This small, about 4.5 cm maximum length reaching tetra belongs to the most attractive species of tetra at all. The species is very hardy and undemanding and can be easily bred in huge numbers. It is a fish of the subtropical regions and doesn´t even require a heater. In the wild, water temperatures between 16 and 30°C occur. However, one must keep in mind that temperature changes in nature usually take a lot of time.
Sadly the dawn tetra (this is one of the popular names applied to this fish by hobbyists) has one disadvantage: it sometimes bites of parts of fins and scales from other fish. It is still a mystery why this nasty behaviour sometimes appears. But probably, similar as in tiger barbs or flame tetras, the behaviour only appears when the school of dawn tetras is too small. Larger schools of 20 or more specimens have enough to do with conspecifics and usually leave other fish alone.
Another opportunity is to keep A. paraguayensis in a single species tank or only combined with some catfish. For example Corydoras hastatus lives in nature along with the dawn tetra in mixed schools. This is a fascinating look!
For our customers: the fish have code 206512 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
