Splash tetra
Copella arnoldi
5.5 cm
Adult size
100 L
Minimum volume
8
Minimum group
5 years
Lifespan
Water parameters
Understand these values- Genus
- Copella
- Diet
- carnivore
- Social life
- shoal
In the wild
Overview
The splash tetra owes its name to its unique way of breeding: the pair leaps out of the water to stick its eggs under an overhanging leaf, then the male splashes them with flicks of his tail until they hatch. Its genus honours the naturalist Edward Drinker Cope, its species J. Paul Arnold.
- Scientific name
- Copella arnoldi (Regan, 1912)
- Classification
- Characiformes › Lebiasinidae
- IUCN Red List
- Least concern (LC)
Natural habitat
Lower Amazon and coastal rivers of Brazil (Pará, Amapá), the Guianas and eastern Venezuela
Observations (GBIF) and localities Native countries Rivers and lakes
It lives in groups near the surface of streams and small tributaries, often under overhanging vegetation, in tea-coloured water; it moves into flooded forest at high water.
Behaviour
Peaceful but poorly suited to a classic community tank, it lives with characins, hatchetfish, pencilfish and small peaceful catfish. Keep it in a mixed group of at least 8 to 10. A surface micropredator, it needs small live or frozen prey. It jumps: the aquarium must be covered.
Sources:FishBase Seriously Fish GBIF · Base map: Natural Earth