Characins

Posted June 27, 2009

Characins are fish belonging to the family Characidae in the order Characiformes. They are also referred to characids. Characids is today to scientifically more correct term but most people still say characins due to the fact that it long was the correct name. This family has gone through a lot of revision. The most famous members of this family are tetras.

Piranhas used to belong to this family but have since been moved toe family Serrasalmidae. This move is not universally accepted but is the dominating view. Piranhas are only one example of many of genus that used to belong to the characin bust that since have been moved. Other genus that used to be considered Characins but now have been moved to other families include include Acestrorhynchidae, Anostomidae, Chilodontidae, Citharinidae, Ctenoluciidae, Curimatidae, Distichodontidae, Gasteropelecidae, Hemiodontidae, Hepsetidae, Hoplias ,Hoplerythrinus, Hydrolycus, Nannostomus, Parodontidae, and Prochilodontidae.

Tetras are economically very important fish as they are important food sources as well as an source of income when caught for the aquarium trade.

The smallest Characin species grows to be 13 millimetres (0.5 in) but there are also very large predatory Characin species out there. The group has long been something of a garbage bin of the fish world where species were but if one didn’t know where to put them. A lot of species in this group are incertae sedis nut efforts are made to clean up this mess and future revisions are to be expected.

A lot of very popular fish species can be found in the family and the neon tetra, perhaps the most popular fish of all the neon tetra is a part of this family. Other popular and common species include cardinal tetra, black skirt tetra, rummy nose tetra, diamond tetra and many other tetra species. Observe that pencil fish species (Nannostomus) are no longer a part of this group.

It is impossible to give any general care advice when it comes to characins as they are a very diverse group with small friendly fish suitable for the community home aquarium as well as large predatory species.

The neon tetra is a popular beginners fish but is not really suitable if you just started keeping aquariums as it can be somewhat sensitive. It is by no means a hard tetra to keep but it is far from the hardiest species and should ideally not be the first species you get. If you kept fish successfully for a few month you can consider this species. More suitable fish for absolute beginners include the black skirt tetra and the diamond tetra.

It is important to remember that tetras as well as many other characins are schooling fish (with some exceptions) and you should therefore always get a group of at least 6 fish, 10 – 15 is better. They will be nervous and never show their true colour if kept alone or in smaller groups.

Many tetra species are demanding to breed and breeding these requires perfect conditions and very soft acidic water. There are however species that are easier to breed and that can be bred by beginners. One such species is the black skirt tetra.

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