voiceless_kat

I bought four white skirt tetras yesterday, and they are in a tank of their own ( well with 2 otos). I am getting one more on Monday. The only plants I have is a fake one on the back of the tank - very leafy, a small on in the front; and a big piece of guppy grass. ( Used to be fry tank ). There is a bridge dec and a swim through dec.

These little guys are beautiful, sort of opaline, but very timid. Should I put some more plants in there, or are they just getting accustomed to new surroundings?? Should I remove the guppy grass??

Thanks. Val

TFA101

black tetras and their albino counterparts (your fish) require a heavily planted tank as do your oto's >>well, they'd prefer it, but not necessary>> as the plants provide shelter. I myself have the standard black tetras in a school of five in a reasonably planted tank and they're doing just fine. But then again you mention they're recently purchased... fish need time to adjust and acclimate to their new home, so be patient and wait a while and in no time you should have a school of outgoing, active white skirts tetras!


...good luck!

voiceless_kat

Thanks, I googled ( a lot ) since I wasn't getting any answers. They are much less timid now, and today I redid the tank. Now there are some fake and some real plants, no decs, just an urn laid on its side that the otos like. More open swimming space also. It looks better, and they seem to like it better and are schooling up.

Before today, they each took a corner and kinda hovered there..looked funny.

They are hilarious when they eat - savages - same as the red eyes in my 55g.

Thanks for your help!

Val

TFA101

i got five of them. i can see how they're related to pirahnas... they're like little sharks when it comes to food. good thing they're only two inches long!

Sabi

Sorry to come in so late...
Glad to see they are getting bolder. They will become a lot more as they get used to there surroundings as they are lively fish.
I had them...

Butterfly

Hubby has 5 Black Skirts in his 55g and I love to watch them school. we both like them so well I think He's going to put about 5 more in there
It's a heavily planted tank and has 3 corys, a bristlenose, and 2 von Rio tetras.
Carol

voiceless_kat

I had no idea they were related to pirahnas..you are right, I can see why too. The four I have are pretty small - one is a little larger, perhaps just over an inch. The other 3 are under an inch, and cute as anything. They are also hi-fins. Today they are even more bold, I know I am going to like them.


Never too late, Sabi...I am just happy to see there are others out there so I can call for help if I need to. I put another plant in today, and they are lively for sure.

Today I was supposed to buy a 5th one, LFS had sold them all. So I came home with these other little tetras, but now I cannot remember their name. It was something unusual..I thought like rio...but those are more orange. I think the name of a country is in the name, lol

I am attaching pics so maybe you guys can help. They are almost full size now maybe an inch nose to tip of tail. Very small. Will get to 1.5in. They have kind of a rosy head, and a very iradescent navy blue/black body. Their tummies are silver and very shiny. When they flast around the tank they are quite something...like little jewels.

I put a bit of food in for the others when I was introducing these, and these little guys went right about chasing the food just like sharks also. Nothing shy about them at all.
I read today that all tetras will show their best colours after you have them for several week.

I am having trouble resizing, so will work on that and send when it is smaller.
Val

TFA101

i believe the tetras you bought are one of the following: von rio tetras, buenos aires tetras, or columbian tetras. any ring a bell?

voiceless_kat

They are closest to the Von Rios, except the body is iradescent black. I can't believe the problems I am having resizing. Bear with me, and thanks for those names, darn, I am sure there was a county's name..lol

MissMTS

I have 2 white skirts and 3 black skirts in my planted tank that school together. They are beautiful fish. I am glad that yours are doing better. Mine are little gluttons when they eat and for a while I had trouble feeding my bottom dwelling cichlids because the tetras would eat it before it reached the bottom lol!

voiceless_kat

Carol, are your von rios dark blue bodies or red/orange?? Geez every time I get a new fish, I get all excited and just want to get more and more tanks. It is a sickness for sure.

Chief_waterchanger

Its okay Val, we've all already got that virus, no worries.

TFA101

Unless of course your virus is severe like my friend's. danio after danio, cory after cory, molly after molly ( she's got only 15 gallons worth ) so now she's overstocked. Then her male molly got popeye from bad water quality. But when she took good care of her tank, with water changes more frequently and stuff, popeye dissapeared and she's back to normal. I'm still going through my case...common pleco in a 20 gallon. Dang, I'm sick!

gavin

tfa - what is the fish in yopur avatar?
gavin

sunstrip

I have 4 of them in with my 2 Dwarf Gourami's...no probs at all...they are very peacefull...they dart around now and again chasing each other...but nothing that I worry about.

Butterfly

Mine are red/orange. Pretty little things too/
carol

Butterfly

Is this your tetra by any chance ?
http://images.search.yahoo.com/image...61e&no=2&tt=71
Carol

voiceless_kat

No that is not them. i have to get those pics resized or retaken..cuz they are adorable.

I noticed they were struggling a bit with their food ( I was kinda scrunching up Omega flakes & also sinking grans) but they still seemed too big. Then I remembered I had ordered some fish food when I first started and it was wrong - hikari micro pellets- teeny little things. It turns out they are for tetras. So I fed them tonight - a pinch- which seemed like a lot for 7 little fish....it was all over in 3 seconds. OMG I just hooted with laughter. ( Feed as much as they can consume in 2 mins`indeed) They would probably empty the bottle. Very entertaining indeed.

Just watching American Idol and having a glass of wine, then I will go try to get the pics posted...

Val