Buenos Aires tetra

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep them in a school of six or more in a tank of at least 95 liters, since a small group tends to get nippy. They are fast, busy swimmers that work the middle and lower water and eat just about anything: flakes, pellets, and frozen foods all go down. The catch is plants, they will shred soft-leaved species, so pair them with tough plants like anubias and java fern or skip live plants entirely. Good beginner fish, just not for a delicate planted tank.

In the wild

Buenos Aires tetras range across the La Plata basin in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, in rivers and streams with some flow and plant growth. Because they live further south, they tolerate cooler water than most tetras, anywhere from the high teens up to the mid 20s C. Give them open swimming space with hardy plants or plastic ones they cannot wreck.

Good to know

This is a hardy characin in the family Characidae, growing to around 7.5 cm. They are egg scatterers that give no parental care, and the eggs usually hatch inside a day or two. Their wide temperature tolerance makes them one of the tougher tetras to keep alive.

Common questions

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