Animal-World > Freshwater Fish > Characins > Lemon Tetra

Lemon Tetra

Family: Characidae

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Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis Photo © Animal-World: Courtesy David Brough

   The Lemon Tetra is a curious fish, transparent looking but with a bold yellow splash of color on its lower fin!

   The lemon Tetra is a very good community fish but is happiest in a school of 6 or more of its own kind. The Lemon Tetra likes a planted aquarium balanced with plenty of open space to swim around with it's buddies. They are most comfortable in an aquarium with floating plants as well as some open spaces to swim in.

   This is a very pretty fish, but the Lemon Tetra is most attractive if it is well maintained. It will show its best coloring with a proper diet which can be provided with a color enhancing food, such as Tetra Ruby.   There is now a color morph which has been developed that is an albino form, but the lemon form is still preferred.

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

Distribution:
   The Lemon Tetra was described by Ahl in 1937. They are found in South America in the Iquitos region of the Peruvian amazon, in the Tapajós River basin where they feed on worms, small crustaceans and plants.

Status:
   The species is not listed on the IUCN Red List.

Description:
   The Lemon Tetra is a full-bodied and laterally compressed species of tetra. Its body is a transparent with a very delicate golden yellow-orange color. The front part of the anal fin is bright yellow and is edged with black and the the top half of the eyes is a deep red.

Size - Weight:
   These fish get up to 2.0 inches (5 cm).

Care and feeding:
   The Lemon Tetra really benefits from "color" foods. Since they are omnivorous these fish 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.

Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom:
   These fish will swim in all areas of the aquarium.

Acceptable Water Conditions:
   Hardness: 2-25° dGH, (will lose color at higher dGH)
   Ph: 5.5 to 8.0
   Temp: 73-82° F (23-28° C)

Social Behaviors:
   The Lemon Tetra is ideal for a community aquarium with other peaceful fish.

Sexual Differences:
   The male has a more pointed dorsal fin and is more colorful than the female. The female is plumper.

Breeding/Reproduction:
   The Lemon Tetras are egg layers and are moderately easy to breed. See a general description of how to breed egg layers in Breeding Freshwater Fish.

Availability:
   The Lemon Tetra is readily available and reasonably priced

.Author: David Brough, CFS.

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Latest Comments
these were my first fish and I love them, they are relaxing to watch and their color is always incredible, I started with 6 and lost 2 in the last 2 years, I just purchased 9 more when i went from a 10g tank to a 50g tank , They look awesome schooling together Louie miller 2005-12-30
I Love these fish they have a good personality, like when my Bala gets scared and swims into the "Cave" he looks at them and looks at you like "I Can take you on, come on!" and stares at you. Good Fish Anonymous 2004-10-07
nice fishes. i love them when they all swim together, an irresistable view. i had three and they are still carrying on, but i think im going to buy alot more. i think 10 or 15 is pretty good on a tank with other fishes like black tetras, guppies, and mollies zeid al-kilani 2004-10-06
Some of the coolest comments:
i have a shoal of six lemon tetras in a 120 litre tank with beacons angelfish and corydoras. they seem to eat everything (even snails) though they prefer frozen brine shrimp. anon 2003-09-08
This beautiful fish is hardy and very peaceful. I have kept even a small school of only two before and they lived for quite a long time. Always out to show off their pretty "lemon" color rather than hiding as some other aqaurium fishes. Overall lovely fish that is happy to live with other tank mates such as platies, guppies and most other peaceful aquarium fish.Lemon tetras will school tightly and they will appreciate a black background and dark gravel. And as always, peaceful tankmates. Best to be kept in schools of around 6 or more. Peregrine 2003-08-19

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