Piaba tetra

Serrapinnus piaba

Also known as Malinowski tetra

FreshwaterFish

Piaba tetra (Serrapinnus piaba) — Nathalia Kaluana Rodrigues da Costa, Roney Emanuel Costa de Paiva, Márcio Joaquim da Silva, Telton Pedro Anselmo Ramos, Sergio Maia Queiroz Lima · CC BY-SA 4.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–82°F (22–28°C)
pH: 5.5–7.2
Adult size: 1.6 in (4 cm)
Minimum tank: 11 gal (40 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: São Francisco and eastern Brazilian drainages
Family: Characidae

Overview

The piaba tetra is a small, undemanding silver schooling fish that asks for little except company, so keep a group of at least ten. It swims in the middle of the water and is completely peaceful, well suited to a calm community or a planted nano tank with other small, gentle fish such as micro rasboras, small tetras, and pygmy corydoras. Feed small foods: fine flake, crushed micro pellets, cyclops, microworm, and baby brine shrimp. A group settles happily into around 40 liters or more with planting and gentle flow, and it is hardy enough for a first soft-water tank.

In the wild

Serrapinnus piaba is common in weedy, slow and still waters of the Sao Francisco and other eastern Brazilian drainages, among plants and along quiet margins. It is undemanding about water: a temperature of 22 to 28 degrees Celsius and pH from 5.5 to 7.2 with soft to moderate hardness suit it well. Give it a densely planted tank with some open swimming room, gentle flow, and clean water from regular changes.

Good to know

Serrapinnus piaba is a small cheirodontine characin, family Characidae, reaching about 4 centimeters. Christian Lutken first described it in 1875 as Chirodon piaba, borrowing piaba, a common Brazilian name for small river fish, as the species epithet. Males carry tiny hooks on the anal fin that act as holdfasts during pairing. It spawns as an egg layer, but aquarium breeding is not on record.

Did you know

Piaba is an everyday Brazilian word for any small river fish; when Lutken described this one in 1875 he simply turned the local slang into its formal Latin name.