Tiger Teddy
Neoheterandria elegans
Poeciliidae
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About
The tiger teddy is one of the smallest fish anyone keeps: females reach 25 mm and males barely 20. Measured against the other end of this catalogue that is a twenty-eighth of a grown tench and a fifty-fourth of a redtail catfish — the same hobby, two orders of magnitude apart. It comes from the Río Truandó in the Atrato basin of Colombia, and the trade name describes the row of dark bars down a straw-coloured, faintly gold body. Like other poeciliids it bears live young, but it does so oddly: it practises superfoetation, carrying several broods at different stages, so instead of a batch of fry once a month it releases one or two babies every few days, more or less continuously. Those fry are 2-3 mm long. Almost nothing else in the hobby is small enough to share a tank without turning it into a feeding station.
Care
Treat it as a nano species-only fish, not a community fish. Seriously Fish says outright that it is too small for a standard community tank and shyer than the least killifish it usually gets compared to. A 45 x 30 cm tank of about 25 litres holds a proper colony, and dense fine-leaved planting with floating cover matters more than volume: it gives the fry somewhere to survive, and it is what keeps female aggression from killing fish — Seriously Fish records that females are sometimes aggressive enough to cause casualties, and that a heavily planted set-up is the thing that reduces it. Hold 24-27 °C, pH 7.0-8.0 and moderately hard water at GH 5-25 — it tolerates softer water than most of its relatives, but it is not a soft-water fish. Filtration must be gentle; an air-driven sponge will not draw fry in. And the food has to be genuinely tiny, because anything a 2 cm fish cannot swallow is just waste on the substrate.
Diet
Unfussy omnivore, but everything must be small: crushed flake, micro-pellet, Artemia nauplii, cyclops and fine daphnia. Fry need infusoria or green water before nauplii.
Tankmate compatibility
Gets along with (160)
Possible with care (175)
Avoid (83)
Computed by the AquaSage engine for a spacious reference tank — always check the full verdict for your exact setup in the calculator.
Telling males from females
What works for this species, most reliable first.
- The gonopodiumDefinitive · from about 4 weeks old
Look at the anal fin, underneath and just behind the belly. In females it stays a broad triangular fan. In males it narrows into a rod and angles forward — that rod is the gonopodium, a rebuilt fin rather than an organ that appears from nowhere.
Also in these lists
Similar species
Same category and the closest water parameters — if this species isn't quite it, start here.
Sold in Lithuania
These Lithuanian shops listed this species in their public catalogue (checked August 8, 2026). Stock moves — ask before you travel.
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Frequently asked questions
- What tank size does a Tiger Teddy need?
- A Tiger Teddy needs an aquarium of at least 25 litres (6.6 US gallons) with a footprint at least 45 cm (17.7 in) long — for this species, swimming length matters as much as raw volume.
- What water parameters does a Tiger Teddy need?
- Tiger Teddy does best at 22–29 °C (71.6–84.2 °F), pH 7–8 and a general hardness of 5–25 °dGH.
- What group size does a Tiger Teddy need?
- Tiger Teddy is a social species — keep a group of at least 8 so natural behaviour emerges and stress stays low.
- Is the Tiger Teddy suitable for beginners?
- Tiger Teddy sits in the middle of the difficulty scale — manageable for a careful beginner who has done the reading, but it has specific needs worth researching first.