no no no no NO more Serpaes! (in smaller tanks)

Please stop recommending Serpaes to beginner fish keepers. We all know Serpaes are great looking fish. They make a planted tank look real awesome too due to their red color, but it should be noted that these fish are more aggressive them most tetras. Serpaes also known as "Blood Tetras" and are "Lepidophagous" meaning that this fish eats the scales of other fish. Many problems arise such as increased stress levels of other fish (bullying). So say you have a ten gallon, and you want to keep serpaes along with other fish. The serpaes will probably end up chasing and bullying other fishes. If that is what you want, then cool. But if not, I would suggest avoided them. Although their aggression may seem harmless, it is more of an annoyance for the keeper

Not only do they bully other fish they bully fish within their own groups too. Its all part of the natural heirachic aggression rather than predation. With that said I would keep no less than 8 - 10 Serpaes in a school. Now ten fully grown Serpaes in a ten gallon, is pretty small for 10 angry housemates. Talk about the Real World. I would a school of Serpaes in no less than a 20 long. With of course plenty of plants.

So before you begin to buy Serpaes for your planted tank. Ask yourself the questions:

Do I want to keep other fish in the same tank? Do I have enough room to host a school of 10 fish along with possibly more? Is my tank planted enough where I can provide hiding areas for fish to feel safe?

There are alternative to Serpaes that look similar to them, but are far, far less agressive that should notably mentioned.
the Flame Tetra (Hyphessobrycon flammeus) Has a red belly that gradients to yellow at the head of the fish. the tail is whitish blue when fully colored up. Look similar to Serpaes but do not chase other fish as much.

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on October 21, 2011 at 10:04pm

You mean I should know the species I'm putting in my tank BEFORE I get them, instead of buying them and then asking if they play well with others? That's just crazy talk.

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Permalink Reply by Josh C. on October 21, 2011 at 10:30pm

Yep. I have serpaes in my 29g tank and they defiantly live up to their rep. Keeping serpaes in larger groups does however tend to cut down aggression towards other fish, as they develop a "pecking order" and concentrate more on themselves.

The only time i really notice lots of aggression is when I add new fish to the tank. After a few days things go back to normal.

Serpaes shouldn't be kept with anything slow, or that has long fins. (perfect targets)

Even tho they are aggressive at times, i have seen them get chased off by one of my corys a time or 2 LOL.

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Permalink Reply by Collin on October 21, 2011 at 11:01pm

In the beginning of my fishkeeping hobby I got 5 serape tetras for my tank. The asshole fish dealer said there great community fish and very peaceful. They killed my guppies within a day. Only keep serapes in schools of 12 or more!

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Permalink Reply by PaducahFishFan on October 22, 2011 at 12:26am

Red Minor Tetra

Is what my lfs calls them. I got 5 and never have had any problems with them. They usually hide out and are shy in my 120. They go nuts after the shrimp and especially red ones. There favorite food is red blood worms. If you put any shrimp in my tank with a red color they will chase it all over the tank.

Wonder if that Guppy that got beat up had a red fin maybe? Sure it's not that simple but I've had good luck with them.

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Permalink Reply by J Tang on October 22, 2011 at 3:19pm

I guess some people have better luck than others. Perhaps its a different variety of Serpaes. I know I've seen at least 3 different variants, one that was long finned species to name one.