The tetras, I bought as target fish for my dempsey, firemouth, and convict, who were mercilessly picking on my severum. They worked out better than I ever dreamed possible, and all 8 are still alive, and happy as can be. They brought the severum out of hiding, gave the three mean fishes something to think about, (after all, how would you react if you were a 2.5" dempsey that's supposed to be mean, fearless, and a bully who spends it's time chasing bigger fish, and a tiny little 1" tetra with funny shaped fins just came up and sat nose to nose with you, without being intimidated?), and basically confuse the **** out of everyone, while giving the severum some protection.. All for $1.50 a fish. LOL. Gotta love them. (The tiniest one is named 8 - the other 7 stick together pretty well, but teeny tiny little 8 goes off on his own, and seems to forget he's supposed to be a schooling fish, so goes to antagonize the bully fish). Every morning, it's the same story - go count all the fish, and mutter "4, 5, 6, 7......(long pause), where's 8?"