Hemigrammus erythrozonus

Glowlight tetra
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Characiformes
Family:	Characidae
Genus:	Hemigrammus
Species:	H. erythrozonus
Binomial name
	Hemigrammus erythrozonus; (Durbin, 1909)

Last updated October 31, 2023

Hemigrammus erythrozonus, commonly known as the glowlight tetra, is a small tropical fish from the Essequibo River, Guyana, South America. It is silver in colour and a bright iridescent orange to red stripe extends from the snout to the base of its tail, the front of the dorsal fin being the same color as the stripe. Other fins are silver to transparent. The glowlight tetra is a peaceful, shoaling fish. It is larger than the neon tetra, and its peaceful disposition makes it an ideal, and popular, community tank fish. It should be kept with similar sized, non-aggressive species. Hemigrammus gracilis is a senior synonym. The red-line rasbora ( Rasbora pauciperforata ) of Malaysia and Indonesia has markings and coloring very similar to H. erythrozonus, but is a member of family Cyprinidae, not a close relative.

In the aquarium

H. erythrozonus is readily available and usually inexpensive.^{[ citation needed ]} Golden and albino varieties are also sold.^{[ citation needed ]} It is best seen in the freshwater aquarium when kept in subdued lighting with a dark substrate.^[3]

Water conditions

The water should be soft to slightly hard, d°GH of 6° to 15°, with a slightly acidic pH of 6.8, in the range 6.0 – 7.5. It prefers a temperature of 25 °C in the range 22° – 28° °C (72° – 82 °F). The hardiness of this fish allows it easily to adapt to harder water, though soft water is essential for captive breeding.

Nutrition

H. erythrozonus is an omnivore and in the aquarium eats small live, frozen and dry foods and flake foods. The feeding of vegetable matter is suggested to vary the diet.

Shoaling

Like all tetras, H. erythrozonus is happiest, most active, and most aesthetically pleasing when in a shoal. A minimum aquarium length of 60 cm will make them more comfortable when swimming. They prefer a well planted tank for hiding, but with some open water for free swimming. They should be a group of at least four with eight or more to make them feel secure. They tend to swim in tighter groups when a potential predator is present and swim freely when comfortable. They are often bought by aquarium owners to play a 'second fiddle' role to the neon tetra. Although they generally shoal separately from neon and cardinal tetras, they will sometimes shoal alongside the latter, making an arresting spectacle.

Gender identification

Like most tetras, females are larger and more fat bodied than the more slender male. It may be hard to tell male from female until the fish are fully mature and females fill with eggs.

Breeding

H. erythrozonus breeds similarly to most egg-scattering small fish. It been bred in captivity with a moderate level of difficulty.

Breeding tank set-up: A small 40l all-glass tank with soft water (hardness up to 8°dGH and carbonate hardness not higher than 2°dCH). Water temperature should be kept between 26 and 28 °C (79 and 82 °F). Adding peat to the tank or filter will soften water and make it slightly acidic. The tank should have dim or no lighting. Spawning is over fine-leaved plants. Java moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri) or Fontinalis are suggested but not mandatory, or a spawning mop made of woolen thread. Other commonly used plants include water wisteria and hornworts, as well as fox/coons tail. 1 cm glass beads or a spawning grate will help at the bottom to protect eggs from being eaten by adults, though they will have to spawn through the plants first, as the fine leaves act as a trigger. If spawned without fine leaved plants, the majority of eggs will result unfertilized.

Parents' conditioning: Feed the pair kept separately with a variety of live foods, frozen food or dry food for a few weeks. When the female is well rounded transfer the pair to the breeding tank in the late afternoon hours. The spawning will occur in the following morning or the next day; if no spawning behavior is shown after three days, conditioning of the pair should be restarted.

Spawning behavior: The male will swim around in a quick manner locking his fins when near the female. During the spawning act both fish roll over, when the female is in the upside down position she ejects the eggs while the male fertilises them. Usually 120-150 eggs are dropped on plants and on to the bottom. When the pair is done, they will start grazing for the eggs and should be removed.

