Lemon Tetra Care

Lemon Tetra Factsheet

Common Name: Lemon tetra

Scientific name:  Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis.  Pulchiprinnis means “beautiful fin” in Greek and is a reference to the striking yellow and black fin colouration.

Lemon Tetra Size: 4cm/1.6”

Lemon Tetra Minimum Tank size: 60cm/24”

Water parameters: pH 5-7.5; temperature 23-28°C/73-82°F; hardness 18-215ppm (very soft to moderately hard)

Lemon Tetra Origin

Tapajós river basin in Central Brazil which is one of the primary tributaries of the of the Lower Amazon river basin.  There have also been reports of findings in the Xingu River which borders the Tapajos.

Lemon Tetra Diet

The Lemon Tetra’s diet is very varied.  It is an omnivore in nature, feeding on small invertebrates, crustaceans, filamentous algae and fallen fruit.  In the aquarium it is very easy to feed and will accept most dried foods including flake and pellets.  Like most omnivorous fish they relish frozen and live foods such as bloodworm and daphnia which make good additions to a dried food diet.

Behaviour

Lemon Tetras are generally peaceful fish and certainly won’t bother any other species in the tank.  Amongst their own kind, I have found them to be surprisingly feisty, however.  The males carve themselves out a small territory and will often engage with other males with displays and occasional aggression.

For this reason, and in order to enable the fish to feel more at home and confident, I would recommend keeping a large group of around 8-10 fish.  In this kind of group with a mixture of males and females, their displays really are fascinating.  The males will swim in formation next to each other and sometimes make a darting motion.  I believe they are trying to size each other up and should this not sort out a pecking order they seem to try and dazzle each other with their reflective sides before making a rush for one another.  I think they are aiming to injure the swim bladder of the other fish as my dominant male has such an injury.

Appearance

The Lemon Tetra is a small but deep bodied Characin.  They have an understated greenish-yellow body colour with an orange-red upper portion of the eye.  The dorsal fin has a black upper part with a bright yellow tip and they have a very long anal fin with black edges and bright yellow colouration at the front of the fin.  They really are a beautiful fish in my opinion with the bright yellow parts of the fins and the red/orange “eyebrows” really offsetting the more understated natural base colour.  There is also an orange/red colouration.

Sexual Dimorphism

Male and female lemon tetras do look similar at first glance but the males tend to have more striking colouration on their fins, with a deeper, stronger black line on the anal fin in particular.  Their fins also tend to me more erect and their bodies are a little thinner than the females.  The main difference is in their behaviour, however, with the males regularly squaring off against each other and chasing the females, with the females not doing any chasing at all.

Breeding Lemon Tetras

These fish, like most tetras, breed in great numbers in the wild and therefore they scatter their eggs and exhibit no parental care – indeed they will eat their own eggs if they encounter them.  The water should be of slightly acidic to neutral pH with a temperature towards the upper end of the range, although spawning is more likely in a pH towards the lower end of their range.

When in spawning condition (which seems to happen naturally in a well-fed, acidic aquarium with soft water), the males will chase the females and these fish will spawn amongst plants – any small leaved plant seems to suffice, I have found Star Grass to be very suitable.  If in the community aquarium, at this point the eggs are likely to be hunted down and eaten by the other inhabitants so in order to try and successfully hatch any fry I would move a small group of the Tetras to another aquarium when they start displaying the signs of spawning and then remove the adults once the eggs have been laid.

The fry should be able to accept specially made fry-food but in a mature tank they seem to be able to find enough food to sustain them from the general detritus, especially if leaf litter is present.

Overview

The Lemon Tetra is a common and easy to keep aquarium fish and in my opinion make an ideal fish for beginners.  Although they originally come from the tributaries of the Amazon in Brazil, almost all Lemon Tetras encountered in the hobby will be farm bred.  Although they would prefer a soft and acidic aquarium, in reality they are not very fussy and the fish I have encountered are very hardy with none of the specific issues associated with overbreeding seen in Guppies or Neon Tetras for example.

Being a deep-bodied Tetra they are not as susceptible to predation as some similar sized but shallower fish but care should still be taken to avoid housing them with anything that is big enough to eat them.  These fish are not fussy about décor and habitat but they do prefer a planted aquarium with places for the harassed females to hide if need be.  In addition, added leaf litter can be beneficial (and in my opinion looks good too).

So, to conclude, the Lemon Tetra is a great fish, particularly for beginners.  It is unfussy with regards water hardness, pH and temperature and will not harm other fish species whilst itself offering a fascinating territorial display, especially if housed in sufficient numbers.