Species group · Bony fish
Tetras
WAnimals has 2 species of tetra, all in the family Characidae.
- 2 species
- 1 family
- 12 countries
- 7 parks
- Length
- 3 cm – 4 cm
Ranges calculated from the entries that record the figure, not from all 2.
All 2 species of tetras on WAnimals
Each one has its own full entry. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.
Conservation status
No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.
See the global conservation statusWhere they live
Recorded in 12 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:
Where to see them
Did you know…
One of the most exported aquarium fish in the world, out of the Amazon.
From Cardinal Tetra
It is told apart from the neon tetra because the red band runs the whole length of its body, from nose to tail, and not just the rear half.
From Cardinal Tetra
It is the most important ornamental fish on the world market: it accounts for more than 80 % of all aquarium fish exported each year from the Rio Negro.
From Cardinal Tetra
Its blue stripe is not a pigment but a structure: reflective cells holding plates of guanine crystals that split the light, and the fish can change their angle, so the colour fades at night or when it is unwell.
From Neon Tetra
In the gloom of the blackwater streams that stripe works as a recognition signal that holds the shoal together.
From Neon Tetra
It is one of the most heavily traded ornamental fish on the planet, today bred almost entirely on farms in South-East Asia.
From Neon Tetra