Jewel tetra - Hyphessobrycon bentosi

The elegantly restrained and therefore particularly beautifully colored Schmucksalmler or Sichelsalmler Hyphessobrycon bentosi was formerly also erroneously listed as Hyphessobrycon ornatus. The jewel tetra comes from Guyana in South America, where it lives in soft to medium hard biotopes. Other authors write that he comes from the Amazon basin, so completely the science is apparently not united here. The Jewel Tetra is transparent to reddish colored and has a white fin tip on the dorsal fin. The leading edge of the long anal fin is also white. The iris of the eye is bright red in the upper half.

The jewel tetra grows up to 5 cm. As a lively schooling fish, it definitely needs the company of conspecifics. A shoal of 8-10 animals is recommended. In the aquarium a group of tetras can be socialized very well with other tetras, with catfish or also with other peaceful medium to small fish. The ideal aquarium for tetras should be well planted and leave some swimming space for the fish - preferably in the middle. A size from 54 liters is recommended, the larger the group, the larger the aquarium should be. Socialization with larger shrimp can work as well as cohabitation in the aquarium with dwarf crayfish. Large crayfish can eat the dwarf tetras and are therefore not well suited for socialization.

Hyphessobrycon bentosi likes to live in soft to medium hard water with a pH of 6 to 7.5. The water temperature in the aquarium with Schmucksalmlern should be between 23 and 26 °C.

The beautiful Schmucksalmler is an omnivore. With high-quality flake food or small granulated food for omnivorous fish, supplemented with small live food such as artemia euplii, water fleas or cyclops, grindal and microworms and fine frozen food , Hyphessobrycon bentosi can be fed perfectly and species-appropriate.

Breeding of Hyphessobrycon bentosi is possible in a separate breeding aquarium. The jewel tetra is a spawn predator, therefore in the breeding aquarium should be either a bottom cover of large pebbles or marbles , Moss cushion or a spawning grid. The free spawners simply release their eggs to the water where they sink to the bottom. Soft water with a pH of about 6-7 is needed in the breeding aquarium. The parent fish will quickly get into spawning mood with high quality live food and frozen food . After that they should be caught from the breeding tank. The small larvae of the Sickle Tetra eat infusoria and slipperfish after free swimming and a little later also artemia euplii.

Our food recommendation: The fragrant NatureHolic Nanofeed mini fish food was tailor-made for the demands of mini fish and fish with very small mouths. It consists of a fine soft granulate with a grain size of 0.2 mm, which, thanks to its softness, resembles the consistency of tiny crustaceans and insect larvae and protects the delicate mouth from micro-injuries.

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

Expert Tip: We recommend when keeping fish 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.