Rummy Nose Tetra Care Guide: Best Tank Mates, Tank Size & Tank Setup
The Rummy Nose Tetra is a popular schooling fish and one of the extensively available freshwater fish species in the aquarium trade.
This fish’s gentle nature and unique appearance have won the heart of many fish enthusiasts, a reason why it is a common addition to many aquariums.
The origin of this stunning fish is the lower Amazon river basin and in the Orinoco river in Brazil and Venezuela. The fish is today spread widely in all aquarium pet stores all over the world.
A beautiful and well-behaved fish like the Rummy Nose Tetra is pretty easy to enter and even dominates the tank fish market hassle-free. This fish species will add both color and movement to your freshwater aquarium.
Although Rummy Nose Tetras are an excellent addition to a freshwater aquarium, there are care and maintenance details you need to know before you keep this fish.
This guide will explore all these details and any other crucial information to know about this fish.
| Quick Facts: | |
|---|---|
| Common Names : | Rummy Nose Tetra, Firehead Tetra |
| Origin : | Basins in the Amazon River of South America |
| Family : | Characidae |
| Scientific Name : | Hemigrammus rhodostomus |
| Care Level : | Easy |
| Temperament : | Peaceful |
| Social : | Schooling fish |
| Diet : | Omnivores |
| Size (average) : | Up to 2.5 inches |
| Lifespan : | 5 - 6 years |
| Breeding : | Egg layer |
| Minimum Tank Size: | 20 gallons |
| Tank Environment : | Freshwater, Sandy and Gravel substrate, rocks, caves, driftwood, A lot of aquarium plants |
| Temperature : | 75 – 84 °F (24 – 29 °C) |
| Water Hardness : | 2 - 10 dKH |
| Water pH Level : | 6 - 7 |
Overview of Rummy Nose Tetra
The Rummy Nose Tetra is a freshwater fish originating from the Amazon river basin. Despite its relatively muted silver theme color, this fish has very distinct head and tail regions.
The head is bright red, while the tail fin has white and black color markings. These two appearance features make this fish distinct among other fish, whether in the wild or tank conditions.
The Rummy Nose Tetra is relatively small. The mature Rummy Nose Tetra size is about 2.5 inches, and hence tank size requirements are definitely on the minimum side.
The body of this fish is slim and tends to be rounder toward the head. Despite the fish’s small tank size requirements (20 gallons for 10 fish), you must leave enough swimming space in the tank when adding decorations.
Rummy Nose Tetras are schooling fish species that like swimming in the middle section of the tank. The fins are small and squared off, not to mention that they are translucent except for the tail fin mentioned above.
The fish is gentle and calm and will never bother other fish in a community tank. For this reason, you should avoid keeping your Rummy Nose Tetras with large and highly aggressive fish.
Rummy Nose Tetra requires warm, soft, and slightly acidic to neutral water as these are the conditions in their natural habitats. The fish are not diggers and can survive on a wide variety of substrates.
Keeping optimum tank conditions and feeding these fish with well-balanced foods will keep freshwater fish diseases off your Rummy Nose Tetras. The common diseases to watch out for are ich and dropsy.
Luckily, these conditions can be easily treated by over-the-counter medications.
Rummy Nose Tetra Size
The Rummy Nose Tetra is a small fish that is ideal for keeping in a small tank. When fully grown, Rummy Nose Tetra size will only reach an average of 2 to 2.5 inches long.
Optimal care and perfect tank conditions are important factors for them to reach Rummy Nose Tetra size to maximum.
Rummy Nose Tetra Lifespan
In a captivity environment with optimum tank conditions, the Rummy Nose Tetra lifespan is between 5 to 6 years. If you are lucky to get an excellently genetically modified batch, you can have some of the individual fish hit the 8 years mark.
Note that great genetics have to be coupled with proper water conditions, diet, and the care level, it will clock the Rummy Nose Tetra lifespan at the top of the scale.
Typical Behavior
The Rummy Nose Tetras are gentle, peaceful, and non-aggressive fish. They enjoy their own company but will never be bothersome to other compatible fish species too.
If kept with highly aggressive fish, they may show their other less common side of behaviors. Rummy Nose Tetras are schooling fish, and their prominent body markings make them a perfect display of aquarium fish.
