# Black Emperor Tetras



## snafu (Oct 9, 2004)

if they are Nematobrycon amphiloxus, then they are somewhat rare. they are slightly harder to find then N.lacortei. they'll get larger like regular emperors. there's debate about amphiloxus and palmeri being two different species or color morphs. i'm a big fan of emperors, so i would say get some.


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## Jorge Regula (Feb 22, 2009)

snafu said:


> if they are Nematobrycon amphiloxus, then they are somewhat rare. they are slightly harder to find then N.lacortei. they'll get larger like regular emperors. there's debate about amphiloxus and palmeri being two different species or color morphs. i'm a big fan of emperors, so i would say get some.


ok thanks. i spied them last week, i balked because they seemed to be chasing each other and maybe nipping. but in 25 yrs of keeping fish, ive never seen these and i couldnt stop thinking about em. so i went back and got three. im gonna go back for the other five. they are beautiful fish. ill take some pics and post them when i get a chance.


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## Jorge Regula (Feb 22, 2009)

ok here are some blurry pics. all i have is a cell phone camera. are these the rare ones? i cant find any pictures online other than the one in my first post.

so here goes:


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## Jorge Regula (Feb 22, 2009)

More photos:


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## snafu (Oct 9, 2004)

those are really nice! i love the contrast between the jet black bodies and jewel-like eyes. even at a young age, the fish will show sexual dimorphism. one of the earlier signs is the eye color. like emperors, the males will have blue eyes, and the females will have greenish eyes. the caudal fin will start to show it's characteristic trident, so look for a small center extension. i suspect they will breed easily like the other emperors and will do best if conditioned with good meaty foods, like worms, etc. there are discussions that they are gang spawners, but not sure about that since you can readily spawn them with a single pair. they don't have big spawns but do so regularly, so you'll have a tank with multiple generations of them. i've heard Rosario LaCorte still maintains offspring from his initial discovery of N. lacortei 50 years ago. i've also heard they can interbreed, so don't keep any of the other emperors with each other. if you become hooked like me, then you'll start up tanks with other emperors (N.palmeri, N.lacortei). N.lacortei are especially beautiful. the males have red eyes / females blue and they have an iridescent sparkle all along their body. good luck and enjoy your new fish!


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

wait, what part of florida are you in? which LFS did you find it in? these fish look awesome!!


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## Jorge Regula (Feb 22, 2009)

monkeyruler90 said:


> wait, what part of florida are you in? which LFS did you find it in? these fish look awesome!!


iveys in pensacola. i went back for the rest of them this weekend, but there were only two left. so now i have five, 2 female - 3 male it looks like. 

i am going to try to breed them.


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

man, if you do get them to breed then im definitely interested in getting some. they look awesome


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## Jorge Regula (Feb 22, 2009)

monkeyruler90 said:


> man, if you do get them to breed then im definitely interested in getting some. they look awesome


will do! they are stunning. ill update progress in the breeding, but they are in a community tank right now, so i wont expect anything until i separate them into their own tank.

interesting side note: they school more than my cardinals. which surprises me considering the emperors ive kept before didnt really school at all.


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## snafu (Oct 9, 2004)

there are some N.amphiloxus on aquabid for $4 each. grey says these are wild-caught. that being said, that means these are not selectively bred N.palmeri.


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## Jorge Regula (Feb 22, 2009)

snafu said:


> there are some N.amphiloxus on aquabid for $4 each. grey says these are wild-caught. that being said, that means these are not selectively bred N.palmeri.


i'm really excited to see these grow up. i hope they retain their midnight coloring. 

so far, all 5 are doing well on a diet of crushed flakes, bloodworms, and finely chopped shrimp bits.


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## snafu (Oct 9, 2004)

my N.palmeri love bloodworms!! i can almost guarantee a spawning with a weeks worth of conditioning on them. oddly, the N.lacrotei don't seem to go after those? so, i've decided to try some Ken's Earthworm flakes to see how that would do. i've been feeding most of my fishes with that the past couple weeks, and this morning i found a bunch of N.beckfordi pencilfish fry in my quarantine tank. still no luck with the N.lacortei or N.amphiloxus though.  let use know when you have breeding success.


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## Jorge Regula (Feb 22, 2009)

snafu said:


> my N.palmeri love bloodworms!! i can almost guarantee a spawning with a weeks worth of conditioning on them. oddly, the N.lacrotei don't seem to go after those? so, i've decided to try some Ken's Earthworm flakes to see how that would do. i've been feeding most of my fishes with that the past couple weeks, and this morning i found a bunch of N.beckfordi pencilfish fry in my quarantine tank. still no luck with the N.lacortei or N.amphiloxus though.  let use know when you have breeding success.


will do. right now, they have to stay in the planted tank. i just moved in with family temporarily and had to condense some of my stock into just two tanks.

my cpd's lay eggs in the tank already, but there are too many little fish in there for them not to get eaten. its gonna be a few months probably before i separate the bet's into their own tank.


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## Scttysnyder (Mar 4, 2009)

they require some plants to lay their eggs in usually java moss so if ya got java moss they will prob breed.


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## Jorge Regula (Feb 22, 2009)

Scttysnyder said:


> they require some plants to lay their eggs in usually java moss so if ya got java moss they will prob breed.


there is java moss in there.

plant wise, its a big aponogeton plant, corkscrew val, java moss, micro swords and anacharis.

my female ember tetra is carrying eggs. im wondering if its her instead of the cpds, but again with so many fish in the tank, its hard to tell who is laying eggs. they have no chance of hatching right now.


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