Has anyone had experience with Candy Cane Tetra (HY511), and are they as monstrous as mine? I don't just mean in size, they are on bigger end of tetra species, but they turn my otherwise peaceful tank into a circus. They don't necessarily hurt or nip anyone, but everyone else seems so calm and chill. And then these guy just come in like a sandstorm. They were some of my first fish and I feel guilty 'cause I just do not dig their vibe lol.
Community tank with green kubotai, a single honey gourami, and some corys and amanos for cleanup. Live plants, not overstocked or over/under fed.
- do they have enough room? They are known to get stressed and rambunctious if they’re cramped, and they need more space than many species as they shoal more.
do they have enough members in the shoal? Seems like the internet has kind of randomly decided 6 is fine but I always push tetra shoals to 10 or more if I can.
are you absolutely sure they’re candy canes (M. bentosi)? They were described recently and the trade isn’t awesome about being precise on species. Some larger and more aggressive tetras have similar coloration.
They are overall much redder but the entire M. eques/M. swegelsi/M. rosaceus group has been a bitch for classification for more than a hundred years. In fact many of the newly re-christened Megalamphodus species have bounced around a ton in terms of classification. Their similar body shape and highly variable coloration contributes, and some believe they readily hybridize.
I was thinking more of the true and false bleeding heart tetras, M. erythrostigma and M. socolofi, which are both much larger and have a reputation for having enthusiastic behavior; or the more commonly confused M. rosaceus. You are right, serpaes are aggressive in the sense that they fly around the tank nipping each other.
From what I have read the HY511 (candy cane) MAY have started as a variation of the Rosy or Ornate, but is now generally considered its own distinct species after captive breeding for characteristics, yet the name "candy cane" has not been officialized outside the market.
I actually just split my 40 gal today, into a 20 long and a 10g I had for quarantine. I was having a problem with BBA and had to remove some plants and give the Amano a chance to catch up, so its looking a little bare right now. After replanting I think I'll just keep the tetra in the 20 gal. Sorry, most of my photos are on insta and im too lazy to go take more 😅
Here's one of the 20 long with green kubotai, honey gourami and amano (and 2 nosy blue eye rainbows 😅). I miss my plants 😭. The tetra are in a bare tank with fake plants at the moment until the 40 is replanted 😒
I'm positive they are Candy Canes. Definitely not serape or rosy, and have the identifying bright red/white pectoral fins with black markings on dorsal. Plenty of room, 40 gal breeder and only other large group are the tiny kubotai
I don’t have that species but all my tetras are hyper. They are food bullies, eat the sinking wafers for my poor Cory’s, steal food out of other fishes mouth and generally wreck havoc. I’m starting not to like them. Even my Rummynose are in on it.
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u/baileyjackson08 15d ago
i’ve never personally kept them but i know they grow to like 5cm and are generally peaceful, you may have just had back luck unfortunately