Nematobrycon palmeri “Black Emperor Tetra”

Emperor Tetras, Nematobrycon palmeri, are popular schooling fish for community aquariums. There are a few related species such as the Rainbow Emperor (Nematobrycon lacortei) and the Purple Emperor (Inpaichthys kerri), but did you know there’s a beautiful and unique color variant that’s exclusively available from captive breeders and fish farmers?

Sometimes sold as Nematobrycon amphiloxus, most people these days believe that the Black Emperor Tetra is simply a selectively bred color strain of N. palmeri. As such, anything you’d say about the Emperor Tetra would be applicable to this variety, including the reality that males have blue irises, whereas females’ are yellow-green.

The Black Emperor Tetra remains an uncommon variety, so if it’s something you like, be sure to snap it up! Of particular interest, I’ve even had this variety spawn while still appearing quite young, producing offspring directly in the tank without any intervention (just a few, but still, quite cool!)

Smalls are < 1″, medium average 1-1.25″, and larges are over 1.5″

Check out this video of some more mature individuals, posted by Артур Закиев: