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Rummy-nose Tetra

Rednose Tetra Family: Characidae

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Hemigrammus bleheri Photo © Animal-World: Courtesy Ken Childs

   A beautiful fish with a dark red nose and a black and white striped tailfin, the Rummy-nose tetra is real striking in a community aquarium!

   The Rummy-nose Tetra makes a great community fish because it is small, peaceful, nicely colored, and not shy. A school of rummy-nose will thrive in a well established, well planted aquarium with lots of activity and noses glowing. The condition of this fish is easily recognized, if they are unhappy with the water conditions or stressed, they will lose most of their color and hardly look like the same fish! Keep in mind, this is what will happen when you first bring them home too, so you need to give them a couple of days to get back their full color.

For more Information on keeping this fish see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Freshwater Aquarium

Distribution:
   The Rummy-nose Tetra, also known as the Rednose Tetra, was described by Géry and Mahnert in 1986. They are found in South America inin Rio Vaupes, Columbia and the Rio Negro in Brazil.

Status:
   The species is not listed on the IUCN Red List.

Description:
   The Rummy-nose Tetra is a full-bodied elongated large tetra species. It has a silvery color that picks up flashy neon highlights. Their most distinguishing characteristics are the bright red nose, thus the name 'rummy-nose', and the striped black and white tail fin.

Size - Weight:
   These fish get up to 1.75 inches (4.5 cm).

Care and feeding:
   Since they are omnivorous the Rummy-nose Tetra will generally eat all kinds of live, fresh, and flake foods. To keep a good balance give them a high quality flake food everyday. Feed brine shrimp (either live or frozen) or blood worms as a treat. They are more difficult to keep than many other tetras, the water conditions should be kept soft and acidic for them to thrive.

Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom:
   These fish will swim in all areas of the aquarium.

Acceptable Water Conditions:
   Hardness: to 4° dGH
   Ph: 6.0 to 7.0 (6.0 - 6.5 for breeding)
   Temp: 73-79° F (22.8 - 26° C), 77-82° F for breeding.

Social Behaviors:
   The Rummy-nose is a peaceful community species that do better (and look best) in groups of 7-10 fish. They look great in a planted aquarium with some free space for swimming.

Sexual Differences:
   The male is thinner, while the female is more compact with a larger stomach during spawning.

Breeding/Reproduction:
   The Rummy-nose tetra are egg layers. They are reportedly more difficult to breed than many other tetras. The water must be kept soft and acidic. They are listed as a "blackwater" fish. Peat filtration is suggested for breeding as well. They will spawn on the bottom of the aquarium or on pinnate leaves of plants. They may eat the eggs, which will hatch after 36 hours. The fry are free swimming after 4 days and are very small. The smallest foods possible like infusoria, is usually required.

Buy Rummy-nose Tetras From LiveAquaria.com

   See a general description of how to breed these fish in Breeding Freshwater Fish and Fish Food for Fry for more information.

Availability:
   The Rummy-nose tetra is readily available and reasonably priced.

Author: David Brough, CFS

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Latest Comments
I have just bred these lovely fish purely by accident, and didn't even know until I saw them swimming around, so they even survived the eggs being eaten! We went away for a week and had someone coming in to feed them for us, looked in when we came home and saw 4 little tiny mights swimming around! emma 2008-02-09
I started my tank with four rummy nose, two fair size silver dollars, and an angel that was pretty well beat up by another angel which isn't around anymore. Within the first few days I knew I had to get more rummy noses. Once that color blossomed it was like a party in my tank. Two weeks later I went to the pet store and picked up two gold gouramis. They were out of rummy nose. Two weeks from that I went and grabbed 5 more rummy nose and I can't get enough of their antics. They school beautifully and pull the tank together wonderfully acting like mediators of the big guys, keeping them in line. Using rummy nose as dither fish in this tank of giants has been great, since they warn me when conditions aren't exactly perfect. Next tank...discus, rummy nose Timothy Thorne 2007-11-20
I have 7 of these wonderful fish in a heavily planted tank with 6 rainbow fish, 3 coris, 2 upside down catfish, 6 penguin tetras, some red eyed tetras, and 2 horse head loaches. these bred and now i have 50 of them fully grown. I keep my rummy noses in an 80 gallon tank. I feed them flakes and blood worms as treats. I would recommend these fish because they are colorful and peaceful. Dylan Dylan 2007-06-08
i have 20 of these great fish in a 90 gallon heavily planted discus tank. They are great schoolers and swim around happily in all areas of the tank. I feed bloodworm, good flake, ciclid bits and shrimp in the tank, mainly because this is the discus diet, but the rummynoses love all of it! Excellent fish i would highly recommend them. Great colour if they are happy. froody 2007-03-19
I have 4 rummy noses in a 20h. They are sensitive and will swim mostly at the bottom (and some times middle) level of the tank. They are sensitive to temp. changes but are hard to kill. I have had temps go down quickly over the weekend and they were half dead when i got back but after temps were in there comfort zone they were fine. They live whith 3 harliquin rasboras, 1 flame dwarf gourami (male) and 2 neon dwarf gouramis (female), 3 corys, 1 bristlenose pleco, 2 mystery snails, and 2 honey gouramis. Anonymous 2006-12-11
Some of the coolest comments:
It is possible to breed Rummy-noses...I've done it by accident! A very clean tank is essential--when mine bred, the tank was quite recently set up (the rummy's being my starter fish). The males start chasing the females around the tank, and when the female consents, they make for some vegetation and spawn. Ours laid eggs on our Water Primrose...unfortunately, they aren't great parents, and we weren't prepared for the grand event, so they ate all their eggs :( Amber 2006-03-28
I have 7 Rummys in a community tank. They Schoal very well and are very active. After a few days the colours are brilliant. They are a perfect mix with Zebra Danios and Scissortails and love the fast flow from the powerhead. Excellent community fish, if I had the room I would double the numbers. ed 2005-11-28

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