Micralestes is a genus of small African tetras in the family Alestidae, distributed across tropical Africa, with atlas records from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Côte d'Ivoire. The 16 species in the atlas are mostly small, running about 1–4 in, and share the general alestid build: a slender, laterally compressed, silvery-bodied characin with an adipose fin, closely resembling the South American tetras it is not directly related to but broadly convergent with in shape and shoaling habit. Species occupy a range of river, stream, and floodplain habitats across the genus's Central and West African range.
Micralestes is a genus of modest but real aquarium interest — Micralestes acutidens (the sharptooth tetra) and M. argyrotaenia (the silver tetra) are the species most likely to appear in the African-tetra specialist trade, kept as active, undemanding shoaling fish in community setups. The genus is not a mainstream hobby staple compared to South American or Asian tetras, and much of what is documented about its more obscure species comes from ichthyological survey work rather than aquarist accounts. Conservation status is mostly favorable, with a majority of Least Concern species, though two species are rated Endangered and several remain Data Deficient or Not Evaluated.