The
“chocolate neon tetra”, Hyphessobrycon vilmae, originates from the
upper reaches of the Rio Tapajós in Brazil. Sadly it only rarely
available. Regarding keeping not much is to say here: the fish requires
the very same conditions as the well known “black neon tetra”,
Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi. The males of H. vilmae have a more
intensive coloration and also white colours in the fins, which are
lacking in females.
Like
in many other tetras in H. vilmae quite often appear golden specimens.
Sadly this pretty coloration is not hereditarily. It is the result of a
harmless infection with skin-worms. These worms cannot reproduce in
aquaria. They reach the sexual active stage only in birds that have
eaten an infected fish. The fish infect themselves by eating the faeces
of infected birds. So all golden tetras that appear in the trade are
always wild collected fish.
For our customers: the animals have code 262102 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
