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Trouble deciding between Flame and Glolight tetra

T

Thrills24

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25 Jul 2013
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180L planted tank and it really boils down to activity. I have lemons at the moment and plan already have plans to re-home them because they are quite docile. I have never kept either flame or glolight and was looking to draw upon the experience of this board.

Also how many would you recommend for each to bring out the more active side.

Cheers.
 
Flames are definitely on the nippy (curious?) side so depending on what else you have in the tank ... shoals of at least a dozen or so would be where I'd start.
I'm not sure what you mean by the lemon's being docile, they should still be quite active & moving about the tank, you'll get some nice displays if you've a good mix of males/females ... I have seen them in tanks where they do seem rather quiet & rarely venture out of the deep plants (though that was not my experience).
 
My Glowlights hang in a loose slow moving shoal spread around the tank, they appear to like a bit of personal space and will nudge another out the way if it gets too close, they only appear to form a tighter shoal when herded around by a bigger fish like my Emperor tetras, if the emperors are in the foliage not guarding their space they will spread out a little more until put back in their place, I've found them most active at feeding time darting at the surface for some flake, they do like to chase my shrimp and will nibble at them if they can sneak up on them. Most I had was 12 in 28L, don't know how a bigger shoal would behave, still probably hang loosely. Mine like to wedge themselves into the foliage of my Stauro at night when they are sleeping.
 
If you are after active fish have you thought of harlequin rasbora. I have these in 180l tank and they was one of my favs. I would say Glolights are not very active with my experience with them but lovely looking fish. Never had flames.
 
ddam19 said:
If you are after active fish have you thought of harlequin rasbora. I have these in 180l tank and they was one of my favs. I would say Glolights are not very active with my experience with them but lovely looking fish. Never had flames.
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Yeap this is what ive had as experience as well. A bit boring movement-wise. Maybe if they dont have many predators and feel really confy they might behave quite differently.
 
Yep Glowlights typically hug the bottom in a loose shoal, which is great if you're looking to fill that space. A big shoal looks amazing and they remain one of my favorites since I first kept them as a child. I'm sure my local Maidenhead Aquatics had some wild caught ones in a while ago, their colouration was stunning...it knocked the spots off the usual tank bred specimens.
 
Hey guys. I really appreciate the info so far and If you don't mind I'm going to up the ante a little and throw these into the mix

DSCF5737.jpg


In particular keeping them with adult bee shrimp and again, their level of activity.
 
Are there lemon tetras in the tank in this shot?

I like lamp eyes a lot - once settled they're active, nosy creatures & they'll fill that upper level zone (though they like to travel everywhere), the blue eye would play nicely off the black phantoms iridescence ... you need a minimum of 8 - 10 to observe certain behaviors: they often don't look like much in the shops but have nice scale definition on their bodies to go with those brilliant eyes, there are some variants in the trade with more body color/ iridescence in blues & greens (sorry I can't seem to find that excellent site that did such a great write up on the variants).

Of course if you want to stay SA then they are out.

Depending how long term this set up is (I'm also unsure of tank size) you might add some checkerboard cichlids, begin with a group of juveniles & hope for a few males & several females (I would not do this in a 60cm x 30cm tank). I've not found them to be an issue with adult shrimp, though I suspect they'd impact shrimp breeding.

But to go back to answering your question: flame vs glowlight - I'd try glowlights as I prefer dissimilar body shapes in the fish (I'd also be expecting the flames to harass the phantoms eventually)

Brilliant tank btw!
 
IME members of the Hyphessobrycon genus, seem to exhibit similar behavior, mostly active, but can be a bit nippy at times but usually only when they are not kept in sufficient numbers. Either way, it's all good, all super little fish, go where your heart takes you:)
 
Plus one for glowlight tetra's.
They really pop under 8000K bulb.
 
Ok guys let's narrow this down. I've ruled out the flame and it's now a competition between the following glowlights and black phantoms. I'm leaning towards a school of 12 glowlights for my 180 but would still like any info on the black phantom tetras (pic posted above because the name tends to vary) I really appreciate the help.
 
16151618439_2c9901a758_k.jpg

This is a pic taken after lights out, I used the flashgun to freeze the moment, some Ebi Dama went in there 20mins before lights out, a few cherries appeared but the hoard didn't come out until the lights went out. Notice the Fat Glowlight swimming at a tilt giving the frenzy below a beady eye and trying to sneak up on them, notice the thin looking smaller mouthed Rummy Nose sidekicks hanging back hoping for scraps. There may be fewer shrimp in the morning. I've seen shrimp escape the mouth of one Glowlight only to swim backwards at speed into the mouth of another never to be seen again. Just thought I should point that out a little more than I did before.

:)
 
I have a group of 12 Ember Tetras, a little smaller in size, but they are very entertaining. Great colour too.
I have 5 Red Phantom Tetras in with the Embers and and they are nowhere near as active and in comparison to the Embers are aggressive rather than active.
 
Mmmm difficult decision huh. I once had a few Serpae tetras and I just loved them. I know they are very nippy and agresive though. Ive had glowlights but I get bored of them pretty fast not sure why.
 
I just got some http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=4488 Red Blue peru tetra's
These are quite active.
I do feel the tank has a lot of influence though, cover, lower light, hiding spots all makes them feel safer, a tank like pic #7 will make a lot of fish hug the "safe"bottom.
 
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