Serpas

Because of their lively disposition and vivid red color, Serpas, also known as Serpae Tetras, are a favorite choice among aquarium enthusiasts. These little fish are a favorite of both novice and expert aquarists because they add a vibrant splash of color to any tank.

Serpas are renowned for their lively and occasionally abrasive demeanor. Their gregarious nature allows them to form small schools that dart around the tank. They are fascinating to watch due to their striking appearance and lively personalities, but in order to keep them happy and healthy, it is important to understand what they need.

It’s crucial to understand the care needs of serpas and how they interact with other fish if you’re thinking about getting one for your tank. These tetras can enhance the vibrancy of your aquatic environment with the correct setup and care.

Serpas are a common choice for aquariums because they are lively, small fish that are well-known for being lively and playful. They add color and movement to your setup and are very easy to maintain in community tanks. We’ll go over how to take care of them, what makes a perfect tank, and other tips in this article to keep serpas in your aquarium happy and healthy.

Natural environment and distribution area

Historically, the Serpas inhabited a sizable portion of South America’s Amazon and its tributaries. They are found in Bolivia, Paraguay, Guyana, and rivers and streams in those countries. The habitat of sickle tetras is warm, tropical waters with a slow current, such as lakes and ponds. They favor water that has a low mineralization rate (GH 1–12), a neutral or slightly acidic reaction (pH = 5.5–5), and a temperature of +24–28 °C.

Fire tetras now have a much larger range of habitat. They are bred for commercial purposes not only in specialized fish farms in Asia, Europe, and North America. In naturally occurring reservoirs with conditions similar to their habitat, the fish have successfully acclimated.

The fish grows up to be 6 cm in size in the wild. Serpas are schooling animals that live in the middle and upper water layers. They consume aquatic insects, plants, small invertebrates, and larvae as food. These tiny fish have managed to survive in the Amazon’s waters, which are teeming with predators, because of their omnivorous nature, tendency to school, and aggressive nature.

Three years is the average life expectancy.

Lush vegetation on the banks of tropical rivers and lakes in South America shades and disperses the sun’s rays, contributing to their natural beauty. The reservoirs have warm water with a thick layer of fallen leaves and branches covering the bottom. The water that contains serpas is quite clean and soft because of the release of organic acids and tannins.

A variety of insects, larvae, and microorganisms that can serve as food for small fish can be found in warm, vegetated water. Fry eggs, both their own and others’. Serpas don’t turn them down. The unique characteristics of these fish’s natural habitat must be considered when designing a species aquarium.

Characteristics of appearance

Seldom do serpas in aquariums grow larger than 4-4.5 cm. Like other members of the Hiphassonian genus, it has a diamond-shaped body and a large head with large eyes. The primary color of the body is repeated in the hue of the rainbow shell surrounding the eye. The lower jaw of the mouth extends slightly beyond the upper.

There is red on the body. The abdomen is lighter, yellowish-orange, and the back is slightly darker, tomato-red. There’s an elongated black spot with ill-defined boundaries behind the gill cover. The abdominal has tiny slashes of white color and a very narrow coal-black border on the very edge. The dorsal fin is likewise entirely black. The tail fins and paired chest are painted the same color as the body.

Differentiating a male from a female is simple. The bigger female has fins. Their form is rounded. Furthermore, the female spoon is not entirely black in the female. The light strip is on the base. The dorsal and anal fins of the male are narrower. The female has a bigger, rounder body. The type of food and psychological state affect the color’s brightness. The fish disappears and becomes less noticeable when it is anxious, afraid, or feeling ill. Veil sickle tetra is a form having large fins.

Aquarium equipment

At least eight to ten sickles must be kept in the aquarium as a school. Stress can cause a single fish to feel uneasy, hide, and even die. A school of tetras requires an aquarium that is at least 50–70 liters in size, despite their small size. Because they are active, fish need room to swim. The sickle reveals its nasty side when there is not enough room or when there is a high population density; it bites and pinches fins, even those of its relatives in the school.

Tropical aquarium interiors are typical. The bottom is covered in a layer of fertile silt or small pebbles that is above river sand and essential for the growth of aquatic plants. The thickness of each layer combined shouldn’t be less than 3–4 cm. Against the backdrop of black quartz soil, flame tetras appear to be highly advantageous.

Artificial grottoes, shards of clay, and interestingly shaped snags adorn the bottom. However, a small volume shouldn’t have too many decorative elements. For swimming, a school of serpas needs open space. Aquascaping regulations state that they can’t rise above ½ the tank’s height or take up more than ¼ of the bottom area.

Aquarium plants come in a variety of forms, including floating, vertical ground, and ground cover. To simulate a screen, place tall plants in the background. The middle ground is filled with lush bushes, and the stones and snags are embellished with ferns and mosses that creep along the ground. Light will be shaded by surface-dwelling plants. To prevent the plants growing on the bottom from suffering from a lack of light, you must keep an eye on their number.

You can add peat crumbs to the filter element if you don’t want to cover the bottom with dry leaves or fibrous peat. In this manner, the water’s qualities will be preserved and it will remain clear. There should be no current produced by the pump or filter. A sponge filter element is utilized for this.

