Rummynose Tetra

[dirtydogg]

I've recently purchased 8 rummynose tetra from my lfs, they made it home fine, and even seemed fine after acclimation, well all but one of them. but overnight I lost 3 of them. What can I do to keep from losing more?

 

[veen]

I've recently purchased 8 rummynose tetra from my lfs, they made it home fine, and even seemed fine after acclimation, well all but one of them. but overnight I lost 3 of them. What can I do to keep from losing more?

i think i read somewhere on this forum that rummies are sensitive to water changes. i could be wrong about that though -- please someone correct me if so. i didn't have any problems with my rummies until just last night when 2 died. and i'd had them for about a month or so.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Though inexpensive fish, many tetras don't travel well. Doesn't matter if you buy them at the lfs 15 mins from you or you have them shipped from across the country. After killing my first 35 cardinals, I was given some advice by a very experienced fish keeper. He told me to feed them bbs for the first week or two after getting them in. I now have about 40-45 in my 75 and a few more in a 30 breeder. I have had them nor for about 20 months.

 

[WILDER]

bbs is that baby brime strimp.

 

[Lateral Line]

Rummynoses are notoriously sensitive. A lot depends on the species. There are 3 species which are commonly called "Rummy Nose Tetras". The original, and probably the least colourful of the 3 is Hemigrammus rhodostomus. This is the one you see most often as it is from nearer the mouth of the Amazon where the water conditions vary a bit more - it is therefore the most robust of the 3.

The other 2 are Hemigrammus bleheri and Petitella georgiae. Both are from blackwater environs of the Rio Negro and it's tributaries North West of Manaus. These are more colourful, but more demanding as to water conditions, (like many blackwater fish). These two both go under the common name of "False Rummy Nose Tetra", "FireHead" or "FlameHead", but frequently the oiks in the LFS just call whatever they get "Rummy Noses".

They look alike, but the blackwater species have a much clearer pattern in the caudal fin, the stripes can be almost absent in H. rhosostomus. Also the size of the red patch on the head varies with the species, again H. rhodostomus usually has the smallest red hood, H. bleheri the largest.

 

[dirtydogg]

I ended up losing 6 of the 8, Now they've spread Ich to my tank . But as long as the ich doesn't kill the one of 2 left I am going to keep purshasing untill I get a living group of 8. I'll have to get a pic of them so you can help me identify them, I've looked online, but I still have questions of their true species.