20G Long Blackwater Inspired Ecosystem

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Hello everyone! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas! I went down to Portland yesterday and to my surprise, the store had in a fish I've been looking at for a while but never saw in person before. But after watching them for a bit, I decided to grab them since I thought they'd be the perfect fit for the tank. Sadly they weren't the T. Ornatus (Hummingbird Tetras) but they're still very cool:

Meet the new Loreto Tetras! (12x)

Loreto Tetras (Hyphessobrycon Loretoensis) is a fish I was looking at a couple months ago when deciding on a schooling fish for this tank. They're more colorful than some of the other Tetras that are on the smaller side but they were realistically #4 on the list after species like the Hummingbird, Tucano, and Morse Code Tetras. But seeing a fish in person compared to online can put a whole different view on how you see a fish, which is exactly what happened here. I didn't see them on the website, however sometimes there are fish that are only in stock at the store and not the online location, which is why they don't get listed sometimes, so these were a real surprise to see. They're real stunners in person. With a Yellow / Orange Iridescent Stripe, Black Belly, White Tipped Fins, Red Tail, and some Blue iridescence as well, they're a highly beautiful but super underrated Tetra that's not seen often (Which can be said about a lot of underrated Characins lol). They get under an inch, are pretty outgoing once established, and have some amazing colors. What's not to like? Although I will say, they're definitely more shoaling than schooling in terms of sticking together in a group. 

They've already proved to be a good dither fish since the Pencils are out a lot more now and sometimes even school with them whenever I get near since the Loretos are still getting used to my presence. I'm super excited to see how much more colorful they get! 

An Imposter among the group (or so I thought)

I noticed in the store tank that there were 2 fish that didn't match the Loreto Tetras. These fish were transparent but looked very similar. Bycatch is normal with large quantities of fish, so I thought nothing of it. But it turns out, one snuck into the bag with the Loretos  that were netted! I couldn't tell what species it was at the time in the bag, nor the container. I thought it was some other species of Hyphessobrycon or Hemigrammus at first. But after being in the tank for a while, someone suggested the idea of it being a Loreto Tetra that just never developed any color for some reason. And I think they're right. I'll still have to ask an expert, but besides the color, the body shape, fin shape, eyes, etc all match up to the other Loretos, the only difference is that this guy is transparent. It even has the little bit of orange shine on the eye like the Loreto. We'll see what this guy turns out to be but for now I like to think of it as the stand out of the group.

Edited December 29, 2022 by Northwest_Scapes_