Readers Respond: Have you kept a Black Widow Tetra?

Responses: 32

By Shirlie Sharpe, About.com Guide

I already knew these fish needed to be with their own kind only and set up a deep 14 gallon tank for them and am adding them a few at a time. I do have 5 Mountain Minnows in the tank, but they are being bullied already and hiding, so I am moving them to my large community tank today. I really do not know of any other species who will happily live with Black Skirts, they are stroppy little things but so gorgeous they have a tank all to themselves....! I would never put these fish with Bettas, Gouramis ect, and whatever fish are with them need to be very fast to get out of the way...and thats not much of a life for them really.
—bimsgirl

i have 3 of them with my harlequins and gouramis in my 20 gallon tank and there just awsome! there really hardy and spawn frequently . . perfect 4 a begginer
—Guest rakk

I have had my BWT's for over 2 weeks now and they are very hardy! When there was suddenly an outbreak of ammonia in my tank and 4/5 out of my neon tetras died, they lived on!!
—Guest cat

I have had my two black widow tetras nearly 4 years now and they are VERY nippy. At first I though all my larger fish were getting some form of fin rot until I caught them both in the act! They are very speedy and continually harass the other fish which eventually died. I now keep them in their own tank and they seem happy enough. BWT's are very hardy fish I would definitely recommend them to a beginner as the survive just about anything from no filters, to algae and even when my neighbor over fed them!
—Guest katie101795

I have 3 Black Widow Tetras, they are about 2yrs old. 1 got very big very quickly while the other 2 remained the same size. The smaller ones are a male and a female. they tend to get excited and bounce off each other when the temperature rises?? Never thought they were predators but I've just noticed 3 Neons are missing!
—Guest caroline

I have 4 B & 2 W skirted tetras. Oldest fish I have(1 yr). Dime size at first, 1/2 dollar now. 3" top to bottom skirts. They all get along well,but have their little chasing sceans.Nip one another once in a while. But I raised them with all the other fish,serpae,glowlight,flame,neon tetras,cherry,harlequin rasbora,rainbow shark,& zebra barbs together. They never fight,just play. And the rainbow plays all the time with my 3 kholi loches. They all are a blast to watch. At feeding time,doesn't matter where they are at,they are all at the front, then the water almost boils in the feeding frenzy, They will play pass the shrimp pellet. One will get a pellet, munch,spit it out,and another catches it and does the same. Gets passed arount till soft and small enough to swallow. But I would not put angel fish with them now.The fight would be on then.But if I had raised them together,would be no problem. Throw strangers into a community tank sometimes does not work. Also tall tanks for tall fins.
—AbadHabit

I have five adult black skirt tetras since I started my tank five months ago. Since adding guppies of close to equal size I have noticed that my tetras stand back [not literally] during feeding time and have changed from darting to the top of the tank to eat to watching from a distance so naturally am concerned about them eating enough food. any suggestions????
—Guest caroline

Hi all I have now had to separate these fish from others as they are attacking everything else in my tank and one of the bwt's killed another of the same type ??? I now have no idea what has happen to these fish as they were happy in my communal tank then over night changed ??
—Guest charl

I have four bwts but two of which have suddenly became very bulbus and territorial and are chasing the other two bwt's around my tank and i don't know if this is normal ??? If anyone else has had the same problem or knows why can they respond please thanks
—Guest charl

I have a 10 gallon-ish tank, and I probably have a few too many fish in it, but I had two of these and they schooled peacefully together, until 1 died, then the widow seems to have grown very large, and bullies my other fish (Neons, guppies etc) I like the look of them, and they were good in a school, but I don't know if I like the personality of the fish!
—Guest SPAM

My teacher has had a Black Widow Tetra for about 2 years. He has eaten every fish she has had in the tank; a large goldfish, his own mate, and other goldfish slightly larger than him. She has wanted to give him away but no one wants this "devil fish". He has not eaten for at least 3 months and he is still alive. His tank is filthy. This is a true "immortal" fish.
—Guest Teacher's Student

I loved my BWTs. they were very long lived (at least 3 years). Our tank sprung a leak and we are buying a new one. I will definitely buy more BWT. One bigger than the others would chase the other fish sometimes. We called him "evil fish"
—Guest Guest Jayne

I have a 10 gallon tank. I buy 6 at a time and they school around until feeding time. When they see me they all line up staring at me until I feed them! Very cute personalites...very easy to care for!
—Guest mer404

I had a 30 gallon tank with many different kinds of tetras in it. They would group together per their species but were never agressive to there neighbors. All were hardy fish and easy to care for.
—Guest jimmie tullis

I have 3 black widow tetras 1 cory cat and 1 black mollie in a 10 gallon tank and they are so funny,crazy and hardy.
—Guest ipoo

I had several BWTs.. two survived out of five and promptly killed off the rest of my fish by eating their fins or chasing them from the food. They were hardy little fish, though. They survived a broken water heater in the middle of winter when I couldn't afford a new heater, an algae infestation, a snail infestation, a broken filter... They didn't die until one of the few remaining fish, the survivor of a pair of irridescent sharks, finally became fed up with being harassed by fish 1/10 his size and ate them up. Haha. I had them for at least 5 years.
—Guest Elisha

My LFBTs are very beautiful and have friendly personalities. They are the same fish as the Black Widows except that they were selectively bred to grow the long flowing fins. Mine are over two years and their bodies are about 1 1/2 inches diameter, and including the fins are about 3 to 3 1/2 long.. They chase an play with each other, they spawn frequently. Because of the long fins they shouldn't be kept with nippy fish.
—Guest Dano01

Previous16-32 of 32

Shirlie Sharpe
Freshwater Aquariums Guide

Explore Freshwater Aquariums

Must Reads