Silver Tip Tetra Identification Guide

Key identification features

• Slender, coppery-bronze to golden-brown body around 1.6 inches (4 cm) long
• Bright white tips on the dorsal fin and the upper and lower edges of the caudal fin, most vivid in males
• No adipose fin, unlike most other tetras, a useful confirming trait
• Females are plumper and show less contrast in the white fin tips
• Fins are otherwise translucent to pale yellow, with no dark bars or stripes anywhere on the body
• Slim, streamlined silhouette that looks slightly less deep-bodied than many related tetra species

Common look-alikes

• Glowlight tetra: has a horizontal orange-red stripe along the body, a mark silvertips entirely lack.
• Diamond tetra: much deeper-bodied with iridescent scale flecks rather than the silvertip's uniform bronze tone.
• Serpae tetra: reddish overall rather than bronze, with a rounded black shoulder mark absent in silvertips.

Where you'll see one

Native to small forest streams and tributaries of coastal and eastern Brazil, this hardy schooling species inhabits shallow, slow-flowing, often shaded freshwater habitats and tends to stay active near the surface in loose groups.