Should I buy it?
Diamond Tetra
Moenkhausia pittieri
Fishori provides conservative planning guidance, not guarantees.
Based on multiple reputable aquarium care sources with strong agreement. Use the numbers here as planning defaults — your room, water, and routine still shape real-world outcomes.
A tetra whose scales develop genuine iridescent sparkle at 12+ months. Easy to keep, underrated, and understocked in most shops.
Best for
Planted community tanks 120L or more with a school of six at neutral pH. Patient keepers willing to wait for adult colouring.
Avoid if
You want immediate colour impact or keep highly acidic soft water.
Top things that go wrong
- Group welfare — not a solo display fish. Plan at least **6** together for normal behaviour; smaller groups often mean stress, colour loss, or nipping depending on species.
- Shrimp & snails. Shrimp: compatible in most setups. Cherry shrimp and other dwarf species coexist with peaceful small fish, though baby shrimp are food for almost any fish that gets to them.
Common mistakeJudging diamond tetras at purchase age. Juveniles look plain silver; full diamond scaling takes 8–12 months with good nutrition.
What most shops don't tell you
- 1.Buying three or four to start. Diamond Tetra settles in a group of 6 or more. An understocked school sulks at the back of the tank and loses colour within a fortnight.
- 2.Juveniles look plain and silver in a shop tank. The diamond scale flash only develops once the fish reach adult size in mature stable water, six to eight months in. The shop fish never matches the photo on the card.
About this species
Diamonds are deep-bodied South American tetras whose scales flash silver and violet under good aquarium light. The school is mid-water and active. The diamond sheen stays dull in sterile or chemically unstable water.
- Serpae Tetra100L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Black phantom tetra80L min · same group, similar adult size
- Columbian Tetra80L min · same group, similar adult size
- Penguin tetra80L min · same group, similar adult size
- Rosy Tetra80L min · same group, similar adult size
- Rummy Nose Tetra80L min · same group, similar adult size
- Splash tetra80L min · same group, similar adult size
- Beckford Pencilfish60L min · same group, similar adult size
- Adolfoi coryalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- African freshwater butterflyfishalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Bamboo Shrimpalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Black ruby barbalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Boesemani Rainbowfishalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Bolivian Ramalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
No reverse lookups on file yet.
Plan grid
Key limits are shown above; this section adds planning detail: pH band, swim level, bioload and activity, and the radar.
Swim zones
Planning trait chart
Six indices for comparing species on paper before you spend.
- Beginner ease32
- Peacefulness90
- Community fit83
- Small-tank fit100
- Hardiness54
- Energy54
Numbers are deterministic planning indices from Fishori fields — not a scientific score of your individual fish.
Common setup sketches
Conservative patterns from Fishori fields — still run the pair checker for every species you add; sketches are not a stocking guarantee.
Rough 120L+ layout: one calm centrepiece, 8–12 small tetras/rasboras, 6–8 corydoras-type bottom fish — verify every name in the pair checker before buying.
Safe directions on file include: Corydoras Catfish, Bolivian Ram, Honey Gourami.
Prioritise 6+ of Diamond Tetra in 120L+ with filtration sized for messy feeding — add only mates that already pass pair checks with this species.
Tank mate intelligence
Use the "Often compatible" lists as a shortlist, not a stocking plan. Always run the pair tool and check the footprint of your actual tank first. Verify behaviour for Diamond Tetra against your own reading before you buy.
Pair-level compatibility with this fish as anchor.
Read the blocking rule on each pair page before experimenting.
Do-not-stock combinations on conservative hobby rules.
Compare with
Run a real pair check: Diamond Tetra + Corydoras Catfish
- Try Corydoras Catfish — open the pair check.
- Try Bolivian Ram — open the pair check.
- Try Honey Gourami — open the pair check.
- Try Neon Tetra — open the pair check.
Behaviour, temperament, and what to watch
Prose and lists come from the same record: read temperament first, then glass-level signals so you are not surprised after day three.
Diamond Tetra is peaceful in mixed company.
Stress / aggression triggers on file
- Sudden crowding
- Poor water quality
Fin nipping: Not a habitual fin-nipper, but individuals can still test fins under stress or in a crowded tank.
