Photo: Gonzalo Valenzuela, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Glowlight tetra
Hemigrammus erythrozonus
4 cm
Adult size
80 L
Minimum volume
8
Minimum group
5 years
Lifespan
Water parameters
Understand these values- Genus
- Hemigrammus
- Diet
- omnivore
- Social life
- shoal
In the wild
Overview
The glowlight tetra, with its thin neon-orange line, is one of the best choices for beginners: hardy, cheap and available in almost every pet shop. All fish in the trade come from farms in Eastern Europe and Asia; there is also an albino form.
- Scientific name
- Hemigrammus erythrozonus Durbin, 1909
- Classification
- Characiformes › Acestrorhamphidae
- IUCN Red List
- Least concern (LC)
Natural habitat
Guyana: Essequibo basin
Observations (GBIF) and localities Native countries Rivers and lakes
It lives mainly in forest, in tributaries away from the main course of the Essequibo, in water stained brown by tannins and often very acidic.
Behaviour
Lively, colourful and peaceful, it is one of the best tetras for a community tank: livebearers, Danio, Rasbora, other tetras, Corydoras, small Loricariidae, most gouramis and dwarf cichlids. It is not safe with large species such as the angelfish. Keep it in a shoal. It accepts almost anything; small live or frozen prey brighten its colours.
Sources:FishBase Seriously Fish GBIF · Base map: Natural Earth