Tetra - Orange Lemon (Hyphessobrycon Pulchripinnis)

Care Level: Easy
Water Conditions: PH 6.0-7.5 Soft to Moderately Hard
Temperature: 72-82°F (22-28°C)
Maximum Size: 2 inches (5 cm)

The lemon tetra is a small fresh-water fish, and an old aquarist favourite. These fish are native to Brazil and were first collected in 1937 for the aquarium trade, making them one of the oldest modern aquarium fishes. Lemon tetras inhabit clear water, with a strong current, and prefer to live near shore in the shallows. These are mostly found in heavily vegetated areas of small overgrown streams and the home aquarium will replicate this setting as closely as possible. 

In the wild, lemon tetras shoal in large numbers, and they should be kept in the home aquarium in large groups. While they can be kept in groups as small as six, they only really thrive when they are kept in groups of a dozen or more fish – with approximately equal numbers of males and females. However, there are bonuses to keeping them in big groups, because they are more likely to show off their fun shoaling behaviour. 

Any tank containing these fish should have soft water, and should be planted quite heavily, but with open spaces left to swim as these fish will often lose their colouring in bare tanks. In the past, wild caught specimens lost their colouring in harder alkaline water but now that most of these fish are farmed they can adapt to most types of water.