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FishFreshwaterIntermediate
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Green Line Lizard Tetra
Iguanodectes spilurus
Elongated, pencil-like tetra featuring a brilliant neon green horizontal stripe. Rapid surface swimmer that requires a tightly covered, long aquarium.
Class:Actinopteri
Order:Characiformes
Family:Iguanodectidae
Genus:Iguanodectes
Species:Iguanodectes spilurus
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Water Temperature
23 - 27 °C
pH Value
6 - 7.5
Water type
Freshwater
Adult size
10.15 cm
Minimum tank volume
>= 100 L
Minimum group
>= 1
GH
2 - 15 dGH
KH
1 - 7 dKH
TDS
40 - 295 ppm
Conductivity
63 - 461 uS/cm
Species description
Geographical Origin and Habitat: Widespread across the Amazon, Orinoco, and Essequibo basins. Lives exclusively in the upper levels of slow to moderately flowing forest streams, often holding position under floating vegetation.
Taxonomy and Morphology: Highly aberrant Characin shape (10 cm). Looks like a cross between a pencilfish and a small pike: extremely elongated, cylindrical, hydrodynamic body. Mouth features multicuspid teeth for grazing plant matter or fallen insects.
Social Behavior: Schooling fish (minimum 6-8). Stays in the upper half of the tank. Extremely fast and darting swimmer. Males perform stunning parallel fin-flaring displays. Peaceful to everyone, but becomes neurotic and glass-surfs in tanks that are too short.
Coloration and Sexual Dimorphism: Silver-olive base, sliced horizontally by a brilliant, razor-thin neon green stripe, sometimes bordered by pale red/orange. Small black spot at the tail base. Males develop reddish anal/pelvic fins and microscopic mating hooks.
Care, breeding and tankmates
Aquarium Setup: Demands LENGTH. A school needs a 100-120+ cm long tank due to their explosive surface acceleration. TIGHT LID IS MANDATORY: they are phenomenal jumpers and will escape through tiny gaps. Floating plants (Frogbit) to dim the light and provide overhead security are highly recommended.
Diet and Feeding: Omnivore with strong Herbivorous tendencies. In nature, they eat a lot of algae and plant matter. Will eat floating flakes/pellets, but MUST be given a green component (Spirulina, blanched veg) or they will shred soft aquarium plants or duckweed.
Water Quality: Adaptable but requires clean water. Prefers acidic to neutral water: pH 5.5-7.0 (tolerates up to 7.5). Soft to medium hardness. 23-27°C. Keep nitrates low.
Compatibility and Cohabitation: Perfect, unusual dither fish for Amazonian communities (Corydoras, Apistogramma, Plecos). Unfit for large cichlids (Angelfish, Discus) which will view their cylindrical bodies as perfect prey.
Aquarium Breeding: Rare in home aquaria. Egg-scatterers in fine-leaved plants. Requires very soft/acidic water and immediate removal of parents.
Risks and Diseases: 1. Jumping to their death (the #1 cause of loss). 2. Fatal snout injuries from crashing into the glass when spooked in small tanks. 3. Constipation/bloat if fed an all-meat diet without greens.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Widespread across the Amazon, Orinoco, and Essequibo basins. Lives exclusively in the upper levels of slow to moderately flowing forest streams, often holding position under floating vegetation.
Origin
Cosmopolitan or introducedAmazon, Orinoco, and GuianasNorth America
Fish profile
- Temperament
- No verified data available
- Diet
- No verified data available
- Life expectancy
- No verified data available
- Adult size
- 10.15 cm
- Sex ratio
- No verified data available
- Feeding frequency
- No verified data available
- Bioload
- Medium
- Flow
- No verified data available
- Jump risk
- No verified data available
- Reproduction
- No verified data available
- Compatibility & tankmates
- No verified data available
- Tank level
- No verified data available
The catalog's scalar value is 10.15 cm. The FishBase SPECIES table (v25.04 snapshot) source reports a maximum adult measurement of 10.15 cm for this species, recorded as standard length (SL). The taxonomic record consulted is Iguanodectes spilurus (v25.04); male or unsexed record. These figures are not interchangeable: the first is the profile's editorial reference, whereas the second is a published maximum under a specific measurement convention; differences among sources can reflect sex, population, life stage and measuring method.
The single-adult profile is classified as medium bioload. The bioload-v2 rubric deterministically assigns this class from the verified maximum length of 10.15 cm; it is a catalog management category, not a direct measurement of waste output.
Window to the official scientific data of the species
Data synced on: 06/15/2026
Scientific Parameters & Models
- Trophic level
- 3.3 ± 0.4 se
- Phylogenetic uniqueness (PD50)
- 0.5039
- Bayesian Length-Weight
- a = 0.01072, b = 3.01
VulnerabilityLow vulnerability (10 / 100)
Image gallery
Licensed images linked to the species or, when marked, to the closest representative taxon.
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