Rummy-Nose Tetra Care Guide - Aquarium Setup, Diet & Breeding

The Rummy-Nose Tetra is a slender, silvery characin best known for its vivid red snout and face. A dark horizontal stripe runs along the body and the tail is marked with contrasting black and white bands, giving this small fish an especially striking appearance when viewed as a group.

These tetras are active but peaceful, spending much of their time in the middle and lower levels of the aquarium. Their tight, coordinated schooling behaviour is one of their greatest attractions, and a healthy shoal often moves as a single shimmering unit when startled or changing direction.

In the wild, they inhabit shaded Amazonian waterways beneath overhanging vegetation and submerged branches. Leaf litter, tannin-stained water and subdued light create a sheltered environment where their reflective bodies and red faces stand out among the darker surroundings.

The intensity of the red facial colour can provide a useful general indication of wellbeing, although it naturally varies with mood, lighting and water conditions. Rummy-Nose Tetras are often considered more sensitive than many beginner tetras, but their peaceful nature and spectacular schooling make them a popular choice for mature community aquariums.

Hemigrammus bleheri is native to the upper Amazon basin of South America, particularly clear and blackwater tributaries in Brazil and adjacent parts of Colombia. It is associated with slow-moving forest streams and flooded woodland habitats.

A shoal of Rummy-Nose Tetras should have at least a 75-litre aquarium, with a footprint of approximately 60 × 30 cm or larger; a longer tank is preferable because it provides room for natural schooling. Use soft sand or fine gravel, dense planting around the sides and rear, and open swimming space through the centre. Driftwood, roots and leaf litter can create the shaded, forest-stream character they favour, while floating plants and subdued lighting help them feel secure. Gentle filtration, stable water quality and a tightly covered aquarium are also valuable.

Up to around 5 cm (2 in) in total length. Females are usually slightly larger and deeper-bodied than males, particularly when carrying eggs.

Rummy-Nose Tetras are omnivores that benefit from a varied diet of high-quality small flakes or micro-pellets supplemented with frozen or live foods such as brine shrimp, daphnia, cyclops and bloodworm. Their mouths are small, so foods should be finely sized. Feeding modest portions once or twice daily helps ensure that all members of the shoal get food without leaving excess waste.

Rummy-Nose Tetras are peaceful community fish and can be kept with similarly gentle species such as cardinal tetras, neon tetras, harlequin rasboras, pencilfish, small peaceful barbs, Corydoras and small, non-aggressive gouramis. Avoid large cichlids, predatory catfish and boisterous or fin-nipping fish, which may intimidate them or treat them as prey. They should also not be housed with species that require markedly different water conditions.

Rummy-Nose Tetras are egg-scattering spawners that can be bred in a separate, dimly lit breeding aquarium with very soft, slightly acidic water and fine-leaved plants or a spawning mesh. Condition a group with nutritious live or frozen foods, then introduce the fish when females are full of eggs. Spawning usually takes place among the plants, after which the adults should be removed because they may eat the eggs. The eggs hatch in roughly 24 to 36 hours, and the tiny fry need infusoria or another suitably fine first food before progressing to larger foods.

Females are generally a little larger and noticeably rounder through the abdomen, while males tend to be slimmer. The red facial markings and black-and-white tail pattern are present in both sexes and are not reliable ways to distinguish them.