by Nate Jamieson

Bottom water fish are those that prefer living at the lowest level of the aquarium. It’s not that they can’t swim into the upper regions, they will when spurred by a fish that pesters them, or just for the sake of a quick dash around the tank. But for the most part, they live on the bottom, which is where most of their food comes from.

Tropical fish that prefer the bottom of the tank, usually eat algae that grows there, as well as leftover food that falls on the substrate or the broad leaves of some plants. In a way, the bottom water fish are the housekeepers of your aquarium, cleaning up scraps and preventing the build up of algae.

But this is not always a sufficient diet, and they need to be given food that comes in a form or shape specifically designed to reach, and appeal to the bottom feeder. This is usually a wafer shape, dense enough that it sinks past the top and middle feeders, to rest on the bottom and soften. The bottom feeders can then browse at their leisure, returning later to clean up the remains. In that respect, they are not like top and middle feeders, where food is given a pinch at a time, and feeding should stop as soon as they lose interest.

Those tropical fish that hang around the bottom tend to be "grazers", and not the gulpers that you’ll find dashing for the surface when they see you coming. Some of the better-known bottom water fish are the loach, and catfish. There are also algae eaters, Botia, Corys, Knifefish and the more unusual specimens like Goby and Needle Nose. Nate Jamieson Love Tropical Fish? Find out how to create a beautiful, low-cost tropical fish aquarium with complimentary tips at TropicalFishIsland.com.

by Hans Dekker

Lemon Tetra glassily transparent, the lemon tetra (hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis) could appear to be just a sunbeam flashing through your community tank if not for background elements like plants and driftwood. Another member of the large characin clan, the lemon tetra has a fairly elongated body like its smaller relative the neon tetra and like neons and other characins, the lemon tetra does best if kept in small schools of six to eight fish.

One of the most distinguishing features of the lemon tetra is their large eyes. The upper part of the lemon tetra’s eye is brilliant red, which is a sharp contrast to the yellow pastels it displays in its body colors. Actually, though, the lemon tetra is quite colorful on close inspection.

Body coloring is a delicate pale yellow, flanks are silver, and the leading edge of the anal fin is shiny-bright-yellow and sharply divided from the other rays, which are black. In the male, the rest of the anal fin is broad and fringed in black, a characteristic that is missing in the plumper female. As many male characins do, the male lemon tetras also have tiny hooks on their anal fins.

Both males and females have the tetra’s characteristic adipose fin, which is also pale yellow in color.Although omnivorous and able to exist on a diet of flaked food, the pale yellow color of the lemon tetra displays best if the fish’s standard diet is well supplemented with live treats.

The lemon tetra is an egg-scatterer. However, breeding can be tricky since females often have a problem expelling their eggs and after spawning, the lemon tetra like many others of its species, is quick to cannibalize its eggs if not removed from the breeding tank. However, eggs will hatch in about 24 hours after spawning. Fry should be fed a live diet and if they survive, they will be about two inches long as adults. Hans is author of Tetra Fish and Cichilds sections on aquarium-guides.com For more reviews visit our site.