Premium pet fish are more energetic, hardier, and have brighter colors with a beautiful metallic sheen.
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Origin: This fish's ancestors lived in the Amazon Rainforest in Southern South America, but this fish was spawned and raised on a famous fish farm, and these Tetras now live in many aquariums throughout most of the world.
Maximum Size: This fish can grow to be about 1.5" to 1.75" long including the tail.
Behaviors: These guys are active and quarrel with each other but don't do much harm.
They do tend to nip on long-finned, slow swimming fish like Angelfish and Bettas, but they are not so nippy if they are fed some live worms and/or freeze dried worms or bloodworms 3 or 4-times a week.
It's still important to also feed them some premium flake food, which contains a wide variety of nutrients.
Compatibility: Some recommended tank mates include small fish like other Tetras, Guppies, Platys, Corydoras Catfish, Gouramis, etc.
Click here to read more about compatible groups of pet fish.
Temperature: They can live pretty well from about 72 to 80 degrees F., but they're probably most comfortable at about 75 to 78 degrees F.
Click here to learn about aquarium temperature, aquarium thermometers, and aquarium heaters.
Feeding: Premium Fish Food Flakes.
Serpae are notorious for nipping on each other and on other fish species, but this can be mitigated by feeding them some live worms or freeze dried bloodworms.
Click here to learn more about and shop online for premium fish foods.
Water Conditions: This fish seems to be tolerant of a wide range of water conditions.
Probably a pH of about 7.0 with moderate hardness is best.
Most water in the US has a higher pH and is harder but seems to be OK, so it's probably best NOT to adjust the pH or the hardness of the water.
Here in our facilities the water is hard and the pH is usually about 7.8. We ship them in this water.
Click here for a lot more information about aquarium water conditions.
Aquarium Size: It's best to house these fish in at least a 20-gallon aquarium, but bigger is better, because they quarrel with each other.
Keep at most one fish per gallon, when they're small, and one fish for each 2-gallons, when they're large.
Decor: They don't need gravel, and a layer of gravel more than 1/4" thick will usually fill with bits of uneaten food that will contaminate the water.
Click here for more about aquarium gravel.
Live Plants are beautiful, improve the water quality, and are enjoyed by these Tetras.
Aquarium Filter: Bio-Wheel Filters are highly recommended.
A Penguin 200B Filter in an aquarium with 20 to 30-gallons of water is just right for these fish.
Click here to learn more about aquarium filters.
The addition of Lava Rocks will keep nitrates in the ideal range. Click here to learn more about using Lava Rocks in aquariums.
Life Span: They'll probably live for a few years with good water and premium food.
Gender: The females fill with eggs and become plumper, as they mature.
Breeding: Tetras scatter their eggs on plants or special breeding mops made of nylon yarn.
Popularity: This is a long time favorite and is still very popular.
Names: The scientific name is Hyphessobrycon eques.
It is said that the aquarium Serpaes are a hybrid of at least two and maybe more wild species.
This is also apparently true of several other types of aquarium fish and is nothing to worry about.
Variations: There is also a long-finned variation and an albino variation.
This species occur over a wide range in South America and the color patters vary from location to location.
There may in fact be subspecies or various unnamed species.
We hope you've enjoyed reading these comments.
DrTom - 06/23/2015
All of our fish are Premium Quality Fish from the best suppliers in the world. Our fish have better health, more energy and brighter colors, as you can see in our pictures on this website.
We have 380-aquariums with lots-and-lots of popular aquarium fish plus lots-and-lots of rare fish!
We consider ourselves to be the link between the world's best sources of fish and the world's best customers. We love our work, and we are very responsible about caring for our fish and then shipping them carefully.
We also offer lots and lots of information about keeping and caring for pet fish, all from the knowledge of the Bailey Brothers, who have a combined total of 100+ years of experience as breeders, wholesalers, and retailers of pet fish!
Our fish and our customers are treated with the best of care, and we work energetically everyday to make sure every customer enjoys their new fishy friends.
When you purchase pet fish from us, you know you're receiving premium quality fish and premium quality service.
"Received my fish last night and was so pleased! They all arrived alive and appeared to be healthy.
"Once in the tank, they became very active and are now thriving in their new home.
"Beautiful fish, I asked for color and aquariumfish delivered. Processing and shipping was extremely quick."
Nevin and DrTom, the Bailey Brothers
This website is owned and operated by the Bailey Brothers, DrTom and Nevin, who've been together in the fish business for more than 50-years.
The Product Manager has been with the company for more than 35-years.
So we feel very confident that this is the fishiest crew anywhere.