Raising the fry: The eggs are light sensitive, so the breeding tank should be as dark as possible. Some believe light contributes greatly to the eggs succumbing to fungal infections, though this may have more to do with cleanliness of tank and water conditions. Methylene blue may be added to the water column to prevent fungi as well. The fry will hatch in 20 to 25 hours, looking like small slivers of glass. Fry can be fed with infusoria, paramecium culture, crushed flakes, and rotifers after they have used all the yolk sack. On the fourth day a very small portion of newly hatched brine shrimp should be introduced. The young consume relatively large live foods such as nauplii of brine shrimp. Later microworms can be added to the diet.

Care of the breeding tank: Bottom sediment should always be removed and regular water changes done during the rearing period in order to avoid an accumulation of ammonium and nitrates which can be toxic to the fry. Although large quantities of fry will incubate in waters of low hardness, most of the fry may soon contract non-infectious, constitutional dropsy, and die within a short time. Those which survive will grow well. By the twelfth day, they will show signs of a silver coloring. At three weeks of age, the fry will start showing their characteristic orange line and will be a size of about 1 cm. By two months they will be about 2 cm.

Related Research Articles

The neon tetra is a Freshwater fish of the characin family of order Characiformes. The type species of its genus, it is native to blackwater and clearwater streams in the Amazon basin of South America. Its bright colouring makes the fish visible to conspecifics in the dark blackwater streams, and is also the main reason for its popularity among freshwater fish hobbyists, with neon tetras being one of the most widely kept tropical fish in the world.

The green neon tetra is a freshwater fish of the family Characidae of order Characiformes. It is native to the upper Orinoco and Negro Rivers in South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black neon tetra</span> Species of fish

The black neon tetra is a freshwater fish of the characin family (Characidae) of the order Characiformes. It is native to the Paraguay basin of southern Brazil. They are often found in the aquarium trade.

The black phantom tetra, or simply phantom tetra, is a small freshwater fish of the characin family (Characidae) of order Characiformes. It is native to the upper Paraguay basin and upper Madeira basin in Brazil and Bolivia. It is commonly seen in the aquarium trade.

The rosy barb is a subtropical freshwater cyprinid fish found in southern Asia from Afghanistan to Bangladesh.

The cherry barb is a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the family Cyprinidae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka, and introduced populations have become established in Mexico and Colombia. The cherry barb was named Puntius titteya by Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala in 1929. Synonyms include Barbus titteya and Capoeta titteya.

The harlequin rasbora is a small fish in the family Cyprinidae. The species became an instant favorite among aquarists after its introduction in the early 1900s and is the best known and most widely kept species among the rasboras. In 1935, an image of a trio of harlequin rasboras, stamped in 14k gold, would grace the cover of the first edition of William T. Innes's classic Exotic Aquarium Fishes and would remain so through all 19 editions.

The salt and pepper catfish is a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the Corydoradinae sub-family of the family Callichthyidae. It originates in inland waters in South America, and is found in the Upper Orinoco River basin in Venezuela and Colombia.

The dwarf corydoras, dwarf catfish, tail spot pygmy catfish, or micro catfish is a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the subfamily Corydoradinae of the family Callichthyidae. It originates in inland waters in South America, and is found in the Amazon River and Paraguay River basins in Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil. The specific epithet hastatus means with a spear, in reference to the spearhead-like spot on the tail root.

Corydoras pygmaeus, or the pygmy corydoras or pygmy catfish is a tropical and freshwater fish belonging to the subfamily Corydoradinae of the family Callichthyidae. It originates in tropical inland waters in South America, and is found in the Madeira River basin in Brazil.

The lemon tetra is a species of tropical freshwater fish which originates from South America, belonging to the family Characidae. It is a small tetra growing to 5 cm in length. The species is a long established favourite aquarium fish, being introduced to the aquarium in 1932.

The rummy-nose tetra is a species of tropical freshwater characin fish originating in South America, popular among fishkeepers as a tropical aquarium fish. One of many small tetras belonging to the same genus, it is on average 5 cm (2 in) long when fully grown. The fish is one of several very similar species including Hemigrammus bleheri, and Petitella georgiae, and it is possible that more recently collected specimens available in the aquarium trade are members of one or other of these similar species. The common name applied to most of these fishes is "rummy-nose tetra", though other common names are in circulation.

