Kept correctly, many mainstream fishes can become outstanding aquarium jewels. Chris Wilson looks at one species that punches far above its weight.
FISHKEEPING HAS BEEN a hobby in the UK since the 1850s, and since those early days, and their paucity of fish choices, it has blossomed into what we see today, with hundreds (if not thousands of species) available to us. Amongst so many fish there are some real gems. There’s even a diamond.
A stand-out, often underappreciated species, the diamond tetra, Moenkhausia pittieri, is a divinely deep-bodied characin, draped in a pastel-purple colouration and shimmering scales. In the wild it’s a species endemic to Venezuela, but in the home setting it could be exactly what you've been looking for in an attractive community tank resident.
Ironically, the diamond tetra is found with relative ease across fish shops, despite its elusiveness and scarcity in the wild—like so many tetras, captive breeding and commercial farming pose no problems. The fish’s attractiveness is offset by its abundance, commanding prices between just £2-£5 a head.
Where in the world?
Discovered by Henri F. Pittier in 1920, Moenkhausia pittieri reportedly lives in the murky blackwater of Lake Valencia the and clear streams that feed it. Lake Valencia is an endorheic lake (meaning that although it has obvious inflows, it has no apparent or visible drainage) located in north-central Venezuela. To the west of the lake is the city of Valencia, the capital of the state of Carabobo.
Unfortunately, it’s tricky to find much information about diamond tetra in the lake itself, only being documented in the wild in one stream feeding the lake, with the exact location of said stream being sworn to secrecy—wherever this population is, it is stable and the Venezuelans want to keep it that way.
That said, looking at the broader range of territories of the region, it's pretty safe to assume the diamond tetra would be happy in water with a pH of 5.5 to 7.0 and a general hardness as high as 12°dGH.
When Ivan Mikolji photographed these fish in the wild for the first time, he presented us with a barren river bed, largely devoid of plants but littered with fallen trees, branches, large rocks and leaf debris—not what we’d imagine when seeing tetras in lush, planted aquaria.
I was fortunate enough to speak to Ivan himself, and he conveyed a vivid image of the streams he found them in. Waters surrounded by beautiful plants such a
