex group, the males look stunning. All the males are around 4 inches and what I thought was fully grown. Looked in the local fish shop today and they had large congos for sale. a good 5 inches + they dwarfed my fish. The person who said they grow this big was talking complete sense, nothing documented online for congo tetras of this size but they do exsist and presumably all have the potential to grow to this size (unless they were hormone treated or something). Fantastic fish, definately more rowdy than this article makes them out to be, voracious feeders they swarm and tear food apart like a group of beautiful pirahnas, all my fish are large semi aggro and the congos hold thier own wonderfully! Just another thing, I wouldnt keep a group of these in anything less than a 4 ft tank, they certainly like their swimming space! Reply

hisham - 2010-09-09 Can albino congo tetras live with discus? Anonymous - 2010-09-20 I wouldnt put the two of them in the same tank because of the different temperatures they do best in. Reply

MIke C - 2004-11-28 These Fish are amazing, the colouration of them is usually not seen while at the store, but once they grow up a bit they glow (more obvious when not looked at straight on). They can reach a max length of 5" tho, so make sure you have a larger tank for these fish. I have 4 in a 75Gal and they play well, tho they are agressive when fed (will knock other fish out of the way for food) Alex Burleson - 2012-01-09 They are certainly a beautiful, and exciting specimen for most community aquariums! Reply

Mike - 2010-02-27 Beautiful fish. I have 7 in a 30 gallon in addition to some other fish. Someone here said they reach a max of 5 inches, but everything everywhere I've read said that males get to 3.5 inches, and females stay closer to 2.5 inches. they seem to get along well in a community tank. Plus, you have the joy of having very rare tetras which 90% of other people don't have. I take pride in having rare fish. And the Congo's fit right in with my African Butterfly, Leopard Ctenopoma, Female Krib, and cories. cheryl - 2010-09-04 I have some of these & am going to expand the school as a larger fish in the tank died. They are beautiful & mine are not timid at all. I have the ones that look more olive green/electric blue & I am having a hard time finding more of those. Mine are getting along nicely with African Red Eyed Tetras (another less known, awesome fish! - not to be confused with Red Eye Tetras) a Giant Danio that has a blue-green sheen to him, a large killifish (that I believe was mislabeled as a gardneri) & a couple of peppered cory cats. I have a blue-green iridescent thing going on somehow... I have a Leopard Ctenopoma that i would be afraid to put with these because he is (& so has every other one I've owned) a little on the aggressive side. They like to chase other fish, especially when the lights are out. They are one of my favorite fish. Reply

Ethan - 2009-08-31 Hi my name is Ethan from LI in NY. I have a pair of congo tetras and a pair of albino congo tetras. They are nice color full fish. I have mine in a 20 gal. tank with a clown pleco, corydoras catfish, 3 glowlight tetras, 3 cardinal tetras, 2 von rio tetras, 4 orange von rio tetras, zig zag eel, and dwarf african clawed frog. These fish can get up two 3 inches long but albino ones only 2 inches long. Not only are albino congo tetras smaller but they are also much rarer. In fact I have only seen them in a petstore twice. I would definitely recommend these fish. Reply

ariwan kai - 2006-08-19 I have 3 albino versions of these colourful tetras. Mine are currently 2"-3". These fishes are rather scrappy fellows. They love frozen bloodworms and often fight for it. These fellows grow quickly!I first bought them in july when they were 1/2"-1". Reply

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