Interesting little tetra (Trochilocharax ornatus)

[Mazan]

Yea i have them in or near blackwater conditions; i haven't tested the ec recently but it is somewhere between 20 and 40; it seems a few leaves can raise the ec a bit. I use ec 3 to 10 water (at the start of the month i replace the sentiment filter and some of the di risen and by the end of hte month is rises).

It is just easier since my base tap is too hard for a lot of the wc dwarf cichild to breed. I'm not sure this species of tetra require blackwater but i only have 3 tap aquariums and the 10 is too small and the others have fishes that could eat them. The elizabeth they are with are youngish and have smaller mouths then some of the other apisto such as winkelfleck and ipiranga.

Do you think they would be safe with the bitaeniata?

 

[anewbie]

Do you think they would be safe with the bitaeniata?

Maybe - depends how large they are when you get them; plant coverage and aquarium height. I have some 2 1/2 year old bitaeniata and they are not small fishes - not saying they are hunters but they are certainly large enough to eat the ones i received which were quite small (the smallest one barely larger than a guppy fry). The largest one i have is probably safe but still rather small - smaller than the morse code tetra. Of course in a taller aquarium esp one with plant coverage at the top they would likely be very safe. The morse code hangs from top to lower middle but these things hang out in the top 3rd and are a lot more active. My bitaeniata is lazy (though in a different aquarium that has more current).

 

[anewbie]

I did once have some mortenthaleri but was sent only males, they didn’t live very long, about 2 years I think, whereas the beckfords I had lasted much longer and bred with a few young surviving. I almost got some Amaya a while back, but they were going to be all males as well, so I decided against it. They were quite expensive too. I actually think I like the marginatus best so far, though if I do get a chance to get the amayas with females as well I might be tempted.

The morthenthaleri i have were weird. In two of my aquariums they died pretty fast - maybe 1 year but in one of them they keep on ticking with no signs of issue and i can't figure out a commonality - current, tankmates and such. I think the oldest group i have and only group i have left is around 2 years in sept of ownership but they were near adults when received. The weirdest thing is i put some of them in an aquarium that had a population die out and they promptly died so there is something they dislike - current maybe or type of current.

The two groups that died out were in a 100 and 29 and the one that keeps on ticking is a 65 - having said all of this i think they are over-rated and won't buy them again. I much prefer marginatus and marilyn and both are quite a bit cheaper so I don't see the point to obtain them again. Even for breeding i would go with the later two over morthenthaleri though i suppose if i were a business then the situation might be different.

 

[Mazan]

Maybe - depends how large they are when you get them; plant coverage and aquarium height. I have some 2 1/2 year old bitaeniata and they are not small fishes - not saying they are hunters but they are certainly large enough to eat the ones i received which were quite small (the smallest one barely larger than a guppy fry). The largest one i have is probably safe but still rather small - smaller than the morse code tetra. Of course in a taller aquarium esp one with plant coverage at the top they would likely be very safe. The morse code hangs from top to lower middle but these things hang out in the top 3rd and are a lot more active. My bitaeniata is lazy (though in a different aquarium that has more current).

Well the bitaeniata are still quite small, and the tank is fairly tall (50cm, just under 20”) and does

The morthenthaleri i have were weird. In two of my aquariums they died pretty fast - maybe 1 year but in one of them they keep on ticking with no signs of issue and i can't figure out a commonality - current, tankmates and such. I think the oldest group i have and only group i have left is around 2 years in sept of ownership but they were near adults when received. The weirdest thing is i put some of them in an aquarium that had a population die out and they promptly died so there is something they dislike - current maybe or type of current.

Maybe - depends how large they are when you get them; plant coverage and aquarium height. I have some 2 1/2 year old bitaeniata and they are not small fishes - not saying they are hunters but they are certainly large enough to eat the ones i received which were quite small (the smallest one barely larger than a guppy fry). The largest one i have is probably safe but still rather small - smaller than the morse code tetra. Of course in a taller aquarium esp one with plant coverage at the top they would likely be very safe. The morse code hangs from top to lower middle but these things hang out in the top 3rd and are a lot more active. My bitaeniata is lazy (though in a different aquarium that has more current).

The two groups that died out were in a 100 and 29 and the one that keeps on ticking is a 65 - having said all of this i think they are over-rated and won't buy them again. I much prefer marginatus and marilyn and both are quite a bit cheaper so I don't see the point to obtain them again. Even for breeding i would go with the later two over morthenthaleri though i suppose if i were a business then the situation might be

I tried to reply to the messages last night, we had a power cut and something went wrong, not sure exactly what happened.

Anyway, the tank I have for small fish is fairly tall for its size, 50cm, nearly 20" and does have floating plants and other plants that reach the surface. Some of the ruby tetras that I got recently are very small and so far seem OK with the Apistogrammas (which are not full-grown yet).

Re the mortenthaleri very strange, I never knew why mine died, they were in a 180l (47 gallon) tank with plenty of floating plants, leaf litter and driftwood, not too much flow, all other fish were fine. I am also not keen on getting more of them, and definitely not just males. I do like the marginatus a lot more.

