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One of my favorite fish. The Silver Dollar is a peaceful schooling species with a great personality. One word of caution they love greens and will completely defoliate a fish tank in no time at all. They should have some short of vegetable supplement in their diet.

Quick stats:

Listed tank sizes are the minimum
Size:	Up to 8" (20cm)
Tank:	48 inches
Strata:	Middle
PH:	6.0 to 7.5
Hardness:	Soft to medium. dH range: 4.0 - 18.0
Temperature:	75ºF to 84ºF (24-29°C)

Classification

Order:	Cypriniformes
Suborder:	Characoidei
Super-Family:	Characidoidea
Family:	Serrasalmidae
Genera:	Metynnis

Silver dollar, Schreitmullers' Metynnis

Additional species photographs

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Distribution

Widely distributed throughout South America, from Guyana to Paraguay, including the Amazon river basin.

Basically circular in shape, as long as tall, with very marked lateral compression. The front on profile of the back and stomach are not uniformly convex (out ) , but rather curve in at the Dorsal and Anal fin level. Like most members of the family (Piranha included!) they have tiny scales with small mouths and enlarged lips. The Caudal fin is slightly indented, the Adipose fin is long and short and in mature males the front part of the anal fin is crescent shaped. They can reach a size of five and one half inches, with the males smaller than the females.

The entire body is basically a strong Silver/Gray, with a high iridescence, which is highlighted when the fish are in a large school. The back is slightly darker being Greenish/Gray or Greenish/Blue in color. The Anal fin has a pale tinge of Silver color in the front that fades toward the back. The Dorsal fin is clear with a series of small dark spots. In well cared for males, the Caudal fin and the Gill cover have a Reddish border. A narrow, dark vertical band runs through each eye. As with most fish there are color variations.

Shallow areas of their home range that are heavily vegetated

The Silver Dollars require a large tank, a standard 55 or 40 gallon would be fine. The tank should have no live plants as this species is mainly vegetarian in habit. The substrate should be dark in color with subdued lighting. They are schooling fish and will always be shy and skittish in a small tank, so give them as much room as possible. The diet should primarily include plant material, particularly Romaine Lettuce, along with the various live foods. Water quality is not critical and the temperature should be kept in the upper Seventies to low Eighties.

In nature these fish spawn in shallow, sun drenched flooded areas of rivers. In the home aquarium they have been breed in clear aged water with a temperature between 81 and 90f. The eggs hatch in about four days and are free swimming a week later. If well fed they will grow very quickly.

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Silver Dollar Click photo to buy Metynnis argenteus

