Pristella Tetra

The pristella tetra (Pristella maxillaris), also sold as the x-ray tetra, has a body clear enough that the silvery swim bladder and the line of the spine show through it. What stops it looking washed out is the fin marking: the dorsal and anal fins each carry a crisp black band between two blocks of yellow and white, and the tail is flushed red. It comes from coastal rivers in Guyana, Venezuela and northern Brazil.

Aquarium care

• Reaches roughly 4 to 5 cm.
• Peaceful and community safe.
• Keep six or more.
• One of the most adaptable tetras about water chemistry, which makes it a good first choice.
• Omnivorous: flake, micro pellets, frozen daphnia and bloodworm.
• Mid-water swimmer.

Its tolerance is the main argument for it. Where a cardinal tetra wants soft acidic water and a mature tank, a pristella will settle into most reasonable conditions, which makes it a sensible tetra for a first community aquarium alongside corydoras, platies and rasboras.

Stock rotates with each shipment, and livestock is sold for local pickup at our Lethbridge store. See the current tetras.