The black tetra also known as the black skirt tetra, high-fin black skirt tetra or black widow tetra is a freshwater

Freshwater

Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...

 fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

of the characin family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 (family Characidae

Characidae

The Characidae, characids or characins are a family of freshwater subtropical and tropical fish, belonging to the order Characiformes. The name "characins" is the historical one, but scientists today tend to prefer "characids" to reflect their status as a by and large monophyletic group at family...

) (which includes all tetra

Tetra

thumb|right|250px|Pristella tetra — [[Pristella maxillaris]].thumb|right|250px|Golden Pristella tetra, a [[morph |morph]] of [[Pristella maxillaris]].thumb|right|250px|[[Silvertip tetra]] — Hasemania nana....

s, including the piranha

Piranha

A piranha or piraña is a member of family Characidae in order Characiformes, an omnivorous freshwater fish that inhabits South American rivers. In Venezuela, they are called caribes...

), of
order

Order (biology)

In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...

 Characiformes

Characiformes

The Characiformes are an order of ray-finned fish, comprising the characins and their allies. Grouped in 18 recognized families, there are a few thousand different species, including the well-known piranha and tetras.-Taxonomy:...

. It is native to the
Paraguay

Paraguay River

The Paraguay River is a major river in south central South America, running through Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina...

 and Guaporé River

Guaporé River

Rio Guaporé is the name of a river in western Brazil along the Bolivian border. Its Bolivian name is Río Iténez.The river has its source in the Brazilian Mato Grosso circa 150 km northeast of Pontes e Lacerda. From this town on it flows in a westerly direction for about 120 km, where at...

 basins of southern
Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, and Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

.

Growing to about 6 cm (2.5 in) total length, the black tetra has a roughly tetragonal body shape and is greyish in colour, fading from light at the nose to near black at the tail. Two prominent black vertical bars appear just posterior of the gills. It is a schooling fish, and requires at least 6 in a group, but they can also make do with 3-4 tetras per aquarium.

The black widow tetra feeds on small crustacean

Crustacean

Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

s, insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s, and worm

Worm

The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...

s.

In the Aquarium

The black skirt tetra is a common fish that can be readily acquired from aquarium dealers. It will live in warm water (78 degrees F or 26 degrees C), but, coming partly from the Paraquay section of the Rio Paraguay south of the tropic of Capricorn, it will also take slightly cooler water than some tropical fish, and is sometimes kept in unheated aquariums in rooms that do not get cold. This fish, like most tetras, needs soft, acid water, pH 6.5-6.8, with plenty of plants, although it is one of the more adaptable tetras, and is suitable for a community aquarium with a neutral pH, and a temperature of about 24 degrees C ( 75 Degrees F).
Although not generally aggressive towards other species, avoid slow moving, long finned fish like male Betta splendens with this fish. Black tetras can be violent amongst themselves, with weaker fishes sometimes chased and nipped by their superiors.

Food and Feeding

The black tetra is an omnivore and will eat nearly anything it can fit into its mouth, but care must be taken to ensure that all members of the school receive adequate food. If the food is too large, the tetra will lose interest and leave it to sink and decay, so the size of the food particles must be appropriate. It is best to keep a school of 6 black tetras in a medium tank.
The Black Tetra will benefit from the occasional feeding with live foods like daphnia and mosquito larvae, and from frozen foods like blood worms.

Breeding

The black widow tetra reaches sexual maturity at about two years of age. They will spawn in water 78 degrees F. A separate spawning tank, heavily planted and at least 15 gallons, is recommended. Like most characins, black tetras spawn by intermittently releasing and fertilizing eggs among the plants. These fish are frequent egg-eaters and must be removed after spawning. The young are easy to raise, subsisting on newly hatched brine shrimp or powdered processed foods.

Other Names

The black widow tetra is also known as the blackamoor, blackskirt, black widow, butterfly tetra, or petticoat tetra. The black phantom tetra

Black phantom tetra

The black phantom tetra is a freshwater fish of the characinfamily oforder Characiformes...

, Hyphessobrycon megalopterus, is a distinct species. Note that the black neon tetra

Black neon tetra

The black neon tetra is a freshwater fish of the characinfamily oforder Characiformes. It is native to theParaguay basin of southern Brazil....

Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi is sometimes also called the black tetra.