Flame Tetra Care Guide - Aquarium Setup, Diet & Breeding

The Flame Tetra, also known as the Von Rio Tetra, is a compact schooling fish with a silvery body that develops warm orange, red and copper tones toward the rear half. Mature individuals can show especially rich colour when settled and healthy, while the fins may display subtle reddish shading with darker markings on some specimens.

These active but peaceful tetras spend most of their time in the middle levels of the aquarium, where they move together in a constantly shifting group. They are livelier and more confident when kept with several of their own kind, and a well-established shoal often displays gentle sparring and brief flashes of colour without causing harm.

In nature, Flame Tetras live in small, slow-flowing waterways surrounded by vegetation. Overhanging plants, subdued light and tannin-stained water help create a sheltered environment, with the fish picking through the water and leaf litter for tiny invertebrates and other edible material.

The species was described from Brazil in the early twentieth century and has long been valued in the aquarium hobby for its manageable size, attractive colour and calm temperament. Its understated juvenile appearance can become notably more vivid as the fish mature and feel secure.

Flame Tetras come from southeastern Brazil in South America, particularly the coastal river systems around Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. They inhabit slow-moving, shaded streams and small tributaries with dense marginal vegetation.

A group of Flame Tetras should be kept in an aquarium of at least 60 litres, with a base around 60 × 30 cm to provide useful swimming length. Use gentle filtration and leave open areas for shoaling, while adding dense planting, driftwood and shaded edges for security. A dark, fine-grained substrate, leaf litter and subdued lighting help recreate their natural surroundings, although the substrate itself is not critical. The aquarium should be mature, stable and fitted with a secure cover.

Up to 2.5 cm (1 inch) in total length. Females are generally slightly larger and deeper-bodied than males, while males are usually slimmer and may reach around 2 cm (0.8 inches).

Flame Tetras are omnivores and do best on a varied diet of high-quality small flake or micro-pellets supplemented with frozen or live foods such as baby brine shrimp, daphnia, cyclops and bloodworms. Their small mouths require appropriately sized food, and occasional vegetable or spirulina-based ingredients can help provide a balanced diet. Feed small portions that they can consume promptly.

Flame Tetras are peaceful community fish that suit similarly sized, calm tankmates such as small rasboras, other gentle tetras, pencilfish, Corydoras, Otocinclus and peaceful dwarf shrimp. Avoid large predatory fish, boisterous species and persistent fin-nippers, which may intimidate them or damage their delicate fins. They should not be housed with fish large enough to swallow them.

Flame Tetras are egg-scattering spawners that breed most successfully in a separate, dimly lit aquarium with soft, slightly acidic water and fine-leaved plants or a spawning mop. Condition males and females with plenty of live or frozen foods, then introduce them when the females are full of eggs. Adults should be removed after spawning because they may eat the eggs. The eggs usually hatch within 24 to 36 hours, and the tiny fry can initially be fed infusoria or another suitably fine first food before progressing to newly hatched brine shrimp.

Females are typically fuller through the abdomen, especially when carrying eggs, and may be marginally larger overall. Males are slimmer and often show a more intense red-orange flush, although colour varies with age, condition and mood.