Breeding Firehead Tetra (Hemigrammus Bleheri) In The Aquarium

Location

This freshwater species lives in small creeks and streams with dark water in Brazil and Colombia.

Body description

Body of the fish is elongated and fusiform. Colour of the body is silvery-olive with light under-side and red head. The caudal fin have horizontal, white-black stripes. Other fins are clear. Male is a bit smaller and thinner than female.

Temperament and behaviour

This is a peaceful, shoal and active species. Fish prefers to live in a group of several minimum. The fish are timid and shy if they are in small group. You can easily recognize condition of the fish - when the fish is stressed or water parameters are wrong then colour of the head becomes pale or can even disappear in some parts. This species is often confused with rummy-nose tetra Hemigrammus rhodostomus and Petitella georgiae. There are few details distinguishing these three species but they are difficult to observe. Firstly the red colour of the head goes behind the gill covers only for Firehad Tetra. Other two species have some parts of their head in red colour. But this criterion isn't sufficient to identity the species – colour of the fish head is variable. Secondly Petitella georgiae doesn't have the black spot in the lower part of the caudal fin base/peduncle but it has black ending at the base of the anal fin. Thirdly middle black-white line along the lateral line of the fish is invisible on firehead tetra. This line for Hemigrammus rhodostomus is narrower than for Petitella georgiae. Differences are also in shape of caudal and base of the anal fins.

Aquarium decoration

You can keep these fish in a general tank or in "black water" biotope aquarium. The biotope tank should have a lot of plants and roots, floating plants, dry leaves of oak or beech (you should replace them every few weeks), dimmed light, sandy substrate. Colour of the water should be like "light tea" so you may put peat in a net and immerse it in the water or you may add the peat to the filtration system. You must put the fish to the aquarium with chemically stable water – all water parameters must be stable. The general aquarium should have plants at the back, space to swim, hiding-places, dimmed light, gentle but effective filtration system. This species does not adjusts to the new conditions of the environment easily - it may die. You should do quarantine for new fish for minimum of 2 weeks and you should not feed the fish. This species is sensitive to water quality – accumulation of nitrates, sudden water temperature fluctuations, infections and chemicals. You should gradually increase water temperature up to 30°C and to maintain it for at least 2 weeks instead to use chemicals.

Breeding

This is an oviparous species. You should breed these fish in a separate aquarium. Breeding tank should have soft water, slightly acidic pH and a bit higher water temperature, dimmed light or no light, fine-leaved floating plants or fish hatchery, no substrate, gentle but effective filtration system. You may add peat to the filtration system. You should separate males and females before spawning and you should feed them with plenty of live food. You transfer to the breeding tank the most colourful male and the thickest female in the evening. The fish should spawn next day in the morning after intense courtships. You must immediately remove the parents after the spawning. The eggs hatch after 1.5 days. The fry starts to swim and feed 4-5 days later. The roe and fry are sensitive to light and water quality.