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Active and fast; may nip fins and will eat soft plants.
484 species in our list are a good match.
Active and fast; may nip fins and will eat soft plants. Keep in a group with similarly robust fish.
Flakes, pellets and frozen foods plus vegetable matter such as blanched spinach.
Tap a food to see what it is.
Mature males are more intensely coloured (brighter red fins), slimmer and slightly smaller than females.
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Egg-scatterer · Easy
Easy egg-scattering free spawner with no parental care; spawns among fine plants, mops or over mesh in slightly acidic to neutral water, and adults should be removed afterwards.
Keep a group of 8-10 and move a well-conditioned trio or group to a spawning tank.
30-40 L tank with a spawning grid or dense java moss, soft to medium water (pH 6-7.5), a sponge filter and subdued light.
Heavy live-food conditioning, then a water change with slightly cooler water in the morning.
Up to about 2,000 eggs per spawning, hatching in 20-36 hours.
Start with infusoria or powdered fry food, then newly hatched brine shrimp; sort by size as they grow.
A hardy, subtropical silver tetra with red fins from the Paraná and Uruguay basins that tolerates cool water; a classic beginner fish, but a boisterous fin-nipper and plant-eater best kept in a big group. An albino ("golden") strain is also sold.
Carl Eigenmann described this tetra in 1907. It was long known as Hemigrammus caudovittatus and later as Hyphessobrycon anisitsi, and is now placed in Psalidodon. It is a hardy fish famous for nibbling aquarium plants.
First described by Carl H. Eigenmann in 1907.
15 facts checked with sources
Valid name per FishBase, following Terán, Benitez & Mirande 2020 (Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 190(4)), which resurrected Psalidodon. Seriously Fish still files it as Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Eigenmann, 1907); older names include Hemigrammus anisitsi and Hemigrammus caudovittatus. Seriously Fish notes some Buenos Aires province records are actually the look-alike H. togoi, and it resembles H. auca.
FishBase: Psalidodon anisitsi summaryLegacy has no family; value is new. Formerly Characidae (Seriously Fish still uses Characidae); the 2024 split of Characidae moved it to Acestrorhamphidae.
FishBase: Psalidodon anisitsi summary · Melo et al. 2024, Phylogenomics of Characidae... four families, Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 202(1)FishBase gives 13.2 cm TL (total length) as the maximum; Seriously Fish gives 6 cm SL (standard length, roughly 7 cm TL). Larger well-sourced figure used per the size rule, but this looks like a wild maximum: most aquarium adults are about 6-7 cm (legacy 7 cm). Reviewer may prefer 7.
FishBase: Psalidodon anisitsi summary · Seriously Fish: Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetra)Legacy 18-28 lies within Seriously Fish 16-28 °C; a subtropical fish, best kept toward the cooler end long-term.
Seriously Fish: Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetra)Legacy 6-8 lies within Seriously Fish 5.5-8.5.
Seriously Fish: Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetra)Legacy has no hardness; value is new.
Seriously Fish: Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetra)90 x 30 cm base x 30 cm height = 81,000 cm³ = 81 L (Seriously Fish states ~81 litres). FishBase: minimum aquarium 80 cm. Legacy 100 L is more generous.
Seriously Fish: Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetra)Legacy 6; Seriously Fish says 8-10 minimum to curb fin-nipping. FishBase says groups of 5 or more.
Seriously Fish: Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetra)Legacy "s". Boisterous fin-nipper; avoid long-finned or slow tankmates.
Seriously Fish: Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetra)Legacy 1 (easy).
Seriously Fish: Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetra) · FishBase: Psalidodon anisitsi summaryLegacy has no nativeRange; legacy story names Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay but omits Brazil.
Seriously Fish: Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetra) · FishBase: Psalidodon anisitsi summaryLegacy says it spawns "in moderately hard water"; Seriously Fish recommends slightly acidic to neutral water instead.
Seriously Fish: Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetra) · FishBase: Psalidodon anisitsi summaryLegacy "300-1,000 eggs" undershoots the sourced maximum of ~2,000.
Seriously Fish: Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetra) · FishBase: Psalidodon anisitsi summaryLegacy story says it comes from Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay (Brazil missing) and that it is often confused with the bloodfin; no fetched source mentions bloodfin confusion, so that part is dropped.
Seriously Fish: Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetra) · FishBase: Psalidodon anisitsi summary