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Known as one of the "Blood Characins" the serpae is closely related to H. Callistus and others. Identification can be difficult They are all peaceful and will make a fine addition to any community tank

Quick stats:

Listed tank sizes are the minimum Size: 1.5" (4 cm) Tank: 24 inches Strata: Middle PH: 5.5-7.5 Hardness: Soft to hard. dH range: 3.0 - 12.0 Temperature: 75 to 82°F (24-28°C) Classification: Order: Crypriniformes Suborder: Characoidei Family: Characidae Genera: Hyphessobrycon Species: Serpae

Status:

Not in IUCN Red List

Common name:

Serpae tetra, Serpae

Image gallery:

Additional species photographs

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Distribution

South America, Peru, Amazon river basin

Tall and compressed the serpae is a sleek fish. The females are more rounded or robust.

Being one of the "Blood Tetras" the base body color is brilliant red to reddish brown. A black comma shaped spot is located just behind the gill cover. In some bright fish this spot may be small or not even there, in all fish it will lessen in size as the fish ages. The dorsal fin is tall and colored black with white fringe, it may have a reddish hue to it. The tail, anal, and ventral fins are red. The anal fin is fringed in black and white layers.

The tank should be well planted either using live or plastic plants and be dimmed with some floating material. As with all fish good filtration and water purity must be maintained. Feeding is not a problem as they will except all types of food, flake frozen or live, what is important is that you vary the food on a regular basis and provide enough to satisfy them. They are generally peaceful, but when there in a large school during feeding, they bite each other's fins in a feeding frenzy, reminiscent of the piranha.

Calm, heavily vegetated water, also the Black water of the Amazon

Breeding:

The Blood Characins are some of the easier Tetras to breed. Condition the pair well and use a small breeding tank (3 to 5 gallons) with a dark substrate and containing many fine leafed plants such as Myriophyllum, Cabomba and some Java moss, also include some floating material as well.. The water qualities should be soft and acidic, readings of: pH 6-7 and 4-8 dH should be fine keep the temperature in the middle seventies. The small transparent eggs will be strewn among the plants. Remove the parents after spawning. The fry hatch in 24-28 hours. Feed the young baby brine shrimp, Infusoria, egg yolk, and when larger, finely crushed flake food.

Serpae Tetra Click photo to buy Hyphessobrycon eques (callistus)

