Rummy Nose Tetras Or Blood Fin Tetras?

[Dunkal]

I have a few black ruby barbs in a rio 125 and was thinking of getting either some Rummy nose tetras or Blood fin tetras but not sure which to get. I want active interesting fish to watch. Any suggestions??

Thanks

 

[SchottayB]

Personal choice I'd say. I'd rather have Rummy Nose Tetra, I think they look good in a big group

 

[mattlee]

rummys are extremely active and stay together like no other tetra ive ever kept. the bigger the group the better like all tetras and shoaling fish but these are best in groups of 10-12+

 

[Dunkal]

Do the blood fins have same behaviour as rummy noses?

 

[mattlee]

they will shoal like any tetra type fish but i doubt it will be as much as the rummys. different fish have diferent character, i had 30 cardinals and they were all over the tank unless startled and in the same tank i had a big group of rummys that never left each others side.

having never kept blood fins i cant vouch for them but nothing comes close to rummys in my experience for active shoaling behaviour

 

[littlegreentiger]

I have 10 Rummy's and am very happy with them. They generally hang out pretty close together but in the company of only a few tank mates that don't bother them it can be a lose shoal as they appear full of confidence. This has been particularly noticeable since I increased my school from 5 to 10. They now swim in areas of the tank they didn't bother with before (higher up and also towards a corner 'owned' by my Odessa Barbs). They appear to 'play' with the water flow from the filter. I have it angled to bounce off the upper side of the tank rather than directly down into the centre of the tank. There's not much evidence of the flow to the naked eye but my Rummy's seem to enjoy 'riding' the flow one way then swimming back against it and 'riding' the flow again. There are periods that some of them repeat this many times over before moving on to another part of the tank. I've also seen them having a much closer look at the bubbles from the air stones since I increased the school size. And I saw some behaviour I wasn't expecting yesterday. Given their greater confidence now it's not unusual to see one or two drift away from the main group a little. I guess as it's only a 43l tank they feel comfortable that they're never that far from the main group. But yesterday I noticed all 10 were initially swimming around in a loose 'follow the leader' pattern until one wasn't paying attention to the change of direction and got left behind. 3/4 of the 9 broke away from the group to return to 1 that had been left behind (he was just 'sitting' in the mid level looking the wrong way). They swam around him and then back to the group. He did not follow, so again 3/4 (not sure if it was the same ones or not) returned to the 1. I think it was only on the 4th attempt that they managed to get him to follow them back to the main group. It was absolutely fascinating to watch.

All of that said I have to confess I've never had any Blood Fin.

 

[Dunkal]

I still like the look of bloodfins though and seen a few videos on youtube and they seem really active.

 

[mattlee]

then it looks like your decision has been made.

 

[littlegreentiger]

Go for it. Blood Fins are nice looking fishes too.