Black Widow Tetra Fishes

The Black Widow Tetra is also known as the Gymnocorymbus ternetzi or the Black Skirt Tetra.



The Black Widow Tetra’s are very popular fish as they are known to be peaceful, hardy and very attractive with their patterning of black. They are known to be the kind of fish that will school mainly in open waters thus making them the perfect fish for any community aquaria’s.



They are known to grow to lengths of approximately 5 cm. Black Widow Tetra comes from the Characidae family that are a type of freshwater fish and are known to come in a variety of species.



Black Tetra tends to grow a little bigger than most of the other thus making them ideal for beginners. They also show typical tetra behavior patterns which include picking on each other most of the time though this is not seriously done. Sometimes the larger black tetra will pick on the smaller one when in the same tank.  

The black tetra is the easiest of the tetras to spawn. Some pet health care tips regarding the black tetra is that they are known to be egg scatterers hence it is advisable to build a type of grid at the base of the tank thus protecting the eggs. Males are known to be a little more colorful and they have fins that are a bit more exaggerated. Thus an easy way to sex them is to run a wet finger over the anal fin. You will know it is a male when your finger will get caught on the tiny hooks which are present on the fin which the male will use to keep the female closer during the spawning process. These features are not really visible to the human eye, but one can locate them through this method. Some pet health issues regarding the black widow tetra can be resolved by keeping multiple tetra fish in the tank as tetras are known to be schooling fish and  can become despondent or  depressed if they kept by themselves. Hence it is advisable to keep them with more than five or 10 other fish preferably of the same species to help them maintain their mood.  A point to note regarding pet health information and the black tetra widow is that their fish tank should be cleaned regularly and it is preferable to use  soft water in the tank as tetras are known to adjust well to the pH levels found in soft water as compared to levels in hard water.