Ember Tetra

About

The ember tetra (Hyphessobrycon amandae) is a small but vivid fish native to the Araguaia River basin in central Brazil, where it inhabits slow-moving, heavily vegetated waters with soft, acidic conditions. Its entire body radiates a warm orange-red hue, deepening toward the fins, and the contrast it creates against green plants is genuinely hard to ignore. Adults stay under an inch, which makes them one of the smaller tetras commonly available in the hobby. Don't let that tiny size fool you into thinking a few will do. This is a genuinely gregarious species, and a group of eight to ten or more is where they really come into their own, schooling tightly and moving with noticeably more confidence than a lone pair ever would. Temperament is thoroughly peaceful, but that cuts both ways: they don't hold their own against boisterous or significantly larger tankmates. They're a natural pairing with dwarf cichlids like Apistogramma species, occupying the middle and upper water column while the cichlids work the bottom, and they rarely bother fry. Smaller rasboras, fellow characids, and peaceful catfishes all make good companions. They can be bred in the aquarium by egg-scattering, and in a well-planted, mature setup you may find fry appearing on their own without much intervention.