Golden Tetra

About the Golden Tetra

Species Type: Freshwater Fish
Category: Characins

Care Level: Easy. Does well in a slightly more narrow range of water parameters and shouldn't be used to cycle an aquarium. Will eat most prepared foods. May have some specific care requirements in terms of particular water parameters, social behaviors, food items etc.

Origin: The Guyanas, Suriname, and the Amazon basin in Peru and Brazil. Occurs in slow streams and floodplain lakes; in coastal rivers it sometimes inhabits mildly brackish water. Only wild-caught fish have the golden colouration.

Compatibility/Temperament: Peaceful, suitable as a community fish with similar characins, rasbora, danio, anabantids, dwarf cichlids, small catfish and loaches. Must be kept in a group of at least six, preferably more.

Description

An interesting fish because of its golden colouring, giving the impression of having been dusted with gold powder. This is actually guanin secreted by the fish as a protection against a parasite that occurs in its habitat waters, and only wild-caught fish have this colouration. Tank-raised fish do not develop the golden colouring but are a grey-silver. The accompanying photos illustrate the golden fish on the left and the natural grey-silver colouration on the right.

Females are rounder, and males have a white border on the front of the anal fin which is otherwise more reddish than the female's fin.

This species is sometimes seen under the name Hemigrammus armstrongi [Schultz & Axelrod 1955]. This description was given to the first fish of this species discovered with the golden colouration, thinking it was a new species. Lima & Oyakawa in Reis et al. (2003) established the name as a synonym of the valid H. rodwayi [Durbin, 1909].

The genus Hemigrammus was previously considered within the Sub-Family Tetragonopterinae, but this classification has for some time been deemed incertae sedis [Latin for "of uncertain placement"]. In a study published in 2010, it was determined that the Sub-Family Tetragonopterinae should only be used for species within the genus Tetragonopterus. [Robert Javonillo, Luiz R. Malabarba, Stanley H. Weitzman and John R. Burns, "Relationships among major lineages of characid fishes (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Characiformes), based on molecular sequence data," Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Vol. 54, No. 2 (February 2010)]. Also, J. Marcos Mirande proposed several revisions to the Family Characidae based upon phylogenetic diagnosis in "Weighted parsimony phylogeny of the family Characidae (Teleostei: Characiformes)," Cladistics, Vol. 25, No. 6 (July 2009). Some genera have been moved to a new Sub-Family, while others are now (temporarily) assinged to a specific clade within the Family pending further study.

Golden Tetra Diet

Accepts most prepared foods including flake and frozen. Feedings of live and frozen foods will help to maintain the golden colouration on wild-caught fish.

Size

Grows to 2.25 inches.

Minimum Tank Suggestion

24 inches in length.

Ideal water parameters for Golden Tetra

Soft (hardness to 12 dGH) acidic (pH below 7.0) water, temperature 24-28C/75-82F.