rm
Passport
- Family
- Tetras
- Grows to
- 5 cm (2")
- Temperament
- Peaceful
- CareSuggested
- Intermediate
- SwimsSuggested
- Mid-water
- Keep
- In a group of 10 or more
- Water
- 23–26 °C (73–79 °F)
ColombiaBrazil
Care requirements
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On record for Rummynose Tetra: adult size, temperature, ph, hardness, minimum group, diet, care level, swim level, tank length.
Not on record for Rummynose Tetra: lifespan, minimum tank.
A figure that is not on record is left out rather than guessed. One marked Suggested comes from keeping knowledge rather than a page.
- pH 5.5–7
- Hardness 2–15 dGH
- Diet omnivore
- Tank length 90 cm minimum
Care notes written from general aquarium knowledge, not from the cited sources.
About
Rummynoses come with a built-in water quality meter, and it's the best reason to keep them. The blood-red head is bright on a fish that's comfortable and drains to pale pink when something is wrong — a drop in quality, a shock, a bad move — often hours before any other fish in the tank reacts.
They also shoal more tightly than almost anything else you can buy. Most tetras form a loose association; rummynoses move as a single body, turning together, and the black and white barred tails flicking in unison is the effect people actually keep them for.
The trade sells three near-identical species under this name, and it genuinely doesn't matter for your purposes. They're kept the same way.
Tank setup
Give your rummynoses length. They're active, they swim as a unit, and a shoal needs a long run to do the thing you bought them for — a short tank turns a spectacular fish into a nervous one.
Go dark underneath and dim overhead. Sand, driftwood and a good layer of dried leaves is the arrangement they came from, and the tannins that leach out of it turn the water the colour of weak tea.
Aquatic plants aren't really part of their natural water, so don't feel obliged. They do just as well in a well-planted tank if that's what you want.
Keep them out of alkaline water. They'll live in it and the red simply won't come, which defeats the point of the fish.
Feeding
Rummynoses eat almost anything and have small mouths, so grade the food down. Flake crushed fine, micro granules, and small live and frozen food all work.
Variety shows up in the colour here more directly than in most fish. A shoal on nothing but dried food carries a duller red, and daphnia, bloodworm and brine shrimp a few times a week fix it.
They feed in mid-water and won't chase much to the bottom, so anything that sinks past them is wasted.
Avoid: large flake and coarse granules, which they'll mouth and spit.
Filtration and flow
Moderate flow is right. They're active swimmers and comfortable in a current, though they don't need one.
Water changes are not optional with this species. They lose colour in unfavourable conditions faster than any other common tetra, and a weekly routine is the difference between red heads and pink ones.
Filter for stability. They're less tolerant of a swinging tank than of any particular value in it.
With plants
Rummynoses are completely safe with plants and won't touch them.
Plant the back and sides if you want plants, and keep a long clear channel through the middle. The shoaling display needs open water, and a densely aquascaped tank with no swimming lane wastes them.
Floating plants help. The shade calms them and deepens the red.
Health
They're moderately hardy once settled and notoriously bad at being moved. Expect a pale, skittish shoal for the first week or two in a new tank, and don't panic about it.
Never add them to an immature filter. They're one of the species most reliably killed by being the first fish into a tank, and their sensitivity is exactly why experienced keepers use them as the final addition.
Read the noses daily. A shoal that has gone pale and stayed pale for more than a day is reporting a real problem, and it's worth testing the water before you look for anything else.
Breeding
Rummynoses are difficult, and soft acidic water is the whole obstacle. The eggs won't develop otherwise, and most tap water is nowhere near.
Set up a separate dim tank with fine-leaved plants or a mesh floor, condition the adults hard on live and frozen food, and raise the spawning tank a little warmer than the main one. A conditioned pair will usually spawn the following morning.
The adults eat everything they lay, so remove them as soon as eggs appear. Eggs and fry are both damaged by light — keep the tank as dark as you can manage — and the fry need infusoria before they can take microworm or baby brine shrimp.
Tank mates
Avoid10
- Convict Cichlid Convict Cichlid grows to 15 cm against Rummynose Tetra at 5 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Jewel Cichlid Jewel Cichlid grows to 15 cm against Rummynose Tetra at 5 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Least Killifish Rummynose Tetra grows to 5 cm against Least Killifish at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Scarlet Badis Rummynose Tetra grows to 5 cm against Scarlet Badis at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Common Goldfish Common Goldfish is not safe with Rummynose Tetra: common goldfish and tetras are a bad pairing.
Only with care11
- Chinese Algae Eater Chinese Algae Eater is aggressive and Rummynose Tetra is peaceful.
- Cherry Barb Rummynose Tetra and Cherry Barb are an uneasy mix: barbs and tetras are a pairing to watch.
- Gold Barb Rummynose Tetra and Gold Barb are an uneasy mix: barbs and tetras are a pairing to watch.
- Odessa Barb Rummynose Tetra and Odessa Barb are an uneasy mix: barbs and tetras are a pairing to watch.
- Paradise Fish Paradise Fish is a risk to Rummynose Tetra: large gouramis and tetras are a pairing to watch.
No conflict is recorded with the other 85 species in the database, so nothing to flag. 2 species are not covered at all, so they could not be judged either way.