Flameback Bleeding Heart Tetra Care Guide - Tank Setup, Diet & Breeding

The Flameback Bleeding Heart Tetra is a striking, deep-bodied characin with a silvery to pinkish body, a vivid red mark behind the gill cover and a warm red-orange colour running along the back. Mature fish can develop especially rich colour when settled and displaying naturally within a group.

This species has the classic high-backed profile associated with bleeding heart tetras, although its intense dorsal colouring gives it a distinctive appearance. The fins are generally transparent with subtle reddish tones, while the eye and body reflect light attractively as the fish turns.

Flameback Bleeding Heart Tetras are active but usually peaceful shoaling fish. Males often display to one another by spreading their fins and intensifying their colours, creating lively interactions without normally causing serious injury.

In the wild, they are associated with calm tributaries, flooded forest margins and waters influenced by leaf litter and overhanging vegetation. Their natural environment is often shaded, with subdued light and a mixture of open swimming areas and cover.

Hyphessobrycon pyrrhonotus is less commonly seen than several related bleeding heart tetras, but it is highly regarded by aquarists for its strong red dorsal coloration, attractive shape and engaging group behaviour.

Flameback Bleeding Heart Tetras come from the upper Orinoco River basin in northern South America, particularly Colombian waters and associated tributaries. They inhabit warm, slow-moving forest streams and flooded areas with soft, tannin-stained water.

A group should be provided with at least 75 litres, with an aquarium around 80 cm long or more to give them room to swim. Use a fine dark substrate or sand, driftwood, hardy plants and shaded areas created by floating vegetation, while retaining an open central space for shoaling. Leaf litter and gentle filtration can help recreate their natural blackwater-influenced surroundings, although stable, clean water remains essential.

Up to about 6 cm (2.4 in) in total length. Females are often slightly larger and deeper-bodied than males, while males tend to be slimmer and more brightly marked.

These omnivorous tetras thrive on a varied diet of high-quality small flakes, micro pellets and granules, supplemented with frozen or live foods such as brine shrimp, daphnia, cyclops and mosquito larvae. Small portions offered once or twice daily are suitable, and regular live or frozen foods help maintain their colour, condition and breeding readiness.

Flameback Bleeding Heart Tetras are peaceful community fish and can be kept with similarly sized, calm South American tetras, pencilfish, peaceful rasboras, small danios, Corydoras and non-aggressive dwarf cichlids. They are best kept away from large predatory fish, fin-nippers and boisterous species that may intimidate them or damage their fins. Keeping a proper shoal helps them behave confidently and reduces the chance that they will pester more timid tankmates.

Flameback Bleeding Heart Tetras are egg scatterers that can be spawned in a separate, dimly lit breeding aquarium with soft, slightly acidic water and fine-leaved plants or spawning mops. Condition a group with live or frozen foods, then introduce the adults when females are well rounded. Remove the adults after spawning, as they may eat the eggs. The eggs generally hatch within a day or two, and the tiny fry need infusoria-sized foods before progressing to newly hatched brine shrimp.

Females are usually fuller through the abdomen, particularly when carrying eggs, and may be slightly larger overall. Males are generally slimmer, more intensely coloured and may show longer or more pointed fins, especially when displaying.