There is a heater with a thermometer installed to keep the temperature at a tropical level. Abrupt temperature changes and a drop in water level are intolerable to fish. Both mechanical and biological filtration are used to maintain the aquarium’s cleanliness. It is imperative that the pool’s contents be aerated.

Every one to two weeks, a small amount of water is replaced in order to maintain the microclimate that has been created.

Use distilled water for the change, and let it settle in a mixture of two thirds distillate and one third settled water for at least four to five days.

The demand for sickle tetras has increased due to the widespread use of nano aquariums. They completely meet the aesthetic requirements and feel good in tiny nano aquariums. Fish with fiery sparks complement simple, understated décor well. Fish won’t draw attention away from the main theme in an aquarium decorated in the chic ways of rayuboku (driftwood decoration), wabi-kusa (green hummocks), or iwagumi (stone landscape). They will add color and life to a still image.

Neighborhood with other species

Sickle tetras are thought to be reasonably calm fish that work well in mixed aquariums as well as species aquariums. But not everything is that easy. As long as it is free to move around and there are other fish that are similar in size and temperament, the fish will behave in a peaceful manner. Large predatory fish will make the sickle tetra nervous and make it hide from them. They themselves have no problem taking out small, sluggish fish, removing their fins, and forcing them from their home range. It is preferable to keep sickle tetras in a regular aquarium with:

• bottom dwellers – shrimp, corydoras catfish and chainmail;
• danios (except veil forms);
• barbs;
• acanthophthalmus.

During their resting phase, serpas in a species aquarium exhibit simple, ideal behavior. Fish form tight hierarchies within their groupings. Furthermore, male on male fights don’t usually result in injuries or fatalities.

Feeding rules

Serpas are omnivores in the wild, mostly consuming protein-rich foods. Live, frozen, and dry food is fed to fish. The size of the fish’s mouth must be considered when making your selection. Food with small fractions is appropriate. Neon Tropical Diet and Tetra Delica Daphnien are two options for dry food, along with mixtures that come in flakes form. Live and frozen protein foods should make up the majority of the fish’s diet in order to preserve their vibrant colors:

• daphnia;
• cyclops;
• artemia;
• bloodworm;
• enchytraeus.

Spinach leaves, lettuce, dandelion, and nettle add diversity to the diet and help create a complete, well-balanced meal. Fish remove the tiny, delicate leaves of aquatic plants and consume duckweed that is floating on the water’s surface. The amount is chosen to prevent both excess from polluting the bottom and to prevent the fish from appearing hungry.

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Reproduction

Serpas are simple to breed, much like most characins. It’s easy for even a novice aquarist to produce offspring. Because serpas make poor parents, care is the primary requirement for its preservation. They can gorge on their own eggs and larvae in addition to having no regard for the fry. It is therefore preferable to breed them in a different spawning tank.

The chosen couple receives a plentiful supply of high-protein food two to three weeks prior to spawning.

The condition of the eggs and the fertility of the producers both benefit from such a diet. The female’s round abdomen makes it easy to identify a pair that is ready to breed. They are put in a spawning tank in the evening, which has a special net and is planted with Java moss or tiny leaf plants.

Spawning is stimulated by gradually raising the temperature to + 27–28 ° C. The male initiates a dance of mating. He walks up to the female, touches her with his fins and sides, and draws circles around her. Subsequently, the pair presses against one another. The genital opening is beneath the tail fin movement of the male, which is made on the female’s abdomen beneath the oviduct. The male fertilizes the eggs that the female spawns at the same time.

Up to 20 times can pass in 2-4 hours during this process. The fertilized eggs either drop through the mesh or into the moss. You may receive two to three thousand eggs, depending on the female’s age and size.

The pair should be taken out of the spawning tank when the supply of reproductive cells (eggs) runs out to prevent the "woeful parents" from reinforcing their diminished strength with their own eggs. Transparent, slowly moving larvae emerge from the eggs after 24 to 30 hours. They "crawl" into the shadows to avoid the light, and they stay there as long as the yolk sac’s nutrient granules are exhausted.

The larvae begin actively swimming in search of food after five days, at which point they switch to external feeding. They can consume brined shrimp nauplii and live dust. Larger first foods may cause the babies to become hungry. You ought to observe their eating habits and appearance. A well-fed fry has a round belly that turns pink.

The babies are still extremely sensitive at 7 to 10 days old, so avoid hurting them by moving them to a different container too soon. Large grown fry are moved into a growing tank after sorting in order to maintain the greatest number of young. The fry start to resemble their parents after four to five weeks. With a diet rich in protein, they grow quickly and are prepared to interact with other aquarium residents.

Vibrant, flaming sickle-shaped tetras look stunning in any type of aquascape. Their fascinating, fluttering schooling behavior draws attention and soothes. Buying a school of fish for small home aquariums is recommended by the fact that sickles have been popular for almost 50 years.

Photo of a sickle

A colorful and dynamic addition to any freshwater aquarium are serpae tetras. Both novices and seasoned aquarists favor them because of their eye-catching red hue and lively behavior.

It’s crucial to give serpae tetras plenty of swimming room and a well-planted tank when taking care of them. Keeping them in schools with six or more students will help prevent aggression and maintain their health because they thrive in groups.

All things considered, serpae tetras can liven up and add color to your aquarium. They can be entertaining to watch and a valuable addition to your aquatic community if given the right care.

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