Would these fish work in my 29 gallon Hemigrammus rhodostomus, Boehlkea fredcochui, Hyphesskbrycon cyanotaeni, panda Cory’s and zebra otocinclus? Each would have a school of 6 to 8 or could I do more or would I have to do less?
Hemigrammus rhodostomus. This tank is not long enough. This characin loves to swim, continually. It does this in nature and in the aquarium. It remains as a tight shoal, almost unique among characins, and swims fron end to end. It only breaks this up when feeding. It does better with larger groups, I had 21 in a 5-foot tank, what a sight. I would never have this species in anything under 3 feet, preferably 4-feet. And in a grop of at least 12, but certainly preferably more. BTW, a taxonomic note.
Phylogenetic analysis has now shown that the "rummy nose" tetras (there are three distinct species) are all in the genus Petitella.
P. rhodostomus (previously
Hemigrammus rhodostomus) was the first discovered, by Ahlin 1924.
P. georgiae is the largest and least often seen. This species was the second of the three "Rummy Nose" tetras to be discovered; the species was described and named by Jacques Gery and H. Boutiere in 1964. Recognizing that this fish was physiologically distinct from
Hemigrammus rhodostomus, Gery & Boutiere erected the genus
Petitella [the name derived from the French
petit meaning small, diminutive] for this species. In the 1960's a third species was discovered by Heiko Bleher; Gery & Mahnert (1984) described the species as
Hemigrammus bleheri, in honour of its discoverer. This species is by far the most common one seen, and it has the most brillian red head, justifying its common names of "fire head" and "brilliant rummynose" etc. I have had this species and
P. georgiae for many years, but never come across
P. rhodostomus which sort of disappeared out of the hobby after Heiko introduced the more brightly coloured species.
Boehikea fredcochui. This quite lovely fish grows to 2 inches, and it is an active swimmer too, very much so, so here again a minimum 30-inch tank but I wold never use less than a 3-foot tank; without sufficient space it can turn feisty with other fish. Based on the activity alone, I would not combine this with any of the sedate or inactive tetras. I had a group in my 5-foot tank and they were all over the place, but never any sort of problem. They just need active tankmates. These and the rummys would do well together, I had both in the 5-foot; the rummys remain in the lower third, the blues in the upper half of the water column. They need space though.
Hyphessobrycon cyanotaeni. I have not encountered this species, so I had to search data. It was described by Zarsky & Gery in 2006. It is just under 2 inches length. Aquarium Glaser has "They are almost always moving, very voracious, peaceful and the males are constantly busy with fights for their territory among themselves." I would take it from this that it is much like
B. fredcochui, needing at least a 3-foot if not 4-foot tank.
Tank space is the key issue here, unfortunately.
!!
. I am trying to find ones that are more uncommon. I want this tank to be fish I haven’t owned and of course the ones with the littlest information are the prettiest!!
