Reddish black phantoms?

[jollysue]

I picked up two black phantom juvies a couple of months ago to add to my shoal. I saw the lfs put one he netted back and say, "no this one," and net a different one.

The new phantoms, still juvies, are showing more and more red tint to them and reddish finnage (the bottom one?). One of the two is almost the color of my bleeding hearts. Only he has the marks of a black phantom: the black top knot, and the neon on the stripes at the gills is pronounced.

Has anyone seen this, or familiar with it?

 

[Ben]

Could be a Serpae Tetra

DD

 

[The-Wolf]

maybe you have red phantoms Megalamphodus sweglesi
as opposed to black phantoms Megalamphodus megalopterus

 

[jollysue]

I don't think they're serpae, dwarf dude. They have the black and silver neon markings on their gill place.

I'm going to check out Wolf's suggestion.

Although I do think they are a little confused. When the serpae went to war these little guys got caught up in it and one got his tail nipped good. Now they switch back and forth from the bleeding hearts to the black phantoms.

I'm going to go do a search. If anyone has a good "tetra world" site let me know.

 

[jollysue]

Well here's what I found:

TaDa!!!

The male and female Black Phantom can be distinguish by the difference in color. The male is a black hue.

The female is a reddish hue with red fins!! So I find that I have two female and three male Black Phantoms.

 

[Elisabeth83]

Well here's what I found:

TaDa!!!

The male and female Black Phantom can be distinguish by the difference in color. The male is a black hue.

The female is a reddish hue with red fins!! So I find that I have two female and three male Black Phantoms.

[snapback]866621[/snapback]​

I was just going to respond and tell you exactly this...but ya beat me to it I was looking into getting black phantom tetras (I want something black) too but then I found out that the male and female are 2 different colors and I'm looking for a shoaling fish that both sexes look the same. I might just give in and get them anyways though because I haven't found a black shoaling fish that I like as much as I like them

edit: how are they towards eachother and other fish?

 

[pebbles]

you have already determined what they are, female black phantoms .. as for their behaviour ,I have always found them very amicable with other fish around and they tend to keep active within their own group . Always a lot of chasing but no aggression .Great fish to have , i have 4 females and 2 males .. it works well.

 

[Elisabeth83]

I'd like to see how they look in a tank. Seeing them in a pet shop is one thing but seeing them in someones planted tank is another. I'm trying to decide if they would go well with my other fish (looks wise ).

 

[jollysue]

As with most tetras they nip. They mostly do the quick jab "get outa my space" nips as opposed to the round and round "Gotcha" chases. Nevertheless one of the juvie females got involved with the hi-fin serpae free for alls and lost a chunk of her tail fin for her trouble. A neon would have stayed out of the way and covered you know what.

Mostly they seem to stay in their group which includes the Bleeding Hearts in my tank. They come close to shoaling together and are nearly always in a group with each other (BH & BP).

They are smaller, but there's nothing much more stately than a Black Phantom when he strutts and glides. They don't bother my cockatoos, etc. and they don't seem to be going to damage each other. As I have said elsewhere, since I took the serpae out, the tank has become less violent and non lethal. Everyone has relaxed. Although the glo lights hide under driftwood and behind plants peeking around and covered on three sides.

I am losing one of my diamond heads (from my second tropical buy) from damage he sustained in the great serpae war.

Although none appear to be headed to matching the serpae aggression, most have stepped up their pecking order in the tank.

 

[Briarmoor]

I have 4 Black Phantoms, 1 male and 3 females. The LFS guy thought that a couple of the BP might really be hybrid cross with red phantoms. They don't all look alike, IMO. Who knows. One does have a more reddish cast to her body, the other has the red anal (?) fins but a blacker body. The male is the black all over. Very pretty fish no matter if they aren't identical in color.

I don't need another male as this one sees himself in the glass and flares, very silly. One of the females flares some too and I wondered if "she" was really "he" but am almost certain she is a girl because of the finnage and fin color.

One thing I noticed was how shy these tetras are. It took them a week to come out from behind decorations and plants when the tank light was on. Funny thing, once I added the Pearl gourami girls, everyone got more active and bold. One Pearl already will eat flakes from my fingers, so definitely I would consider putting brave fish in with the BF to bring them out of their shells.

At first the BF thought they'd check out the Pearls who were in their territory, but even as juveniles, the Pearls took over, but are not mean to the BF, just nippy sometimes with each other. There are 4 Black Neons in there too and they are zippier than my smaller blue neons also somewhat shy.

P.

 

[jollysue]

Some interesting observations.

Each of my BP are slightly different in shading. And the females are different in little shades and markings. One is redder and the anal fin(?) is redder and the neon silver/grey(?) around the black gill marks is showier. Still they are BP and not a hybrid. This little discussion and studying them I'm seeing that I could get to know them individually. Same with the bleeding hearts.

The little flares are so attractive, and your story of the one in the mirror/glass is funny

I see at least one of the females flare too.

I just got so upset at my terrorist hi-fin serpae, just so vicious and pretty. They have maimed one of my diamond heads. He can't swim right. He turns when he tries. He's been like that for a couple of weeks I think. He gamely keeps on. I assume he'll die.

I think slower schooling fish could get some tail fins nipped. I want to add a schoal of harlequins. I will adjust my tanks to accomadate them.

 

[Briarmoor]

Some interesting observations.

The little flares are so attractive, and your story of the one in the mirror/glass is funny

[snapback]867075[/snapback]​

Yes, he thought he'd flare at the huge (relatively speaking) pleco when he first saw him. I busted a gut. Like that little BP was really going to defend his women against a huge fish. Not that the pleco gave a care they were in the tank anyway. But the extra fish has helped bring the pleco out of its shell too. It used to hide all the time, now its out with everyone else feeding with lights on.

One of my new BP females is hanging with my new Opaline gourami some this morning. Kind of interesting. The black neons schooled with the BP when they first got added to the 55g, now they hang at the top a lot on their own. I could waste a lot of a day watching fish. Wait! I do waste a lot of my day.

P.

 

[jollysue]

Well just go on telling your observations and stories. I'm enjoying reading them. They give me a which I needed this morning. Are you sure you're not one of those GA folk instead of TN? You know all those Pulitzer Deep South writers? "Chicken Soup for the Fishkeeper."

 

[Briarmoor]

Well just go on telling your observations and stories. I'm enjoying reading them. They give me a which I needed this morning. Are you sure you're not one of those GA folk instead of TN? You know all those Pulitzer Deep South writers? "Chicken Soup for the Fishkeeper."

[snapback]868301[/snapback]​

Well, I write from time to time for some dog magazines, but other than storytelling about fish, I don't know enough to write anything of merit really. But I'm glad you are entertained. I get a kick reading other posters musings on their fish too. It is nice to get past the initial freak out of new tank syndrome, sick fish, and so on when one can relax and just enjoy their tanks and hearing how others enjoy theirs. At the moment I can hardly stand that I want a 125g full of various species of Rainbows and how I can attain that goal. ) Wait! Add some Congo tetras! And some Giant Danios...and...and...and... I want them all.

And the pipe dream? - Huge in house "pond" with a true Giant Gourami or 2. How cool would that be? I'd no longer have a husband (he's worried already at the rate of tank accumulation), but it would be one fine house.

P.

 

[jollysue]

There's nothing wrong with story telling.

The great writers tell stories first.

I'll check in again. It's the end of my day and I still have some fish to feed. Then it's