Imposter In A Shoal Of Congo Tetras

[scouse_andy]

Today I bought six Congo Tetras.

I got them home and acclimatised them and immediately noticed that one appeared quite different from the rest.

I left them to settle in for a bit then came back this evening to take some pictures. He spends most of his time separate from the other five.

I'm almost certain he is not a Congo but have tried to figure out what else he could be and can't work it out. Can anybody help please?

Here he is right in the middle of the picture:

Another photo of him next to a Congo, surely a different species:

And a nice close up to help ID:

Tell me I'm not going mad and they are different. His tail fin, colouring, scales and eyes all look significantly different to me.

Cheers, Andy.

 

[severum boy]

Yep, its a different species. Im not great with tetras (to put it mildly), but il have a look in a few books for you.

Does it have any sort of spot on its body? How big is it?

 

[scouse_andy]

Yep, its a different species. Im not great with tetras (to put it mildly), but il have a look in a few books for you.

Does it have any sort of spot on its body? How big is it?

No spots at all, I'd say about an inch and a half. I've had a look around the common tetras and can't ID it.

 

[severum boy]

Humm. Its not something ive ever seen, nor does it look similar to anything.
Id wait for someone who knows what their talking about to come along!

 

[scouse_andy]

Humm. Its not something ive ever seen, nor does it look similar to anything.
Id wait for someone who knows what their talking about to come along!

Cheers, thanks for your help, at least you've convinced me I'm not mad. My wife has been telling me that it's the same species and I need new glasses.

 

[three-fingers]

The shop I work in has a fish just like that (but with a much less florescent line, maybe its the lighting) , got a shoal of them in as 'blue line characins', but there's only one left, as some were bought and the remainder kept bullying the smallest one. I've tried lot's of time to look for a species name, trawling through fishbase pics, but with no luck. I cant remember if I only searched through south American fish though, I may have another go tonight.

If it's the same species, hopefully the congos will keep it in check .

Sorry I'm no help with an ID.

 

[Butch]

I can be wrong but I thinks this tetra come from South America...and its name is Cochu's Blue Tetra, (Boehlkea fredcochui) or possibly its relatives? At first I thought it was gold tetra then its croaking tetra and then it Buenos Aire tetras. So my answers are mostly guesses. Its still looks like Cochu's blue tetra to me.

 

[scouse_andy]

I can be wrong but I thinks this tetra come from South America...and its name is Cochu's Blue Tetra, (Boehlkea fredcochui) or possibly its relatives? At first I thought it was gold tetra then its croaking tetra and then it Buenos Aire tetras. So my answers are mostly guesses. Its still looks like Cochu's blue tetra to me.

I can't find any info on croaking tetras. I would rule out the Gold Tetra having looked at the pictures but the Cochu's Blue Tetra looks quite promising having seen a few pictures online.

It's interesting you mention Buenos Aires Tetras as they were in the same tank as the Congos in the shop but I thought they all had red fins.

Thanks for your help with this.

Anybody else got any thoughts?

I think once I know what it is I will try to catch it without ruining my newly scaped tank and see if they'll swap it for a true Congo when I'm next in. Not very fair on the fish to be all alone when he doesn't often shoal with the others.

 

[firetank]

possibly Neolebias Trilineatus, african single line tetra would make sense if it was a by-catch...

 

[Lateral Line]

My first thoughts when I saw it was that it was one of the "blue" tetras, there are several species sold as such. Cochu's, (Boehlkea fredcochui), is a good bet. It does look like a South American fish whereas the Congo's are, of course, African. Thing is, after they arrive at the importers or dealers, they can be mixed with all manner of things.

African tetras have a different look about them, they tend to have relatively few, larger scales whereas South Americans, lots of small scales. There are exceptions of course.

 

[Davo86]

you know i recognised this fish instantly, as in the store where we work we always seem to get the odd one of these that come in with other species of tetra,
atm, i have no idea what they are, but i'll have a google and see if i can find them

 

[ted28]

Do you know what I think it is? A female Yellow Tail Congo tetra (ALESTOPETERSIUS CAUDALIS). It looks awfully like my female. They don't have the yellow tail like the males.

female

Male

 

[scouse_andy]

Do you know what I think it is? A female Yellow Tail Congo tetra (ALESTOPETERSIUS CAUDALIS). It looks awfully like my female. They don't have the yellow tail like the males.

female

Male

Thanks for all the suggestions. Interesting to read through. The Yellow Tail Congo female seems entirely possible as they do stock the yellow tails too. Some species of blue tetra from SA seems probable though and the fish does have a very blue tint to it and does, as Lateral Line says, have many smaller scales rather than the very distinctive larger scales of the Congos. I would probably rule out Neolebias Trilineatus going by the particular picture supplied in the post.

The fish is dividing his time between being a loner and loosely shoaling with the 5 Congos.

 

[Davo86]

am i right in saying that the fish in question looks like a largish greyish blue buenos aries tetra ?

 

[scouse_andy]

am i right in saying that the fish in question looks like a largish greyish blue buenos aries tetra ?

yep, body shape and scales appear very much like a Buenos Aires. Obviously no red fins or black patch. Thye fish has coloured up even more over the last few days. Very blue on the top and the line along the length of the body sometimes appears greenish.