Until now we were able to present this beautiful tetra – which has been described scientifically only in 2015 – to you only as a very rare bycatch (see http://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archives/hemigrammus-rubrostriatus/). But finally we managed a larger importation of that beauty from Venezuela. The fish are about 4-5 cm longer, adult and in full colour. They belong obviously to the most attarctive small species of tetra at all. The tail pattern is similar to the Head-and-Tail-tetras (Hemigrammus ocellifer and H. falsus), but the bright tailspot is blood red instead of yellow; the gorgeous red horizontal stripe is as bright as in Hyphessobrycon amapaensis and the golden-yellow belly shines like that of the Kitty tetra, Hyphessobrycon heliacus. Additional the red and white pattern of the fins is very nice in H. rubrostriatus. If a tetra would have been designed as an ideal community fish, this is it!
If it comes to the requirements of the fish: Hemigrammus rubrostriatus – we suggest Red-Stripe tetra as a common name – is as easy to keep as its congeners that live in aquaria for almost a century now. Any tap water will do for keeping. However, soft, slightly acidic water and the addition of humic acids from dead leaves, peat, alder cones, roots etc. will increase the intensity of the colours.
For our customers: the fish have code 257473 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
