Emperor tetras are highly sexually dimorphic and thus males and females are quite easily distinguished from each other. The body is long, slim, and flattened to about 3 inches at maturity. Looking from the eye to the tail area, you will find a black line placed within a blue stripe. The sickled shaped dorsal fin, along with the pectoral fin and anal fins are yellow. The male is larger than the female and his anal fins are longer. The male caudal is more pointed than the female.
Species - Black Emperor Tetra - Nematobrycon Palmeri
Current Size – 3cm – 4cm
Adult Length – 4.2cm
Temperature Range – 23 – 27 °C
pH Range – 5.0 – 7.5
Water Hardness – 18 – 215 ppm
Tanks Mates and Compatibility - It’s a good tankmate for most commonly available livebearers, danionins, rasboras, other tetras and peaceful bottom dwellers such as Corydoras or smaller Loricariids. It can also be kept with the majority of commonly available gouramis and dwarf cichlids. Obviously it isn’t safe with larger species that may see it as food. In a South American-themed tank as described above, it can be combined with other peaceful tetras, pencil fish, Apistogramma and other dwarf cichlids.
Ideal Number to Keep - Always buy a group of at least half a dozen of these, preferably 10 or more. It’s a shoaling species by nature, and will fare much better when in the company of its own kind. It actually looks far more effective when maintained like this anyway. Rival males are territorial with one another to an extent, but no serious damage is done during their battles provided the tank is sufficiently large and well-decorated.
Feeding - In the aquarium it will accept dried foods of a suitable size but should not be fed these exclusively. Daily meals of small live and frozen fare such as Daphnia, Artemia and suchlike will result in the best colouration and encourage the fish to come into breeding condition.
We recommend:
Please note – Some images used are library photos and will show the colour potential at a fully mature size, as our fish are juvenilles they may vary.
We always aim to supply the fish as close to the purchase size as possible. However if this is not possible, we will always contact you to discuss.
The fish are selected at random however you are welcome to make a note on the order and the fish manager will do his best for you. This is dependent on current stock at the time of your order.
