Are tetras jumpers?

[DawnMarie81]

Are tetra fish jumpers?  I know our gouramis are jumpers, but have never seen any of our tetras jump before, and then the other day we found one dead on the floor outside the tank.  I didnt think they were jumping fish

[pminister]

Can't say...........ive had Serpa Tetra's for few months. And they havent taken the leap of faith yet !

[fischkopp]

That depends on the tetra and the tank setup: I have Marbled Hatchets that manage to jump through the smallest gap whenever there is one. On the other hand I have like 30+ Cardinals in an open top 10g and had never one jumping - in case of danger they just hide in the dense weeds (well one did jump, but he ended up in the tank beside it ).

Bottom line: some species do jump, no matter what you do (especially the ones that stay closer to the surface). Most tetra species will try to hide first and only jump if the can't do that.

[tim_s]

Theres a lot of tetras out there.
Do you have a species in mind?

[beowulf]

They may not be willing jumpers.  If another fish is harassing them enough, they can jump to get away not knowing of course that it is a worst faith.

[DawnMarie81]

We have a school of 12...well 11 now, blood fin tetras.  the tank is 75 gal and lots of room for them to swim in, theres not really any aggressive fish in there that pick on the tetras and they usually stay closer to the bottom unless they are playing.  I guess that one just decided he was too troubled and too the giant leap to end the troubles   

[Montrealguy]

Bloodfin tetras are jumpers. In fact, most silver-bodied torpedo shaped tetras will jump. If they like the top third of the tank like hatchets do, then they have evolved behavior to deal with predators coming at them from below. Combine that with silver flanks (camouflage for sunlight hitting moving surface water) and you have a fish that likes to leap to safety.
A cardinal or neon is less aerodynamic, and likes the lower reaches of the tank. It will have different escape strategies. A serpae is a thick bodied species not built for speed. It will generally stay low.
Bloodfins, rummy noses and the like stay low in the aquarium, but will easily jump first and figure out landing later - the others can jump but don't do it regularly. I don't think you need a fish harassing them - you have a behavior that is great for confusing predators in the the wild, be they fish or birds, and what triggers it in the fishtank can be a lot of things.