Crystal tetra

Care at a glance

Overview

The crystal tetra is a tiny, almost transparent schooling fish that looks best in numbers. It suits a keeper with some experience.

Caring for the crystal tetra

Keep crystal tetras in a group of at least ten, in 11 gal (40 L) or more. Twenty in a well-planted tank make a fine, drifting display. Dense planting, driftwood and a darker background give the group cover and make the transparent bodies easier to pick out.

Keep the water calm, at 73 to 82°F (23 to 28°C) and a pH of 5.5 to 7.2, with low to moderate hardness. Dim light keeps them out in the open. Feed very small foods, such as fine flake, crushed micro pellets, microworm, cyclops and baby brine shrimp.

Crystal tetras are completely peaceful and suit only small, gentle tank mates. Anything large will eat or outcompete them. Other nano tetras, pygmy corydoras and small rasboras make good company. They are egg scatterers, and aquarium breeding is not recorded.

Good to know

The crystal tetra is a characin in the family Characidae. It was first described as Leptagoniates pi, and in 2016 it was given its own genus, Protocheirodon. That genus is an early offshoot of the Cheirodontinae.

In the wild

The crystal tetra lives in quiet creeks of the upper Amazon in Peru and Brazil. The creeks run clear to gently stained, and the fish drift over sand where the water moves slowly.

Common questions

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