You will find the fish mostly swimming in groups of 6 as they explore the tank.
The middle section of the tank is their perfect spot. The only time you will find Rummy Nose Tetras in other parts of the tank is when they are feeding or hiding.
Appearance, Colors, and Special Markings
One of the primary reasons why the Rummy Nose Tetra is a popular freshwater aquarium fish is its’ appearance. The fish has a slim body that tends to be more rounded towards the head region.
This fish’s body generally appears to have a torpedo body. The fins are small and square-shaped, giving this fish a superb look.
When it comes to colors, the fish is not all loaded up with a pop of bright colors but rather a stunning silver as their base color. Some varieties of this fish have a translucent tinge of green that also looks beautiful, especially when the fish swim in groups.
For this fish, all the fins except the tail fins are translucent. Nothing says the Rummy Nose Tetras quite like the elegantly marked tail fin.
This appearance feature is definitely its main attraction characteristic and a reason we highly recommend you add it to your display aquarium.
The Rummy Nose Tetra boasts a white and black striped tail fin. There is no specific number of stripes, but they vary from 3 to 5. There is a prominent black stripe on the middle of the fins that seamlessly separates it into two sides.
The marking of the tail fin greatly contrasts the muted theme color of this fish. The other striking color feature of this fish is in its head region.
The head area is bright red and again contrasts perfectly with the rest of the body. The red scales might sometimes extend up to the gills.
Rummy Nose Tetra Care & Tank Setup
The secret to keeping this fish happy in an aquarium is by replicating most of its wild conditions. From the bottom substrate to how you decorate the tank and maintain water conditions, you should give your Rummy Nose Tetra a real natural habitat deal.
At the bare minimum, you need to keep the water warm and for this, it is recommended to acquire an in-water heater as it keeps the temperatures constant.
The fish is also quite sensitive to ammonia and other waste; hence an efficient, external water filter is a must-have for a Rummy Nose Tetras’ tank.
– Rummy Nose Tetra Tank Size
The Rummy Nose Tetras are small and gentle fish that don’t require huge Aquariums. Either way, they are excellent swimmers and unbeatable schooling fish that like a tank with enough space they can leverage to roam freely.
The minimum recommended Rummy Nose Tetra tank size is 20 gallons. The individual Rummy Nose Tetra tank size requirement is 2 gallons and hence the 20 gallons tank is enough to keep 10 of these fish.
– Rummy Nose Tetra Tank Setup
The Rummy Nose Tetra is used to a sandy substrate in the wild and so this would be perfect if it was simulated to the tank. One point you should keep in mind, though, is that the Rummy Nose Tetra is not a bottom dweller.
Hence, there is great flexibility in terms of the substrate you can include in the Rummy Nose Tetra tank setup. Furthermore, this fish is not a digger meaning that it can also hold up well with rough substrates such as gravel.
Decorations are incredible in the Rummy Nose Tetra tank setup as they provide shelter to the fish when they feel threatened. So don’t hesitate to add driftwood, rocks, and logs to a Rummy Nose Tetra tank setup.
Note that these tank additions will also act as bright light filters in addition to shelter, thus reducing the chances of the fish getting stressed.
For the lighting, just go for standard aquarium lighting systems as the fish will take cover in the plants and the decorations any time they need light shelter.
As you add the decorations, ensure that you don’t take much of their middle section swimming space. Utilize the space at the sides and bottom and leave the central area as room for the fish to swim freely.
– Suitable Plants
The Rummy Nose Tetra is a small, generally peaceful fish that will hardly devour your aquarium plants. This means that you’ve got great options in the plants you can include in a Rummy Nose Tetra tank setup.
A planted tank is ideal for the Rummy Nose Tetra as it adds to the shelter provided by the decorations. Since this small fish will also not eat a lot of the plant materials, it is even okay to include plants with very fine leaves in the tank.
Plating options that you might go with Rummy Nose Tetras are:
– Rummy Nose Tetra Water Parameters
As a tank fish keeper, you should always learn to keep the water conditions and parameters in the required levels, as this is the easiest way to keep your fish happy.
