Animal-World > Freshwater Fish > Characins > Glowlight Tetra

Glowlight Tetra

Family: Characidae - Sub-family: Tetragonopterinae

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Hemigrammus erythrozonus Photo © Animal-World: Courtesy David Brough

   With a glowing orange stripe across the center of its body, the Glowlight Tetra is a beautiful fish!

   The Glowlight Tetra is a schooling fish and is one of the most peaceful tetras. They are most comfortable in an aquarium with floating plants as well as some open spaces to swim in. Like all fish, they do not over eat, but the Glowlight Tetra does like to eat a small amount of food several times a day. It is best to feed them what they will eat in about three minutes, three or four times a day.

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

Distribution:
   The Glowlight Tetra was described by Durbin in 1909. They are found in South America in the Essequibo River of Guyana and they feed on worms, small crustaceans and plants.

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

Description:
   The Glowlight Tetra is a small more slim-bodied species of tetra. It is similar in appearance to the Black Neon Tetra with its horizontal stripe that seems to glow, but is a distinctly different fish. They can readily be identified, as their body is transparent. As they get older, the stripe becomes more and more pronounced.

Size - Weight:
   These fish get up to 1.5 inches (4 cm).

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

Acceptable Water Conditions:
   This is a very undemanding species, as can be seen by the wide range of acceptable conditions.
   Hardness: 2-15° dGH
   Ph: 5.8 to 7.5
   Temp: 74-82° F (24-28° C)

Social Behaviors:
   The Glowlight Tetra are generally a good community fish. They will do best in schools with soft light, floating plants, and peat filtered water.

Sexual Differences:
   The female is larger and stronger than the male and has a round ventral section. The male is slenderer and has more color.

Breeding/Reproduction:
   Suggested conditions: 82° F, 6° dGH
   The Glowlight Tetra are egg layers. When they spawn they lock fins, then while clasped they perform a type of roll-over process in the vegetation. Thus the female releases about a dozen eggs at time and the male fertilizes them.

Buy Glowlight Tetras From LiveAquaria.com

   Because of this spawning behavior, the Glowlight Tetra is one tetra that must not have too dense a spawning vegetation! See the description of how Characins breed in Breeding Freshwater Fish.

Availability:
   The Glowlight Tetra is readily available.

Author: David Brough, CFS.

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Latest Comments
I currently have 4 glowlight tetra in my tank along with 9 neon tetra, 1 plecostomus, 2 dwarf gourami, 1 siamese fighter, 1 corydoras catfish and 1 albino corydoras. The glowlights look amazing when they school with the neons. They are a beautiful fish that look even better when the tank is backed with black plastic. jon 2009-05-21
I have 4 glowights they are one of the best fish to keep they have been in my tank for 40 weeks happily one of my fish is having babies. g 2008-02-23
I had 7 glowlights, but 4 died. I love the glowlights. They just swim and swim. Their fun to watch. I've had all the glowlights for 5 years. The 4 that died could have died of old age. kathy 2007-11-16
i have two glowlight tetra's and have had them for over a year. they're great community fish and seem very hardy. i would say though that the above statement saying that they will not over eat isn't true. i have found that they will normally eat until you can physically see there belly growing in one sitting. Maybe this is because i only feed my fish once daily? Jamie 2006-06-20
I have a 14 1/2 gallon tank that has 1 Blue Rainbow, 1 Zebra Loach, 2 Swordtails, 3 Mollies, 3 American Flagfish, 4 Pristella Tetras, 4 Silver tipped Tetra and 3 Glowlight Tetra. The Glowlight Tetras are very active and colourful which is good. And they seem to get along with their tankmates(Especially the other Tetras). Jonathan Khan 2006-01-15
Some of the coolest comments:
Out of the few Characin species I have kept, this is one of the most rewarding. They school up tightly in my 20g tall aquarium and frequently court each other. They seemed to school even more tightly once I added a piece of driftwood so I think they prefer a slightly "blackwater" environment. I have yet to get them to spawn successfully, but right now they share the tank with three Bolivian Rams so this is expected. A slightly dim light shows off their color the best which is unfortunate because it limits the kinds of live plants the animal can be kept with. 1 watt per gallon or even a little less really makes them look brilliant. William Browne 2007-01-17
these are really nice little fish and school really good. they brighten up the tank. they do fine with my shark, platies, guppies, gold gourami, catfish, and others kerry 2004-03-13

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