 

[anewbie]

This is for @Mazan but it shows the morse code tetra - they don't school at all and are mostly stationary in the mid to lower water - a bit like ember tetra to be honest but hang perhaps a little lower:

 

[anewbie]

It has only been 4 months but so far there has been no deaths in the two groups of 8 Trochilocharax ornatus i ordered so they seem to be robust. Some where very very small so they are growing at a decent rate. In terms of 'looks' i really prefer the morse code tetra but the one thing they add is a bit of movement to the aquarium - they don't really swim horizontally but rather kind of 'buzz' or swim in the same spot. Other than that i can't really comment - one day in a week or two i'll take a short video to show them and their movement - the aquarium they are in is the only bright aquarium (it has a. elizabeth) since i'm trying to grow some s. repens - the lighting doesn't seem to cause any issue with the species but it makes taking pictures more difficult.

 

[anewbie]

Well that took a few minutes - this video might work:

(sound removed and file size reduced 90% via ffmpeg; thanks creator of ffmpeg)

Some still:

and morse code tetra for comparison:

and some curious little critters (unfortunately i think i'm stuck with no males and 3 females):

 

[anewbie]

I created a new video with slightly higher resolution to try to reduce artifacting; alas i cannot edit the post above; if a mod want to fix the above link and delete this post feel free to do so...


Probably should have left the original since most of the artifcating is not in my compressed video but google compression to the file being uploaded.

 

[A Timbers Fan]

I love Morse Code. They just sit there, content with life. They look fantastic in blackwater with low lighting because of their weird markings.

 

[anewbie]

I love Morse Code. They just sit there, content with life. They look fantastic in blackwater with low lighting because of their weird markings.

They are indeed a bit of eye candy and not shy at all. The aquarium with the one above is rather bright but i have some in a very dark aquarium. Not much difference in behavior.

 

[anewbie]

Another sweet little tetra - though i'm a bit more concern about buying this one as it is approaching endangered - but not sure if the issue is habitat destruction or aquarium trade. The difference with these and the others in the thread is it appears their habitat is much more restricted.

By the way @Mazan you had asked about humming bird and bitaeniata - in terms of size no but they do stay near the top which would help them a lot. I seem to have small and large ones with my thought being the small ones are males and the large ones females.

These are a lot nicer in person and the photo kind of sucks. I might try again later to get a clearer picture.

 

[anewbie]

Another (better?) pictures of the tucano:

 

[anewbie]

Another interesting little dither (for the purist not suitable for sa aquarium) Ladegesia roloffi:

 

[A Timbers Fan]

Jellybeans are rather nippy. Kribs should be fine but would be too active for quieter species of dwarf cichlid imo. One of the prettiest tetras in my opinion.

 

[anewbie]

This is another interesting tetra i picked up recently called
Hemigrammus sp."Yurimaguas" "Peru Orange Tetra":

It has some interesting behavior - when i first received it they hid under driftwood and leaves much like dwarf cichild. After 4 or 5 days it began to realize i was feeding it and not eating it and it stopped hiding. Now here is where things get a bit tricky - a couple of times when i first walk into the room I observed all of them resting on the bottom of the aquarium and they only get up when they see me arrive - what i don't know is how often they spend time on the bottom vs swimming. During that first few days they never went more then 20 to 25% off the bottom but now when swimming they go about 70% up - not as high as the jelly beans but definitely the upper third.

Not sure they would be great with dwarf cichild given their desire to rest on the bottom but they are lovely little creatures.

 

[rasmusW]

They sure are pretty and funny observations. It will be interesting to see if they continue this behavior.

-r

 

[anewbie]

Just an updated picture - not a great picture - hardly worth posting:

 

[Tom C]

I keep these too. They came as Hemigrammus sp. "Tetra Orange".
They seem to have scales on the base of the caudal fin, which correspond well with being an Hemigrammus, and they show an adipose fin, so they are not a Hasemania nana, Silvertip Tetra.

I think they look amazing:

They do for sure not rest on the bottom here, as they share a tank with a bunch of
massive 8cm+ Apistogramma sp. "D10"

 

[anewbie]

I keep these too. They came as Hemigrammus sp. "Tetra Orange".
They seem to have scales on the base of the caudal fin, which correspond well with being an Hemigrammus, and they show an adipose fin, so they are not a Hasemania nana, Silvertip Tetra.

I think they look amazing:

They do for sure not rest on the bottom here, as they share a tank with a bunch of
massive 8cm+ Apistogramma sp. "D10"

I haven't seen them on the bottom the last few days but I'm thinking of getting one of these video cameras that stick tot he side of the aquarium and seeing what they do when i'm not around. In fact as the days have passed they have started to hang out higher and higher (this tank is actually going to hold a pair of n. teugelsi (yea yea shoot me for being geographically incorrect but i couldn't resist trying these new fangle orange tetra)) - anyway the camera is cheap it records to sd card and and I am curious about their behavior when i am not around . Your group look really nice.

The tank they are in is a new setup and i've been doing daily water changes unfortunately that is thinning the tannis - and this is definitely a fish that looks nicer with lots of plants and tannis.

 

[Mazan]

I keep these too. They came as Hemigrammus sp. "Tetra Orange".
They seem to have scales on the base of the caudal fin, which correspond well with being an Hemigrammus, and they show an adipose fin, so they are not a Hasemania nana, Silvertip Tetra.

I think they look amazing:

They do for sure not rest on the bottom here, as they share a tank with a bunch of
massive 8cm+ Apistogramma sp. "D10"

They look lovely, a store here (Ecuador) is meant to be getting some tetras soon that they are calling "Tetra zaramizina", I am wondering if they are the same? They possibly come from a location close to that of the Amaya pencilfish as these will arrive in the same shipment, though I can't be sure. This is a screen shot taken from the video they sent on the WhatsApp group, obviously these fish are in far from ideal conditions and I expect would colour up more when established.