# Columbian Tetra



## James D (24 Feb 2014)

I bought five of these two weeks ago and I've hardly seen them since, the devils have found favourite hiding places under plants or rock and stay there all day and night.

They're lovely little fish (my daughter thinks they're Piranha) but they're starting to get on my nerves and my tank looks half empty. Is this there normal behaviour or will they start getting a bit more adventurous?

Cheers

James


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## roadmaster (24 Feb 2014)

I kept a dozen of these for close to three year's and found them to be extremely active fish.
Kept mine in 90 gal tank with Electric Blue Dempsey and four synodontis multipunctatus.
Perhap's if you have room,a few more would encourage them to come out more.
Are you sure they are Colombian's? (just askin).
What you describe sound's more like behaivor of bleeding heart tetra's (look somewhat similar when young).
I have kept that seldom ventured from the bottom near plant's,wood.


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## James O (24 Feb 2014)

What else is in there with them?

My 12 neon dwarf rainbows hid until I stuck 6 black/purple harlequins in with them.  The harlequins get all over the tank and the rainbows have followed.  Kind of a dither fish I guess

Higher numbers might help as well


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## James D (24 Feb 2014)

I assume they're Columbians, they were sold as such and they look like the pictures I've seen, they're still juveniles though by the looks of them.

I keep them with seven green tetras which are always active.

Funnily enough I turned off my filters yesterday and they all came out for a quick look although they soon went back into hiding when the filters came back on, maybe they aren't too keen on the flow?


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## James O (24 Feb 2014)

You're running a 60P I think, what's your turnover per hour?

SeriouslyFish says they like a degree of water movement, but minimum numbers are suggested as 8-10. Maybe they are lonely 

  Hyphessobrycon columbianus &#8211; Colombian Tetra &mdash; Seriously Fish

Oh, do they come out to feed?


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## James D (24 Feb 2014)

Yes, 60p mate.... my turnover is about x10 plus a Eheim Skimmer so nothing too drastic. 

I didn't know that about the minimum numbers but I doubt it'd make much difference as they all hide separately anyway. I'll give them another week or two to settle and if they don't look any livelier I'll take them back to the LFS.


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## James O (24 Feb 2014)

Safety in numbers really can make a difference to the little fellas


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## roadmaster (24 Feb 2014)

Fish stores here in U.S. seldom if ever take fishes back due to likelihood of transmitting disease and no desire to quarantine before offering them for re-sale.
Stores will refund money or give store credit for dead fish but they won't take back fishes with few exception's.
I agree very much with increasing their number's but if room prohibit's this,,then maybe consider Diamond Tetra's that look very nice once they settle into new enviornment and are equally as active as the colombian's .


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## James D (24 Feb 2014)

My tank certainly isn't big enough for me to double their numbers, I'll have to wait to see if they liven up a bit but if not I'll swap 'em.

My local Maidenhead Aquatics is more than happy to re-home any fish you take in there, I actually got these tetras half price because I took in 5 Rasboras I didn't even buy in there!


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## Edvet (24 Feb 2014)

I have app 15 or so, don't think they where ever skittish. If i feed them they truly act like piranhas, but so do all my fish.


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## James D (25 Feb 2014)

I was watching them last night and I'm starting to think that one of them is bullying the others which is contributing to this behaviour.


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## Edvet (25 Feb 2014)

I've never seen bullying, but that might have to do with tanksize.


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## James D (26 Feb 2014)

I'm treating BBA with Easycarbo at the moment so I've been switching my filters of for ten minutes or so while I do it... Hey Presto, out they come. Filters are switched back on and they all (but one) vanish again. Very weird!


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## Edvet (26 Feb 2014)

I have two big circulating pumps in my tank, they don't seem to mind them. Then again due to size there is always a quite spot somewhere.


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## James D (3 Mar 2014)

I'm certain that it was a case of bullying after watching them a bit more.

Luckily the friendly bloke at Maidenhead Aquatics let me take them back a the weekend, I've now got five Rosy Tetras instead and they seem to be a much happier group. 

I've never had so much trouble netting fish as those Columbian devils, two of them actually buried themselves in the substrate to avoid getting caught, I couldn't find them for ages.


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## Edvet (3 Mar 2014)

I never even try to catch anything in my tank


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## James O (3 Mar 2014)

Edvet said:


> I never even try to catch anything in my tank


That's because you'd need to get _in _your tank


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## Edvet (3 Mar 2014)

(I've ordered on of these


 )


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## James O (3 Mar 2014)

MobyDick style


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## James O (3 Mar 2014)

Rosy's are cool

Advice given again though is min 6 ideally 10.  They'll behave much better too   Hyphessobrycon rosaceus (Rosy Tetra) &mdash; Seriously Fish

Enjoy


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## James D (4 Mar 2014)

Maybe I'll pick up a couple more then, they do seem settled though and I'm concerned about overstocking.


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## James O (4 Mar 2014)

Well you have decent filtration so you can use the good ole fashioned 1cm per litre rule thingy

81l / 4cm (Rosys are 4cm adult) and you have.....20ish!

10 will be fine and look/act/behave better than 5 too.  Win win 

Then you could get 15 CPDs too.........Am I a bad influence


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## Edvet (4 Mar 2014)

James O said:


> good ole fashioned 1cm per litre rule thingy


 
So i could have 15 meters of fish?


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## James D (4 Mar 2014)

> Well you have decent filtration so you can use the good ole fashioned 1cm per litre rule thingy
> 
> 81l / 4cm (Rosys are 4cm adult) and you have.....20ish!
> 
> ...



Do you import tropical fish by any chance? 

Actually the 60p's only 65ish litres empty, mine's probably got 50 litres of water maximum.

If you can get hold of a couple of Wels Cat Fish Edvet might take them off your hands though.


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## James O (4 Mar 2014)

Don't depress me.  I'm stuck with a measly 3.6m


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## James O (4 Mar 2014)

James D said:


> Actually the 60p's only 65ish litres empty, mine's probably got 50 litres of water maximum.


 Now where did I get 81l from

Still a well filtered tank is safe beyond the 1cm per litre rule especially a planted one. 

Personally I like small fish for effect.  Alastair does too, even in his 1400l pool  But I know your have other pressures to take into consideration.  You'll be fine with 10


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## Edvet (4 Mar 2014)

Btw i am never overly worried about overstocking. I've seen tanks which had a lot of fish (discus even), they just had a big filter attached.  Lots of plants and a good filtration give some headroom


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