Flame Tetra

Looks how to spot one

Small, deep-bodied scaled characin

A tiny tetra that glows red toward the rear. The front half is silvery with two dark vertical bars behind the gill cover, and most fins are washed in red. Males are slimmer and brighter, with dark tips on the anal and pelvic fins.31

Personality what they are like

Gentle and sociable. Within a group the leading males have small, harmless contests, which adds interest without bothering other fish.12

Daily activity how busy a day looks

An active shoaling swimmer that likes open water in front of planted areas.13

Grooming and care the hands-on bits

Easy to keep with steady water quality and routine partial water changes. Colours are strongest in a well-planted tank with a varied diet.1

Home where they are happiest

Tank with a base of at least about 60 x 30 cm (around 54 litres). Temperature about 20 to 28 °C, pH about 5.5 to 7.8, water from soft to fairly hard (1 to 25 dGH across sources). In the wild it lives in small, slow, shaded streams with clear or brown water.12

Food basics what goes in the bowl

Omnivore. Natural food includes small insects, worms, tiny crustaceans, algae and plant matter. In the aquarium give quality dried food plus small live or frozen foods such as bloodworm, mosquito larvae and Daphnia.12

Company who they like around

Keep at least 5, ideally 8 to 10 or more, with other small peaceful fish such as small tetras and catfish.12

The story where it all began

Flame tetras arrived in the aquarium hobby in 1920 through C. Bruening of Hamburg, a few years before George S. Myers described the species in 1924. It has been bred commercially for so long that wild fish are no longer collected for the trade.31

Recognised by the official bits

IUCN Red List

Endangered in the wild (assessed 7 November 2018); widely captive-bred for the aquarium trade2

Brazilian national list of threatened fish

Included since 20041