Bond's glass tetra

Xenagoniates bondi

Also known as Xenagoniates tetra

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 73–82°F (23–28°C)
pH: 5.5–7.2
Adult size: 2.6 in (6.5 cm)
Minimum tank: 21 gal (80 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Orinoco llanos and Lake Maracaibo drainages
Family: Characidae

Overview

Bond's glass tetra is a slender, almost fully transparent schooling fish that should be kept in a group of at least eight, ideally more, in a tank with plenty of open swimming space. It swims in the middle and upper water and is peaceful toward fish it cannot eat, but it is a micropredator that will take small live prey, so avoid housing it with tiny fish, fry, or dwarf shrimp it could swallow. Similar-sized calm tetras and other open-water fish make good company. Feed small live and frozen foods such as daphnia, bloodworm, mosquito larvae, and brine shrimp, along with fine flake. Give a group around 80 liters or more.

In the wild

This tetra lives in slow, clear creeks and river margins of the Orinoco llanos and the Lake Maracaibo drainage in Venezuela and Colombia. Give it warm water from 23 to 28 degrees Celsius at pH 5.5 to 7.2, with gentle flow and open midwater room. A dark background and some planting around the edges make its transparent body easier to see, while dim, even light keeps the fish relaxed and out in the open.

Good to know

Xenagoniates bondi, described by Myers in 1942, is the only species in its genus and one of the most transparent of all characins, family Characidae, reaching about 6.5 centimeters. The body is a clear window that reveals the spine and the silvery sac of organs behind the head, and mature fish carry long, trailing fin extensions. It is an open-water micropredator, and its breeding is not documented in home aquaria.

Did you know

Its body is so clear that the internal organs sit in a small silvery pouch behind the gills while the rest of the fish reads as swimming glass, camouflage that hides it in open water.