Megalamphodus megalopterus

21. October 2013

Megalamphodus megalopterus Megalamphodus megalopterus Megalamphodus megalopterus

Black Phantom Tetra

The Black Phantom Tetra belongs to the most common species of fish in the aquarium trade. It originates from the Mato Grosso in Brazil, but all fish in the hobby are bred ones. Wild collected specimens do not appear in the trade, because decades of selective breeding produced so pretty fish that wild fish would be rejected by the customers as bad coloured! Especiallay the attarctive smoky black basic coloration is much paler in wild fish.

The Black Phantom Tetra is the type species of the genus Megalamphodus. That genus has been taken for a while as synonymous with Hyphessobrycon. Nowadays most specialists think that Megalamphodus is a valid genus. One should know that the fish can be found in literature under the names of Megalamphodus megalopterus and Hyphessobrycon megalopterus. Both names stand for the same species of fish.

Black Phantom Tetra become around 4 cm long and are ideal tankmates for cardinal tetras and other, very colourful species of fish, because the rather dull colours of the Black Phantom Tetra makes the other fish shine brighter. Besides this it is fascinating to observe the males displaying with all fins spread. It looks as if the fish would sail around each other.

For our customers: the animals have code 266904 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Lexicon: Megalamphodus: means “with spacious ways”; this refers to anatomical details. megalopterus: means “with very large fins”. Hyphessobrycon: means “small Brycon”. Brycon is another genus of tetra.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Angaben zum Tier
Herkunft Nachzucht/bred
Verfügbare Größe in cm 3-4