# Identify this fish



## KuroKyoto (Dec 9, 2008)

My mom bought three of these on impulse several months ago. Don't think she even asked what they were called so now she knows nothing about them. They seem to be doing fine in her tank, oddly enough. Anyway, this is the best pic I could get. They're really small.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Serpae tetras. That one looks a little stressed.


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## KuroKyoto (Dec 9, 2008)

It does..? How can you tell? 


trashion said:


> Serpae tetras. That one looks a little stressed.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Usually the colors are a little darker than that, it looks kinda pale to me.


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

That is certainly a Serpae Tetra. _Hyphessobrycon eques._

It looks like it may be stressed. The fish in the picture has a pale / washed-out appearance.

Generally, when a fish looks pale or discolored, that can be an indication that it is in stress.

However, since this is a Serpae, that may not be the case. There are a lot of very pale Serpaes floating around out there, the result of poor breeding.


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

Agreed with COM here. We have a ton of them around the store, and even in our show tanks, some of them are just paler, and it's too bad. When in full color, they are a beautiful fish.


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## fishboy (Feb 26, 2005)

He is pretty pale, do you have him in a group of 6 or more? They don't like to be alone


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## Cacatuoides (Feb 2, 2009)

he stated that she bought 3 of them.


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## Merf (Feb 24, 2009)

*Woo!*

I have a school of serpae tetras =). I really like them, but be warned that as they get older they will start to get meaner. I'd recommend getting a school of at least 10 (I've found they tend to chill out in larger groups). Though I don't know your tank size...or what other fish you have. So make sure to think about that before adding anything.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Yep, this is one of the nastier tetras, prone to ripping apart it's tankmates if not kept happy in a large group.
As for the color, it's not just this species that looks washed-out a lot lately. Many once-awesome species have been successively tankraised for so many years now that they hardly resemble their ancestors. Every now and then you'll luck up and find a batch of wildcaughts of some species or another, and the difference is plain to see. I saw a tank of Black Ruby barbs a few weeks ago that were absolutely stunning, for example.


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