Blacklights and Tetras

[KiemRaekerm]

I was at my local zoo and there was an indoor exhibit where I saw a tank full of tetras (I'm pretty sure they were neon tetras) that was lit by what looked like blacklight. Whatever light it was made the tetras look really cool. The color above their eyes glowed as well as the strip of color along their back. It looked amazing and I was wondering if anyone else has seen or heard of this and knows if I'm right about the kind of fish and lighting to use if I were to set a tank like this up.

 

[Lotus]

From what I understand, blacklights are bad for fish/freak them out. It could have been an actinic bulb (usually used for saltwater), which have a blue color.

 

[TurbineSurgeon]

When I was a kid, black lights were all the rage. It was fairly common to see metal-framed tanks at dime stores with neon tetras illuminated with a black light priced between 4 and 6 for a dollar (sigh)... That was a long time ago.

Neon or Cardinal tetras have an intense coloration and do not need (or probably appreciate) black light illumination to glow. Glow-light and head-and-tail-light tetras also appear to have built-in light bulbs.