Predation: Not a predator toward similarly-sized community fish. The usual community caveats about mouth size still apply for very small fry or shrimp.
Territory: Not strongly territorial, but still claims a working area in the tank. Give it room to settle without overlapping the next species' patch.
Planted tanks: excellent — easy plant ideas
In the glass: typical and warning signs
- Moderate pacing — not hyperactive, not motionless.
- Shoaling/schooling: most colour and confidence show when the group meets **6+**.
- Clamped fins, gasping at the surface, hiding non-stop, or refusing food after the first week.
- Rapid breathing when parameters swing — fix ammonia/nitrite first, then reassess mates.
- Low listed risk — still watch new introductions.
- Separate or rehome if injuries appear, one fish is pinned, or feeding becomes a daily chase.
- If water is stable but behaviour worsens, reduce stocking or remove the highest-impact species first.
Fish behaviour can vary between individuals and tank setups. Always observe new fish closely after introduction.
Care parameters: water, food, inverts, grouping
Chemistry and group rules sit here so you are not re-reading the same line from tank mate or temperament blocks. Swim level is in the plan grid above.
Hardness
soft
Diet
omnivore
Mixed diet: a quality flake or pellet as the staple, with frozen or live foods two or three times a week.
Shrimp & snails
Shrimp: compatible in most setups. Cherry shrimp and other dwarf species coexist with peaceful small fish, though baby shrimp are food for almost any fish that gets to them.
Shoaling species. Buy 6 or more of one species together. Smaller schools sulk, lose colour, and redirect their schooling energy at whatever else is in the tank.
Egg scatterers and schoolers still spawn in stable tanks. Have a plan for the fry, or accept that the parents and tank mates will eat them in a community setup.
- Hold 22 to 28 °C steadily on a real thermometer, not the dial on the heater.
- Aim for pH 6 to 7.5 and a hardness you can re-test in two weeks. A one-time strip in the shop car park is not a water test.
- Schooling species. Buy 6 or more from the same tank on the same day before adding any centrepiece fish.
- Tank volume meets or exceeds 120L published minimum for adults.
- You can stock at least 6 individuals (group welfare).
- Heater can hold 22–28°C without cooking cooler-water tank mates.
Explore and stocking hubs
Same library as the rest of Fishori: tank-mate index for this species, category peers, guides, and litre-based stocking lists where min tank on file is within the hub volume.
Plan with tools
Pair-level rules and multi-fish stocking use the same conservative engine — add this fish in the tank builder only after mates pass pair checks.
Filtration & heating
A 120L minimum tank needs a filter rated for at least 480L/hr turnover and a heater to hold 22–28°C reliably.
Plant suggestions
Diamond Tetra does well in planted tanks. Plants compatible with 22–28°C and pH 6–7.5:
Profile status: partially verified · Evidence tier: high · 3 linked source(s). Fishori does not fabricate citations.
Fishori uses conservative planning rules based on these sources.
Confidence is explained in the summary at the top of this page (same tier as here), not repeated below.
How Fishori evaluates compatibility (same logic as pair and tank tools).
- Seriously Fish. Moenkhausia pittieri
Primary: aquarium size, water chemistry, behaviour, and compatibility (URL verified in upgrade script; recheck if site content changes).
- FishBase. Moenkhausia pittieri
Secondary: taxonomy, distribution, and maximum length in nature; cross-check with aquarium import lines and measured tank parameters.
- Wikipedia. Moenkhausia pittieri
Secondary: general species context; verify all husbandry numbers against a dedicated aquarium care sheet and your test kit, not a single table row.
Evidence notes
- The Seriously Fish profile for the binomial in this record was successfully reached as the primary aquarium reference.
- FishBase contributes natural-range size and habitat context. Translate those numbers through your heater, your water report, and your tank footprint before stocking.
- Wikipedia is only cited if the article URL returned OK. Use it for orientation, not as the only care sheet for an import.
- All compatibility text reflects typical hobby experience and the Fishori model. Individual fish, shop stress, and the order tank mates are added in can still defy a single-paragraph label.
- Fishori profiles work from typical aquarium trade sizes and hobby care norms. Specialist site checks and literature review for this species are not yet recorded here, so the ranges on this page are planning numbers rather than guarantees.