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Glowlight Hemigrammus erythrozonus
Family: Characidae
The Glowlight tetra is one of the most beautiful and easy to keep fish offered in our hobby. If you want an absolutely spectacular tank, put a school of Glowlights in with black gravel, lots of plants and subdued lighting. You will understand the “glow” part of their name. They look almost unearthly, like some form of phosphorescent orange/red lines surrounded by fish. Glowlights need slightly acid water with moderate hardness, but they are very sensitive to nitrate and nitrite, so they should be kept in a tank that has active and complete biological filtration. If the water quality is not to their liking they will not show to their best advantage, and can, in fact, become almost colourless. Water changes and plants will keep them happiest. They accept all foods — flake and frozen — and are always greedy eaters. Spawning is in the typical tetra fashion, although they have a habit of turning completely upside down when they spawn. The eggs, as with Neons and Cardinals, are very sensitive to light, so once the parents have spawned the tank should be kept in the dark for two days until the eggs actually hatch out. The abdominal area of the male curves in slightly (concave), and he is smaller and less robust than the female. Generally this is a very slender species resembling the neon tetra in shape and form. Top size is about 1.5 inches. Overall a very pleasing species to look at. The anal, ventral and dorsal fins are slightly off white to translucent in coloration, in addition the front of the dorsal fin is marked by a bright red stripe.
This colour is repeated on the top section of the eye. The
basic body colour is pale translucent olive green colour. There is a
shimmering purple to red stripe starting at the base of the tail fin
extending to the mouth area. Under certain light you can see an additional
golden stripe on top of the red. Breeding.
Glowlight tetras breed similarly as most egg-scattering small fish.
Raising the temperature to about 82 degrees F, adding peat to the system
to soften it (unless it is already soft), and feeding live foods can help
initiate spawning.
Eggs are laid among plants.
Use a heavily planted tank
(fine leafed like Myriophyllium) and reduced light levels. The water
should be soft and slightly acidic. Place well conditioned fish in the
tank and raise the temperature to about 82°F. The female is usually larger than the male and her girth must be
noticeable rounded to show she is ready. The small and almost transparent
eggs are scattered among the plants. The parents are egg eaters and should
be removed after spawning. The fry will hatch in about 24 hours and are
free swimming in about four days. They should be fed baby brine shrimp or
crushed flake food. It is important to change about 25% the water
frequently, at least once a week.
Like other small tetras, such as the Neon Tetra and the Black Neon Tetra,
this fish does best in small schools (shoal) of 5 or more. Do not keep
them with larger species that could potentially eat them. Even if you keep
them in schools they can still be a little shy, keeping a low profile most
of the time.
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