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From: Harvey Date:06/16/2008 I should add that this fish may play dead when you acclimate them it's new home. Don't be alarmed they will be swimming freely within a day or so and once used to a normal feeding habit will be lively. I've bought these before and there's many types out there. I personally like Red Hooks but I have common ones cause Red Hooks are expensive. From: Gareth lewis Date:11/04/2007 I find that the best plants to keep with silver dollars are crypts all varieties. As regarding breeding. You know when they are they are ready to breed. The male fins will shine with a red tinge and the female develops two black spots behind the gill covers. They will chase each other round the tank then start egg scattering on plants or stones. From: Maria Jones Date:4/18/2007 Hiya I have three silver dollars I find that they don't touch Java fern Java moss or moss balls so if you want to have real plants in the tank these are the best! From: Andrew Mowbray Date:2/12/2007 I've read alot of comments about it being foolish to put live plants in with silver dollars but I place live plants in my 90 gal tank specifically for my silver dollars. I have two very large sd's and they do like my plants but they never ruin them or completely devour them, in fact I feel it is worth the small investment to give them a large variety of thing to nibble on. I also have a few large angel fish in with them who are extremely aggressive, however the sd's always seem to hold their own and are never intimidated. I do appreciate learning new things about my fish but I also must say I find all fish to have individual needs even within their own. From: Brian Date:11/3/2006 I enjoy my Silver Dollar. Not knowing much about the fish at the time I bought him, I have probably broken most of the conventional rules regarding keeping them but he appears no worse for the wear. I have a 20 gallon tank. When I bought him he was about the size of a quarter, he is now roughly four inches long not counting his fins. He seems quite happy by himself. He will go through periods of swimming back and forth and up and down; and then he will take a break swimming slowly or hovering; and then repeat the process. My two albino cories often join him and its quite a sight. He is more active than not though and brings quite a bit of life to the tank. He stays in the mid-strata most of the time except when feeding. He will eat at the top (his main diet is flakes although I feed him other treats too) and in the middle. He also has a habit, once the primary feeding is done, of looking very selectively in the gravel for scraps for a minute or so. I also feed him about every other day a very light boiled piece of spinach. He seems to relish this. He also likes tubifex worms and shrimp pellets. Sudden movements will scare him but otherwise he is not that skittish. He is generally the largest fish in my little tank and yet is generally peaceful. The only exception is with fish with wavy fins. I don't know if this is related to them being vegetarians and perhaps finding some wavy fins to be leaf like, but I have noticed he would try to nip the fins of an angelfish I once had (but only when the angel got very close). I would agree that they eat voraciously and he splashes quite a bit when he eats, making feeding time quite a spectacle. A fun fish to keep. From: Pamela Kennedy Date:9/11/2006 I've read alot of comments about it being foolish to put live plants in with silver dollars but I place live plants in my 90 gal tank specifically for my silver dollars. I have two very large sd's and they do like my plants but they never ruin them or completely devour them, in fact I feel it is worth the small investment to give them a large variety of thing to nibble on. I also have a few large angel fish in with them who are extremely aggressive, however the sd's always seem to hold their own and are never intimidated. I do appreciate learning new things about my fish but I also must say I find all fish to have individual needs even within their own kind. They're kind of like my children and all children are different. From: Nedinska Date:7/13/2006 I have 2 Silver Dollars which I have had for the last 4 years. Both are larger than the bottom of pop cans and I agree largely with the other comments about feeding and their love of live plants. I have found too, though, that my fish are particularly skittish and prefer to live in a dark tank. I sometimes turn the hood light on but find that the two just huddle in a corner. The minute I turn the light off, they are back out swimming. My fish seem to prefer the natural lighting that gets into the tank during the day rather than the artificial lighting of the hood. From: PJ Cham Date:10/7/2005 After new tank had been established and cycled for 3 months I purchased 3 Silver Dollars (LFS only had 3 in shop). Great addition to tank. I made a note of the dates of purchases and sizes of fish. The New Silver Dollars were all 35mm long (not incl tail). Exactly 2 months later they are 85mm long (Be aware, still growing). They are in a 4ft tank with group of Cories and doing very well although I intend to move them to a larger tank in future. They take most food incl catfish pellets and flake but Love frozen bloodworm and algae wafers. As soon as wafers are dropped into tank each Silver Dollar collects one pc and keeps in mouth, slowly nibbling away until gone. By adding several wafers at a time this means the cories are undisturbed to have their turn. Shy fish so ensure they have some places to hide even when then get larger. Can be jumpy so better if there are no sharp rock edges or decor in tank. From: Kristin Date:9/19/2004 I haven't found much on the web about silver dollar breeding, my pair have just had babies so here's some info: The time of year here in New Zealand is early spring (Sept) which apparently is a good time for fish to start their breeding. My male started getting a very dark edge to his tail and also top fin, 2 dark spots appeared on his side about the size of a thumbnail and he got an orangy red patch around the bottom of his gills. He would chase the female around alot and frequently would join his bottom half with hers and wrap is bottom fin under her and jiggle for a couple of seconds. I changed them to my other tank by themselves when I saw this. Just under a week later I noticed small fry swimming around, I can only count about 15. I've read that the eggs fall from her in between the gravel and hatch there but I didn't see this. Although I did notice dark long things on the wall of the tank that looks like small patches of algae about the same size of the babies so she might have stuck them there? They all swim separately not in a group and feed off the algae in the tank, I bought some fry food but they don't really feed from the surface so Im hoping that it will be a OK diet until they get bigger. Their size is about 5mm long and 2mm high. Apparently also they make good parents and don't eat their young but I put a large leaf of lettuce in there every second day, weighting it down with a peg just in case they get too hungry. I've kept the water temp at 26C and the pH level is around 6.6 to 6.2. When cleaning the tank I would recommend no vigorous movement and do only slight changes in water every week. I hope this helps anyone wanting to breed their silver dollars. I've had mine for over a year and they've only just started doing this. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COMMENTS

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