The Yellow Congo Tetra is one of the most beautiful tetras of the Dark Continent. This species of Tetra is also called the Yellowtail Congo tetra and the yellow finned Congo tetra. It reaches a maximum size of only about 6 cm and so it can be also kept in smaller aquaria. Sadly the juveniles look rather drab and so the fish is often overlooked in the pet shop. Now we received fully grown specimens in show size from one of our breeders.

 

Alestopetersius caudalis is classified as least concern or LC on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species List. The only threat recorded at present is due to commercially harvesting this species for the aquarium trade.

For our customers: the fish have code 138005 on our stock list. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Lexicon: Alestopetersius: composed from "Alestes" and "Petersius", two other genera of African tetra. caudalis: means "tailed"; this refers to the extended caudal fin of the males.

 

For further reading on their behavior check out the full article called The Unusual Yellow Tailed Congo Tetra! The author documents his experience with their behavior with helpful photographs. Here is some of the content of the article:

 

1) They're incredibly skittish and perceptive of movements outside the tank. So much as moving slightly whilst feeding will send the darting for cover.

 

2) The females and males tend to hang about in entirely different groups. The females, just hanging about not doing much, the males chasing each other all over the tank, flaring fins, shaking their bodies next to each other, jousting (taking swipes at each other whilst swimming around in a circular formation). They seem to do this most of the day.

 

3) The females are far more responsive to food; they'll go for it first and will eat HEAPS MORE than the males. The males eat a bit and then tend to swim in a group together picking bits off the bottom. Their feeding behavior is pretty typical dart and grab to the surface.

 

I've found these tetra's to be far from the average tetra. As opposed to the normal neon's swimming up and down the tank these fish show a real array of social behaviors. Most definitely a great addition to a African river themed tank, if you're after something a bit more unusual!

 

Common names: Yellow Congo Tetra, Yellowtail Congo Tetra, Yellow finned Congo Tetra

AKA: Gold Congo Tetra, Yellow-finned Congo Tetra, Blue Congo Tetra, Yellowtail tetra, Phenacogrammus caudalis, Hemigrammopetersius caudalis, Petersius caudalis, Petersius brumpti, Petersius xenurus, Micralestes grandi

 

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer