Lopes's tetra

Moenkhausia lopesi

Also known as Lopesi tetra, Cinnabar moth tetra

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–81°F (22–27°C)
pH: 6.0–7.5
Adult size: 1.9 in (4.7 cm)
Minimum tank: 20 gal (75 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Upper Paraguay basin, Brazil
Family: Characidae

Overview

Lopes's tetra is a small, peaceful schooling fish that fits neatly into a Pantanal-style community, kept in a group of at least eight to ten. It swims in the middle of the tank and mixes well with other calm, similar-sized fish such as otocinclus, dwarf cichlids, small tetras, and corydoras. Keep it away from large or boisterous tankmates that would outcompete it. Feed small foods: quality flake, micro pellets, and frozen or live daphnia, cyclops, and bloodworm. A group is comfortable in around 75 liters or more with planting and open swimming lanes.

In the wild

Moenkhausia lopesi lives in clear creeks of the upper Paraguay basin in Mato Grosso, Brazil, part of the network of headwaters that feeds the Pantanal wetland. Keep it at 22 to 27 degrees Celsius with pH from 6.0 to 7.5 and soft to moderate hardness. A sand bottom, driftwood, and hardy planting around open water suit it, with gentle, steady flow and clean water kept fresh by regular changes.

Good to know

Moenkhausia lopesi is a characin of the family Characidae staying under 5 centimeters, described by Britski and Silimon in 2001. Its name honors Balzac Santana Lopes, a fisheries-station chief who guided the describers' collecting trips in the Pantanal. The fish carries a smudged dark bar on the shoulder. It is an egg-scattering spawner, and aquarium breeding is not on record.

Did you know

It lives in the small headwater streams that gather into the Pantanal, the largest tropical wetland on Earth, making this dwarf tetra a citizen of that vast floodplain in miniature.