The Buenos Aires tetra is a tropical fish from South America. It was first observed in the wild in 1907, by Carl H. Eigenmann.

The eyespot rasbora is a small fish belonging to the Family Cyprinidae, subfamily Danioninae, which is known by the common names of ocellated rasbora, hi-spot rasbora, and eye-spot rasbora, an allusion to the marking situated upon the dorsal fin. This small fish is a popular aquarium fish, having been one of the species featured in the landmark textbook Exotic Aquarium Fishes by Dr William T. Innes. Its appearance in this work only occurs in later editions of the book, however, therefore the species is not subject to the same degree of aquarium domestication as the more familiar harlequin rasbora.

Danio margaritatus, the celestial pearl danio, often referred to in the aquarium trade as galaxy rasbora or Microrasbora sp. 'Galaxy', is a small cyprinid from Myanmar. It has so far been found only in a very small area near Hopong east of Inle Lake, at an elevation of over 1,000 m (3,400 ft). Its habitat is part of the Salween basin, namely the Nam Lang and Nam Pawn Rivers. Discovered in 2006, the species quickly appeared in the aquarium trade, where its small size and bright colours made it an instant hit.

Laetacara curviceps, the Flag acara, Dwarf flag cichlid, is a species of cichlid that lives in slow-moving rivers and streams as well as ponds and lakes of the Amazon Basin. This species can reach a total length of 10 cm (4 in).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainbow shark</span> Species of fish

The rainbow shark is a species of Southeast Asian freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae. It is also known as the ruby shark, red-fin shark, red-finned shark, rainbow sharkminnow, green fringelip labeo, whitefin shark and whitetail sharkminnow. It is a popular, semi-aggressive aquarium fish. Unlike true sharks, which belong to the Chondrichthyes lineage, the rainbow shark is an actinopterygiian.

The White Cloud Mountain minnow is a hardy species of freshwater fish and coldwater fish often kept in an aquarium. The species is a member of the carp family of the order Cypriniformes, native to China. The White Cloud Mountain minnow is practically extinct in its native habitat, due to pollution and tourism. It was believed to be extinct for over 20 years in 1980, but an apparently native population of this fish was discovered on Hainan Island, well away from the White Cloud Mountain. They are bred in farms and are easily available through the aquarium trade. However, inbreeding in farms has led to genetically weak stock that is vulnerable to disease and prone to physical deformities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Head-and-taillight tetra</span> Species of fish

Hemigrammus ocellifer is a South American freshwater fish, also described by the synonyms Hemibrycon ocellifer and Tetragonopterus ocellifer. Common names include beacon fish, beacon tetra, head-and-tail light tetra and head-and-taillight tetra. It is found in the rivers of Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and the Amazon Basin of Brazil and Peru.

Corydoras imitator is a small species of tropical freshwater armoured catfish native to the Upper Amazon, Solimões, and Rio Negro basins in South America. It was first described by the Dutch icthyologists Han Nijssen and Isaäc J. H. Isbrücker in 1983, and is frequently seen in the aquarium trade.

References

↑ "glowlight tetra". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .
↑ Mark Phillip Smith (2002). Tetras and Other Characins: Everything about History, Setting Up an Aquarium, Health Concerns, and Spawning. Barron's Educational Series. pp. 17–. ISBN 978-0-7641-2148-7.
↑ "Taking care of the glowlight tetra". Meet The Pet.

External links

Hemigrammus erythrozonus
Glowlight tetra Fact Sheet Archived 2017-06-06 at the Wayback Machine

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "glowlight tetra". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .

[Smith2002-2] Mark Phillip Smith (2002). Tetras and Other Characins: Everything about History, Setting Up an Aquarium, Health Concerns, and Spawning. Barron's Educational Series. pp. 17–. ISBN 978-0-7641-2148-7.

[3] "Taking care of the glowlight tetra". Meet The Pet.

[1]

[2]

[3]