The serpae tetra is a tropical freshwater schooling fish species and it feels better in a school. There should be at least 6 fishes in it and the fish can be kept together with some other fishes of the same size and activity level. They prefer to stay close to water surface where they feed on insects, their larva and parts of plants.
The fish back is olive-brown and its sides are red, there is a small black spot on the fish opercle. The rest of the fins are bloody red, all except the flesh fin.
It lives in small volumed tanks and it’s not a fish that is hard to be kept in aquarium. Although the fish is easy in care it can become a problem itself when chasing and nipping the fins of slow fishes. Because of that you should be careful when choosing tetra tank mates.Its good to keep these fishes in a community tank (more than 60 cm (24 in) long) together with rather active tank mates.Sex differences
It’s rather difficult to see between male and female. The difference between them is shown more before the spawning.
Males are brighter colored and slimmer, their dorsal is completely black, on the contrary – the female fishes have pale colored dorsal and they are fatter regardless if they are going to spawn.
