Super Red Devil Tetra Care Guide - Aquarium Setup, Diet & Breeding

The Super Red Devil Tetra is a striking small characin with an intense red to orange-red body, a dark eye and translucent fins that can develop warm reddish highlights. Well-conditioned adults may show particularly rich colouration, making a group a vivid focal point in a planted aquarium.

This tetra has the streamlined shape typical of its genus, although mature males can appear slimmer and more finely formed than females. Its colour becomes especially impressive when the fish are relaxed, well fed and displaying among their companions.

In nature, these fish inhabit quiet forest streams and tributaries where leaf litter, submerged roots and tannins create a subdued, tea-coloured environment. The broken shade and complex structure of such habitats provide shelter while also encouraging the close-grouped swimming behaviour seen in aquariums.

Super Red Devil Tetras are active, social and generally peaceful. In a proper shoal they spend much of their time moving through the middle levels of the aquarium, with males occasionally sparring or displaying without causing serious harm.

Hyphessobrycon notidanos is native to the upper Rio Negro drainage in northern Brazil, South America. It comes from warm, soft, often tannin-stained blackwater habitats and their forested tributaries.

A group should have at least a 75-litre aquarium, with a footprint of roughly 60 by 30 cm or larger; a longer 90-litre tank is even better for active swimming. Use a dark, fine-grained substrate, dense planting around the sides and rear, driftwood, roots and leaf litter to create shaded retreats while leaving an open central swimming area. Gentle filtration, subdued lighting and some surface cover suit their blackwater origins, while stable, clean water remains essential.

Up to about 5 cm (2 inches) in total length. Females are usually slightly deeper-bodied and may be marginally larger than males.

Offer a varied omnivorous diet built around a quality small pellet or flake, supplemented with frozen or live foods such as brine shrimp, daphnia, mosquito larvae and bloodworms. Small meals are preferable, and occasional live foods help maintain condition and intensify the fish's natural colour. Feed only what the group can consume promptly.

Super Red Devil Tetras are suitable for peaceful community aquariums and can be kept with similarly sized tetras, rasboras, small peaceful barbs, pencilfish, Corydoras, small suckermouth catfish and non-aggressive dwarf cichlids. Keep them in a good-sized group to reduce nervousness and limit minor fin-nipping. Avoid housing them with large predatory fish, boisterous cichlids or slow-moving species with very long, flowing fins, which may be harassed or have their fins damaged.

Super Red Devil Tetras are egg-scattering spawners that can be bred in a separate, dimly lit breeding aquarium with very soft, slightly acidic water and fine-leaved plants or spawning mops. Condition a group with plenty of live or frozen foods, then introduce ripe adults; spawning usually takes place among the vegetation. Remove the adults after spawning because they may eat the eggs. The eggs generally hatch within a day or two, and the tiny fry should first receive infusoria or another suitably fine food before progressing to newly hatched brine shrimp.

Males are generally slimmer and may show stronger colour and more extended fins, particularly when displaying. Females tend to be rounder through the belly, especially when carrying eggs, and are often slightly larger or deeper-bodied.