(not from the net!)
I have a 110 L tank with Cardinals, Emperors, some other Tetras, catfishes, and a few asiatics (Three Spot, and others). I started to keep fishes two years ago. The Emperors were among the first ones. The Emperor is a hardy and very imposing fish with elegant moving. It is absolutely harmless to the tankmates, also towards the most little ones. It is not the most active fish. Mostly "stands" in groups, just moving its fins all the time, then breaking it with sudden fast runs. There are often fights for the ranks between themselves. The females are also involved! The male is 1-2 cm larger, so the first rank is always for a male. The males can be aggressive with other males of its species, if one of them is an older inhabitant. One of my Emperors killed another when I made a mistake and added a new male to the community. I recommend it to everyone!
I have kept these fish for over 5 years now, and love them. I started with 3 males and 2 females, and in a 340 L heavily planted community tank they have bred regularly, with total numbers getting beyond 30 at times. Contrary to some advice, they seem to breed more prolifically when the tank is left alone without frequent water changes, and seem to do very well with neutral pH. The older males are quite aggressive to competition for females, and I too have seen Males kill new males that have been added to the community. Otherwise they are extremely attractive and copasetic to other (even smaller) species.
These fish are great, just like everyone else said. I have a 120 litre tank where I keep 5 of them with 4 congo tetras, 2 angels and 2 clown loaches. They don't bother any other fish in the tank. I got them about 4 months ago and they are fine. They are also quite hardy, so are good for beginners and also not hard to keep.
I have had a 110 liter tank for some time now. I have an array of about 20 small fish, including 2 Emperor Tetras. They are each about 3.5 cm. They are very happy and sometimes very energetic or playful with all the other fish.
The behavior of the Nematobrycon palmeri is peaceable, hardy and undemanding. This fish is easy to breed, but not very productive, eggs laid on water plants. Also must live in schools, and other peaceful fish like other characins, armored catfish, or the same breed. You shouldn't put too many males in one tank, or they may fight and kill other males in the tank, so keep this in mind.
I am an aquarist from Indonesia and I've been keeping Nematobrycon palmeri for more than a year now (consecutively), and found them to be one of the nicest, prettiest, and most docile characins available in market. I first became interested in keeping them after I saw some in my uncle's tank, they were beautiful indeed. My personal experience in keeping them is that they are really really pretty tetras whose males love to battle (including a lot of fin shaking, charging toward other males, they look like fighting bettas). One minus point is they do not school tight, even in my heavily planted tank. Nevertheless, the Nematobrycon palmeri is the one if you are looking for some nice tetra, great colouring, and peaceful toward others (even to the other much smaller fish).
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