GloFish Starfire Red Tetra Care Guide - Aquarium Tips, Diet & Breeding

Starfire Red Tetras have the deep-bodied shape associated with Black Skirt Tetras, with a laterally compressed body and prominent dorsal, anal and pelvic fins. Their vivid red fluorescence is produced by an introduced protein expressed in the fish’s tissues, giving them a striking appearance under suitable aquarium lighting. They are not a separate wild species, but a selectively marketed GloFish colour variety of Gymnocorymbus ternetzi.

These active tetras are lively midwater swimmers that spend much of their time exploring the aquarium as a group. They can be confident and inquisitive, although individuals may occasionally nip at long, flowing fins when kept in an undersized group or a poorly structured community.

In the wild, Black Skirt Tetras inhabit slow-moving tributaries, flooded areas and forest-influenced waters with subdued light and abundant vegetation. Their natural surroundings often contain leaf litter, submerged roots and gently moving water, creating a visually complex environment in which their darker body pattern provides some camouflage.

The Starfire Red Tetra retains the social behaviour and general hardiness of its non-fluorescent form. Its colour can appear especially vivid against a darker background, while the fish’s activity and contrasting silhouette make it an engaging choice for a peaceful community aquarium.

The Starfire Red Tetra is a fluorescent aquarium variety of the Black Skirt Tetra, Gymnocorymbus ternetzi. The original species comes from freshwater habitats in the Paraguay and Guaporé river systems of Brazil and Bolivia in South America.

A group of Starfire Red Tetras should be kept in an aquarium of at least 75 litres, with a footprint around 75 cm long by 30 cm wide or larger. Use open swimming space alongside dense plants, shaded areas, driftwood and smooth decor that creates cover without crowding the central swimming zone. A dark, fine-grained substrate or plain dark background can enhance their fluorescence, while gentle to moderate water movement suits their natural preference for calmer habitats.

Up to approximately 5.5 cm (2.2 in) in total length. Females are usually slightly larger and deeper-bodied than males, while males tend to remain slimmer.

Starfire Red Tetras are omnivores and readily accept quality tropical flakes, small pellets and granules. Their diet should be varied with frozen or live foods such as brine shrimp, daphnia, bloodworms and mosquito larvae, offered in portions small enough for them to consume quickly. Regularly providing appropriately sized, nutritious foods helps maintain their body condition and colour.

Starfire Red Tetras are generally suitable for peaceful community aquariums containing similarly sized tetras, rasboras, danios, smaller barbs, Corydoras, peaceful loaches and non-aggressive dwarf cichlids. They should not be housed with large predatory fish, highly aggressive species or delicate, long-finned fish such as bettas and fancy guppies, which may be bothered by fin-nipping. Keeping a properly sized group helps distribute occasional chasing within the shoal.

Starfire Red Tetras are egg-scattering fish and can be bred in a separate, dimly lit spawning aquarium with soft, slightly acidic water and fine-leaved plants or a spawning mop. Condition a group with plenty of live or frozen foods, then introduce the fish when females are full of eggs. Spawning usually occurs among the plants, after which the adults should be removed because they may eat the eggs. The eggs hatch in roughly 24 to 36 hours, and the free-swimming fry need very small foods such as infusoria before progressing to newly hatched brine shrimp.

Females are generally fuller through the abdomen and may grow slightly larger than males. Males are typically more slender, and their fins can appear relatively longer, although the differences are subtle in young or poorly conditioned fish.