From the upper Amazon in Peru comes the beautiful garnet tetra, which grows 3-4 cm long. The very peaceful animal actually has characteristics like a carbuncle, a gemstone, which in fairy tales has the ability to make the owner invisible: because the eye and tail root of Hemigrammus pulcher shimmer like gemstones, but the individual fish in the troop is thus difficult to spot for prey predators. Within the species the luminous markings serve for recognition of conspecifics in the dark home waters.
Perhaps in the first moment one passes it by carelessly in the pet shop, because in the bright dealer tank it does not appear very colorful, but this changes when the carbuncle tetra comes into a well planted aquarium with subdued light! As is common with tetras, the male is smaller and more delicate than the female. The garnet tetra is an ideal combination to the neon tetra, which comes from the same region.
For our customers: the animals have code 257002 on our stock list. Please note that we only supply wholesale.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
