Blackline Tail Tetra (Moenkhausia costae) – Tank Bred

Blackline Tail Tetra (Moenkhausia costae) – Tank Bred

$ 24.99

Low stock - 7 items left
Backordered, shipping soon

For the safety of our animals, we now ship live fish exclusively via UPS Next Day Air. If your order contains this item, you will only see UPS Next Day Air as a shipping option during checkout.

Looking for a fish that glides through your aquarium like a silver arrow with attitude? The Blackline Tail Tetra (Moenkhausia costae) is a sleek, fast-moving schooling fish with a bold, jet-black stripe running from mid-body through the tail—like a racing stripe on a sports car. This underrated South American native is tank-bred and full of energy, giving your community tank that extra spark of contrast and movement.

Perfect for aquascapes that need motion without chaos, these tetras bring a calm, controlled energy to midwater zones and look especially stunning under soft lighting.

What We Love About This Fish:

• Clean, Bold Markings: The crisp black tail stripe pops against its metallic body
• Peaceful Yet Lively: Active swimmers that won’t bother other tank mates
• Great Group Dynamics: Schooling behavior adds coordination and movement
• Perfect Contrast Fish: A neutral-toned swimmer that makes vibrant tankmates shine

Natural Habitat:

Native to the shaded tributaries and forest streams of South America, where they cruise through leaf-littered waters with plenty of submerged roots and driftwood.

Aquascaping Ideas:

• Plants: Use bright green plants like Vallisneria, Dwarf Sagittaria, or Limnophila to make their silver sheen pop
• Hardscape: Driftwood archways and smooth stones to mimic streambeds
• Botanicals: Indian Almond Leaves and Catappa Bark add tannins and bring out their natural behavior

Diet & Feeding Tips:

Feed a mix of micro pellets and quality flakes daily. Boost their coloration and vitality with occasional servings of frozen daphnia, baby brine shrimp, or bloodworms. They’re eager eaters and quick to learn feeding routines.

Tank Mates & Compatibility:

Excellent with peaceful fish like pencilfish, ember tetras, dwarf cory cats, and hatchetfish. Avoid fin-nippers or anything large enough to view them as a snack.

Shrimp Safe?

Mostly! Safe with adult Neocaridina and Caridina shrimp. Like most tetras, they may snack on baby shrimp if they stumble across them.

Breeding Notes:

Breeding is possible in a dimly lit, soft-water setup with plenty of plant cover or spawning mops. They’re egg scatterers—remove adults post-spawn if you want fry to survive.

Recommended Tank Parameters:

• Temperature: 72° - 80° F (22° - 27° C)
• pH: 6.5 - 7.5
• KH: 3 - 10 dKH
• Minimum Tank Size: 20 gallons (school of 6+ recommended)

Care Guidelines:

• Diet: Omnivorous. High-quality flakes, micro pellets, and occasional frozen foods.
• Social Behavior: Schooling. Keep in groups of 6 or more.
• Origin: Tank-Bred
• Adult Size: 2.5 – 3 inches (6.3 – 7.6 cm)
• Purchase Size: 1.25 – 2 inches (3.2 – 5 cm)

Sharp stripes. Smooth swimmers.
The Blackline Tail Tetra brings style, flow, and balance to any aquascape. Add this underrated standout to your tank today and watch your setup come alive.

Live Arrival Guarantee:

All Aquatic Arts fish and invertebrates come with a 100% live arrival guarantee and free email support.

For the safety of our animals, we only ship live fish, crabs, and select other inverts exclusively via UPS 1 Day Air. If your order contains this item, you will only see UPS 1 Day Air as a shipping option during checkout. If other items are in your cart that can ship with 2 day or standard shipping options the only shipping method you can still select is UPS 1 Day Air.

UPS 1 Day is a description of the duration of time a shipment will spend in transit once it has been shipped. This does not guarantee the package will be shipped the same or next day from which the order was placed.

Shipping Schedule for this service

UPS 1 Day: Monday through Thursday

Current Handling Time:

1-9 business days

Here at Aquatic Arts, we consider the welfare of the live animals we are shipping to be of the foremost importance. This process is much more involved than simply creating a shipping label and affixing it to a box. Depending on the order, it takes from 4 to 7 people to complete this process properly. We check the weather conditions here where they fly out of the Indianapolis UPS facility and the destination for each shipment. We start early each morning and go through a multi-step process to have the day's shipments prepared in time for the UPS pickup. The volume of orders in our system also affects the processing time. Therefore our stated handling time is 1-9 business days.

Shipping Rate

Pricing is by size of package needed to fill entire order and distance it must travel. It will be calculated at checkout.

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