# Ember Tetras



## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Ember Tetra Keepers.

I purchased these a few weeks ago from a LFS.

I never kept Embers before, does anyone know why they huddle in the corner. There are no other fish in the tank. They seem healthy and do move out to eat. My guess is the light is too strong to their liking.


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## [email protected] (Dec 31, 2016)

Depends on the lighting? Can you provide more detail. What is the tank depth and what lighting do you have? Mine have been in my tank about 12 months and do the same. I have 2xT8 and 2x t5. So quite high. If you have plants they will hide abit but should start to swim up and down as normal soon enough. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

They're timid fish that don't like bright lights, they're more used to blackwater. Try floating plants for some shade and driftwood or large plants to give them sheltered areas to skulk around in. If your other planned fish come from a similar habitat, consider adding oak leaves for tannins- a lot of fish will be much calmer that way.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Thanks for the input all. I had a feeling it was the lighting. It's a Chihiros A-Series which is definitely non-limiting in what it can grow so its pretty powerful. I have a dimmer for it now, so I'll take it down a few notches and float some red root I have in another tank. The light seats about 12" from the bottom of the tank so it's pretty shallow.


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## jipan (May 8, 2017)

I had 7 (used to 8, lost 3 to med OD,then 2 to filter,then buy another 4), and they are active little fish.

But then my light are merely a 22 watt diy led consisted of 1 Watt led "eye".

Try gave them so dark parts (floating plants, plant with wide leaves to shade) and hiding place (like, clumps of stem plants or roots or something).


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## Nexgen (Jul 1, 2015)

Mine only hide or huddle in the corner when I am close to the tank. About 5 min after walking away they are playing in the flow again.

1. How many do you have?
2. How densely are you planted?
3. How much traffic does the tank get? (i.e. how often does someone walk past the tank)

I have about 40 in a 40b with over 100 neo shrimp. The tank has a Beamswork DHL, Beamswork DA, and 2 t8 bulbs over it so I probably have more light than you do. But the tank is a dutch-ish scape, so there are lots of dense stem groupings for the fish to hid in. Also we have cats, who love to watch the tank and sometimes even try to attack the fish, so the fish are used to activity. I have found that they feel safer in large groups, no matter if its only embers or a mixture of tetras. I've kept them with neons and rummynose, both of which they would occasionally shoal(school) with


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

I have about 15 in my 60p, when I first put them in they where not shy at all, I added them along with a SAE and 3 Otos, for months they where very active and not shy, even when approaching the tank. About 3 weeks ago my SAE jumped out of the tank, since then the Embers have been very shy, mainly when I am near the tank they will hide in the plants, if I sit about 1 mtr away they do come back out and swim around the front glass, I think they will benefit from a dither fish, the SAE was very active and alway swimming about, probably gave the Embers some confidence, I am going to try buy some different dither fish for the Embers this coming weekend, maybe some kind of dwarf cory.

I also use a A-series plus, the light ramps up to 70% and is at that level for 5 hours, during the stages when the light is fading up and down they do seem more active, so they probably do like lower light


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## jsarrow (Jun 10, 2008)

Looks like you've got a very bright/reflective substrate as well which may be making them timid. In my 90p I have a school of about 14 embers with about 12 cardinals; tank is heavily planted with dark substrate (aquasoil) and they are very active all over the tank.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Nice tank @jsarrow

After hearing everyone's comments, I can see why they're hiding.

1.Bright light
2.Small tank - There are 7 embers 
3. Location - Kitchen, People walkng by.

So I've dimmed the light down a few notches, Adding some floaters. I also have some stems that should cascade over the top soon.


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

I have 10 in a 15g with a female Betta and lots of assassin snails and cherry Shrimp. My lighting (planted 24/7 on max) is very subdued because of lots of floating plants and tons of java Fern and anubias. I also keep the tank with black Fluval stratum and with tannins, I put in almond leaves all the time.

In the 6 months this tank has been up they've never been shy although it did take them a long time to Colour up.


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## jsarrow (Jun 10, 2008)

houseofcards said:


> Nice tank


Thnx!


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## EDLITE (Jul 31, 2016)

This is just a repeat of what others have said but here it is anyway. I have several in my 100 gal tank w/10 other tetra species. These Embers as others say really do hang out together. They generally hang out farthest away from the front of the tank. When I feed they still hang around the margins of the feeding spree. Sexual dimorphism is evident as higher degree of coloration. Sounds like your fish are fine but more fish will calm them down as long as they are not aggressive. Mine have not spawned yet. This tank contains about 75 fish in all.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Thanks for the add'l comments. The tank is only a Mini S (about 3.5g) so I can't go with any more fish. I'll probably be moving them into my 60P once it's set it up. 

I do notice them venturing out more now with the light dimmer and the stems growing fuller.


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## jipan (May 8, 2017)

Oh yeah, I forgot to add, my tank is a 15 gallon, the embers are there with 2 threadfin rainbowfish (used to had 5, lost 4 to several causes) and 2 cherry barbs (used to had 4, one died sick one jumped). The threadfin rainbowfish and cherry barbs are active little fishes, so maybe they works as dither fish?

Because you can't add more fishes, I guess lower light and more safe zone would be good.


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

I added 8 Golden White Cloud Minnows in my tank with the 15 or so embers, here is a video I shot last night, seems the embers are much more active since adding the minnows who swim all over the tank, this video isnt the best quality, its shows the last 10 minutes of my light cycle

https://vimeo.com/235564690


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Nice video. That's interesting about the other fish making them more active. They look really active especially with the speed of the video.


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## jem_xxiii (Apr 5, 2013)

Recently added 7 to a 7g~8g tank. They are not shy at all. I am also running a Chihiros A Series (on the 3 brightness).


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## Triport (Sep 3, 2017)

Everything I have seen on these has said they are better in large numbers in a large tank. I have seen plenty of videos of them in very bright aquascaped tanks so I don't think brightness bothers them if the tank is big enough and they are in a big school.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Problem has been solved. Based on prior feedback by dimming the lights and the fish getting used to the foot traffic near the tank they are now roaming all around.


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