six tetras for a fifty five gallon
 

heey i have a55g with odessa barbs, rasbora(harlaquin),guppies,betta, bolivian rams,kribs,cories,plec

im looking for a school of colorful tetras that will school and be peacful could you give me some advice?

i really like black neons!!!

How many of each fish do you have? I'll assume your not stocked yet and have some room. Cardinal tetras are fast becoming a favorite ... love that blue / red color combo. Black neons I agree ... I like them too and are peaceful. I'm starting a 55 gallon tetra tank in the next couple of months and these are my choices ... see if you'll like any.

5 - Colombian
5 - Cardinal
5- Black Neons
5- Serpae / Black skirt - not sure on this yet .. but I'm leaning towards the reddish brown of the serpae. These tend to be a bit aggressive I've head

It would help to know your tap water parameters. Some tetra are adaptable, others are not long-term. We have fish profiles here, second tab from the left in the blue bar across the top; tetra are under the Characins section, and each profile comments on water needs.

Barbman, unless you can increase the Serpae Tetra, please forget them. In a group of at least 8, preferably more, they may be OK and confine their nipping to each other. While some are worse than others, this species has the inherent aggressiveness that is more often the case than not, and adding them to a community tank is always a risk to the other fish.

Black Widow Tetra or sometimes called Black Skirt Tetra have a similar problem; they can be very nippy in small groups.

I would not myself consider either of these compatible with the much more slow and sedate Cardinal Tetra and Black Neon Tetra.

Yeah Byron ... I figured that could be an issue with the Serpae and Black skirts ... but you've helped to confirm that ... thanks!. I like their look .. but I can live w/out. Besides, I'm also looking at Zebra and Leopard Danios for that 55gal.

There are many, and I mean many, species of reddish tetra very similar to the Serpae, all in the Rosy clade in the genus Hyphessobrycon. Several are included in our profiles. The Serpae is actually in this same clade, but just a nasty customer, so the others share many pattern similarities like the humeral shoulder patch, signal dorsal, and general disk shape, and reddish colour. And most of them are very peaceful. My personal favourite is Hyphessobrycon bentosi, the so-called Robert's Tetra. and this species, along with the Rosy Tetra, do very well with Cardinal Tetra. The Brilliant Rummy Nose Tetra also works with these. And I would suggest something like the latter rather than danio. Danio are a bit "active" for the others.

Ah great! Someone who speaks in science terms ... something I can appreciate. I am looking for a tetra that has the Serpae outline and coloration so I'll read up on the Hyphessobrycon bentos and Rosy Tetras and see if any are at any LFS's. Oh and the RUMMY-NOSE! how could I forgot about those ... thanks for mentioning.

I'll leave the Danio's up in the air for now. Besides this tank is probably a month or two down the road. For now I have my hands full trying to find Puntius Pentazona.

Thanks again!

i like cardinals but arent they hard to keep?

Depends upon the water parameters. They are likely going to be wild caught fish, and as they occur in very soft and acidic water, they need soft, acidic water. In basic (pH above 7.0) and harder water they do not live long, a couple years, but they can live for 10 years in soft water. This is explained in our profile, click on the shaded name Cardinal Tetra.