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From: Sherilyn Lianne Date:02/13/2008 I initially had 2 of these long finned beauties, they just hung out together and ignored m other fishes. After I read a profile saying these fishes were lively and would not pick on the other fishes if the were kept in a group of 6 or more, I happily went to my LFS and bought 4 more beautiful long finned ones since they were supposedly less aggressive. HUGE MISTAKE! In a big group, these guys picked on each other before they formed the mafia and terrorized the whole of my tank. My neons had chunks of their tails missing, they killed my betta, yellow ram, hatchetfish and molly. My clown killies and cories had their beautiful tails shredded. The only fishes they never could get was my puffer who was forced into hiding, my SAE who was too fast for them and my otos whom they could never extort much fun out of. I've since taken them out and replaced them with some zebra danios. 4 died and I'm back to 2 serpaes. Not recommended for a community tank. From: Trence Lance Date:10/11/2007 After reading comments about these fish on two sites the past two days since my accidental purchase. I have to believe that the "really peaceful" serpae are really one of their cousins that Are peaceful(ie, Flame, Rosey). These fish are very similar in shape and color, so are often misidentified by pet store dealers. Why I say this? Because I thought I'd bought 6 Flame tetras, a peaceful species, for my peaceful community tank. Wrong, I found out online that they are Serpae when looking up information on Flame tetras. Imagine my shock when the fish I owned did not match the Flame tetra photos/descriptions! They Are nippy, they are aggressive! At first they were cute and harmless following my cherry barbs around the tank, but they have since gotten bolder and have nipped the female cherry barb's tail fins. They do not however bother my lone Neon(he holds his own and takes no nonsense), the male cherry barb(he bullies back if they try), or the otocinclus catfish(they don't seem to find them tasty). Fortunately for them, if they had done any damage to my Otos or Neon I would of removed them immediately to a fishbowl. As it is they are still on trial, I've separated the female cherry barb for her sake until her fins grow back. If she'd just spend less time eating and more time defending herself they'd probably leave her alone like the others. I do like the Serpae, they are lively and pretty, but they are not for unplanned peaceful-gentle communities. Compatibility must be taken into consideration with them. I say they're really for fishkeepers with more experience. From: J Norton Date:9/24/2007 I have 2 serpae tetras and they go great with all of my other fish. I have read some of the comments and they say they are aggressive fish but even with the neons.... they do not even bother them. I find that they like to swim with my Rosy barbs, black phantoms, and the blue flames. They are very peaceful fish... maybe because I have a 29 gallon tank and there is enough room for every fish or maybe because the black phantom tetras sized them up when they fist got in the tank and let them know that they were dominate. These serpae tetras are a great addition to my tank. And I find that in groups of 2 or 3 of each fish with my experience have showed less aggression than with 5 or 6 of each kind of fish. From: Sandii Date:9/08/2007 I bought 5 serpae fish because they looked friendly for my children to watch BIG MISTAKE!! They chase my other fish around constantly my poor angel fish is trying to lay her eggs as soon as she does they gobble them up she is laying once a fortnight now. They chased my platies and one died and they try to eat my babies bristlenose which have just laid about thirty babies that I can see but the only fish so far that haven't been affected are my guppies which are now mating I have a Aquastyle tank which is 165 litres I guess the way they are all mating I'm going to need a bigger tank unless the serpae eat them all which is what I expect. From: Jeff Dean Date:6/11/2007 I have never had any problems with Serpae's until the last time I picked some up. I got 6 of them and they tore everything up; Angels, Catfish, Black Skirted Tetra's. I finally put them in with the Tiger Barbs and Convicts. They seem more at ease and have adjusted to a pecking order and just mind their own business. Peaceful is what I thought, Battle Worthy is what they are.... From: Sharon Date:6/02/2007 Wow, im so surprised by your comments, I have 5 serpeas in a community tank and I've never had any problems/aggression from them?? I have 4 corys in there, red eyed tetras, silver dollars, tiger barbs, pristella tetras, a pleco, etc. and they all have great fins and get along fine! I thought my serpaes are peaceful fish?!? From: Tony Date:4/21/2007 I have a school of 8 of these, which have killed 2 cory cats and are now nipping up a pleco and some dojo loaches. I've kept them in the past as dither fish in a convict tank, which I think was a much better match. I'm considering removing them from my community tank and taking them to the fish store. From: Ro Date:2/25/2007 I have 2 serpaes, 2 cherry barbs, 2 blue longfin danios, 1 male veiltail betta, 1 SAE, and 2 bolivian rams. The serpaes have literally nipped off 1/4 of my bettas dorsal fins. They started picking on the cherry barbs and that was their mistake as the cherry barbs are now bullying them. It's to the extent where the serpaes are afraid to surface to grab their flakes/bloodworms, thus I have to feed them sinking shrimp pellets. The cherry barbs have also defended the rams against the fin nipping serpaes. If you are having trouble with serpaes, try giving the cherry barbs a shot by adding them to your tank and you may be lucky that the barbs will keep those little devils under controls. Cherry barbs don't fin nip nor bully fish unless otherwise bullied first by the others. They are very shy and docile fish and will hide most of the times inbetween the plants. Date:2/9/2007 I had 5 of these which I added to my community tank, big mistake! They have hacked at my albino cory and panda cory and other fish as well. They are very lively though adding some interest to the tank but just too aggressive for me, they had to be removed from the tank after just over a week, my fault really From: Daphne Date:02/05/2007 This is an update on the comment I left last January. I still have 7 of the original 8 in my Amazon tank. For the past couple of months I've been worried about my corys (have 12 of them, bronze and peppered) because they have ragged fins. I thought at first a kribensis was doing the damage. Actually, I should not have a krib in an Amazon tank.....he's African.....but was born in the tank and I can't bear to part with him. Wrong!!! The serpae tetras are nipping at my beloved corys. Now I'm considering taking these beautiful fish to my favorite store in Tacoma and replacing them with something else, something peaceful like black skirts or another type of larger tetra. While they are just beautiful, I don't think they can stay in the tank. My tank is a peaceful collection of raphaels, hoplos, callycthis, rams, and small tetras, and no one harasses anyone else. These little malcontents are either going back or are going to get their own species tank. Beware if you do have gentle fish. While keeping a larger group of them prevents excessive fin nipping on other species, it seems that they still find it necessary to try their friends out for taste.   CLICK HERE FOR MORE COMMENTS

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