Ember tetra

Water parameters

Tolerated range for this species. Aim for the middle of each band rather than the extremes.

Tank and habitat

Substrate: any.

Behavior

Plant interaction: plant safe.

Feeding

Tiny mouth limits food size. Crushed flake, micro pellets (0.5–0.8 mm), frozen cyclops, and baby brine shrimp. Standard-sized flake needs to be ground between fingers before feeding. They pick at food in the water column and rarely take anything from the surface film or the bottom. Two small feedings per day. Color improves noticeably on a diet that includes carotenoid-rich foods (spirulina, daphnia).

Compatibility

• Peaceful with everything but too small to house with any fish that could eat them. Even a hungry honey gourami might take a shot at a 2 cm tetra.
• Best kept with other nano species: pygmy corys, chili rasboras, celestial pearl danios, small shrimp. Basically anything under 4 cm.
• Safe with all dwarf shrimp. Too small to eat even baby cherry shrimp.
• Not a good tankmate for active or boisterous fish (danios, barbs) that will outcompete them for food and stress them with constant movement.

Origin and habitat

Native to the Araguaia River basin in central Brazil; type specimens collected from the Rio das Mortes. Described by Géry and Uj in 1987. Named amandae after Amanda Flora Hilda Bleher (1910-1991), a German limnologist and adventurer who was the mother of explorer Heiko Bleher; Heiko collected the holotype. Now placed in the family Acestrorhamphidae. Max 2 cm SL on record; 2.5 cm is quoted in the trade. Body is translucent orange-red; coloration intensifies to a fiery hue in adults and under favorable conditions: soft acidic water, dark substrate, and good diet. Males are deeper copper-red; females paler with a larger swim bladder. Peaceful schooling fish, highly social, preferring groups. They don't always look their best in spartan store tanks but soon blossom in a properly furnished aquarium, and they have become an icon of nano planted aquariums. Found in slow-flowing streams and tributaries shaded by overhanging vegetation, often amid leaf litter and submerged wood.

Breeding

Egg scatterer. Breeds readily in a well-planted tank with soft acidic water. The fish scatter adhesive eggs among fine-leaved plants (java moss, subwassertang). Parents will eat eggs they find, but in a densely planted tank some survive. Fry are microscopic and need infusoria or commercial liquid fry food for the first week, then crushed dry food and baby brine shrimp. In a mature, densely planted nano tank with no predators, a small colony will slowly grow on its own without intervention.

Common problems

Sensitivity to water quality swings. Embers are not fragile once established, but they don't tolerate ammonia or nitrite at all, and large water changes that shift temperature or pH can cause stress. Acclimate slowly. Color fading is the most common complaint; it's almost always a sign of stress, poor diet, or washed-out lighting. Under warm white LEDs against a dark substrate, embers glow. Under cool white LEDs against a white substrate, they look pale. Neon tetra disease can affect them (it's not limited to neons despite the name). Lifespan is 2-4 years; deaths at under 1 year are abnormal.

Bioload

Further reading

• Stocking ideas by tank size