Glow tetra DNZ - Hemigrammus erythrozonus

The South American Glow Tetra (Hemigrammus erythrozonus), known and extremely popular in the aquarium hobby for almost a hundred years, remains quite small 3.5 to a maximum of 4.5 cm in length.

Glow tetras have a red longitudinal stripe centrally along their otherwise gray-brown to olive-green colored body, below which the abdomen is often darker in color. The upper half of their eyes are red, and the dorsal fin also has a fine red stripe. The fin ends are white, which looks like small glow sparks. Females appear slightly bulkier and thicker than the relatively slender males.
Hemigrammus erythrozonus is a peaceful small group fish that only forms a shoal when stressed and otherwise tends to be solitary or in small groups among the plants. The group size should not be less than 10 animals.

In the aquarium Hemigrammus erythrozonus can be bred, although it has special needs: For breeding, the Glow Tetra prefers fairly soft water with an acidic pH of about 5.0 to 7 and a temperature of about 28 °C. The breeding aquarium should be kept closed. The breeding aquarium should be darkened, suitable for this are for example Floating plants. Moss tufts are good for spawning. The Glow Tetra is a free spawner. Young Glow Tetras grow up quite fast. They grow to an optimal size if they are fed abundantly with Artemia euplii and other fine live food such as Cyclops. After about eight months the young fish are already sexually mature. In the meantime the glow light tetras in the aquaristics do not originate any more from the nature, but are after-breedings.

In the biotope the Glowlight Tetra lives in shady streams in the tropical forest, in the aquarium it likes it densely planted, but also some space for swimming should be available. Hemigrammus erythrozonus likes softer to medium hard water and relatively high temperatures of about 23-28 °C.

Like most tetras, the Glow Tetra is an omnivore, which in the wild also likes to eat small crustaceans. Besides live food and frozen food , flake food or granulated food is certainly the right choice for the omnivores among the aquarium fish.

The relatively small glow tetras do not eat larger shrimp, but juvenile shrimp may be eaten. The association with well reproducing species like Neocaridina or Sulawesi domestic shrimps, with fan shr imps or Amano shrimps works quite well. Hemigrammus erythrozonus can also be socialized with peaceful dwarf shrimp, for example.

Our food recommendation: NatureHolic professional main feed is a professional main feed for all aquarium fish. We supply Hauptfeed in the form of soft granules, which, thanks to its grain size of half a millimeter, can be easily ingested by small to medium-sized fish. The soft consistency resembles the texture of insect larvae in nature and protects the fish mouth from micro-injuries.

Our plant recommendation: For planting, use NatureHolic InVitros. These are free of snails, planaria and other unwanted co-inhabitants. Also free of algae spores, bacteria and fungi.

Expert Tip: We recommend for fish keeping the NatureHolic 3 Phase Liquid. The care set offers the best all-round protection for your animals. It ensures optimal conditions for successful breeding and keeping.