Nurse tetra

Brachyalestes nurse

Also known as Brycinus nurse, Alestes nurse

FreshwaterFish

Nurse tetra (Brachyalestes nurse) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 73–82°F (23–28°C)
pH: 6.0–7.8
Adult size: 9.8 in (25 cm)
Minimum tank: 106 gal (400 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Nile, Niger, and Sahelian basins, Africa
Family: Alestidae

Overview

The nurse tetra is a big, robust, mostly peaceful schooling fish, so keep a group of at least five or six; loners are jumpy and a shoal is far calmer. At around 25 centimeters it needs serious swimming room and holds in open midwater. It generally leaves similar-sized tankmates alone, but it will eat very small fish, so choose sturdy companions in the same size class rather than tiny ones. It is an unfussy omnivore that takes pellets, large flake, and meaty frozen foods, along with some plant matter. This is a fish for a very large aquarium of around 400 liters or more, ideally longer than it is tall.

In the wild

The nurse tetra is widespread across Africa, from the Nile west through the Niger and the rivers and floodplains of the Sahel. It lives in large, warm, open rivers and seasonal floodwaters that can run soft to fairly hard and slightly alkaline. In captivity it wants a big, bright tank with a long open swimming lane, a sand base, and robust filtration rather than delicate planting. Keep it at 23 to 28 degrees Celsius across a broad pH of 6.0 to 7.8, with strong flow and clean water.

Good to know

Brachyalestes nurse, long known as Brycinus nurse or Alestes nurse, is a silvery alestid that reaches about 25 centimeters, large for an African tetra. It was described by the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell in 1832 and is an important food and market fish across the Sahel and Nile. Breeding is not recorded in aquaria; in the wild it is a seasonal, floodplain spawner that scatters eggs as the waters rise.

Did you know

Its odd common name has nothing to do with hospitals: nurse is thought to come from a local name for the fish along the Egyptian Nile, which Rüppell carried straight into the scientific name almost two centuries ago.