Replicating natural habitats water conditions is excellent for this fish species. Here are the optimum water conditions/ parameters for this fish:
- Water Temperature: 75 – 84 °F (24 – 29 °C)
pH: 6 – 7
Hardness: 2 – 10 dKH
Don’t forget to perform water testing once in a while to know when these parameters are not in the required standards.
Just as these fish is sensitive to high ammonia concentrations, it’s also greatly affected by sudden water conditions changes. You should, therefore, do partial water changes frequently (say 25% on a weekly basis) to prevent abrupt shock to the fish.
Rummy Nose Tetra Food and Feeding
The Rummy Nose Tetra is an omnivore that will not stress you out when it comes to feeding. This fish will survive on a wide variety of proteins and plant materials.
The main foods for the Rummy Nose Tetra diet should be small cut plant materials or algae and high-quality fish pellets and flakes. Treats of live and frozen foods such as bloodworm and daphnia can also be included in their diet once in a while.
Note that live foods can be a good source of proteins for the tetras. The amount of food that you should give your Rummy Nose Tetras depends on individual requirements.
It would help if you were a little observant to know what amount your fish need daily. Feed your Rummy Nose Tetras only what they need as overfeeding them could alter the optimum conditions of the tank and thus the wellbeing of the fish.
Lastly, you should focus on small meal potions when you Rummy Nose Tetra feeding a couple of times a day. This way, it is hard to have food remain in the tank at any particular time.
Rummy Nose Tetra Common Diseases
There are no specific diseases for Rummy Nose Tetras, but any freshwater fish diseases could affect them. Therefore, it is paramount to keep the tank clean and the water conditions at the required levels.
For this fish species, the two most common illnesses that you may deal with are itch and dropsy. Ich is characterized by white spots all over the body and is generally a parasitic infection.
If you keep your Rummy Nose Tetra in an uncomfortable and stressful environment, this disease is likely to sprout. Dropsy is a parasitic or bacterial infection that leads to the accumulation of fluids in the body.
You will definitely know that your Rummy Nose Tetra is suffering from this condition since it will appear swollen. If you suspect your fish is suffering from these or any other illnesses, reach out to your vet immediately.
If left unattended, some of these conditions may get serious to the point that you may lose your magnificent fish. A condition such as ich can, however, be effortlessly treated with over-the-counter medications.
Gender: How Can You Tell If a Rummy Nose Tetra is Male or Female?
Sexing Rummy Nose Tetras is a load of a task. There are no distinct physical differences between a male and a female Rummy Nose Tetra and this challenge becomes real when you want to breed this freshwater fish.
The only way you can tell a male from a female Rummy Nose Tetra is when the female is carrying eggs as it appears fuller than the males. This difference is not clearly established and it might as well go unnoticed.
Rummy Nose Tetra Breeding
The Rummy Nose Tetra is an excellent aquarium fish that is pretty easy to breed. As long as you have optimum conditions in the breeding tank (simulate wild conditions), you will have the smoothest experience breeding this fish.
The most important condition here is the water temperature. You should raise it to around 29 degrees Celsius (84 °F ).
The little hustle comes in choosing a breeding pair owing to the fact that this fish variety is hard to sex. In this regard, it is really a matter of trial and error where you need to keep multiple fish in one tank and select the ones that pair.
The female initiates the spawning process by swimming to a leaf, turning over, attracting the male to mate, and fertilizing the eggs. She lays the relatively large eggs on the leaf.
Immediately the female lays her eggs; you should remove the adults from the tank as they are notorious egg eaters. Impressively, the eggs only take a day to hatch and another day or two to survive on their egg sack.
It will not take long before the fry is free-swimming. The fry can survive on any compatible foods, including infusoria, brine shrimp, and powder solutions.
When the fry is almost the same size as the other adult Rummy Nose Tetras, you can transfer them to the community tank and set up the breeding tank to receive another batch.
Rummy Nose Tetra Tank Mates
Rummy Nose Tetras are schooling fish that enjoy their own company than the company of other fish species. Keeping them in groups of six individuals brings out their schooling behavior perfectly and ensures that they are all equipped for a dazzling display.
If you need to keep Rummy Nose Tetras in a community of other fish species, you need to select gentle tank mates. As a general rule, you should avoid large and highly aggressive fish as Rummy Nose Tetra tank mates.
Rummy Nose Tetras rarely show aggressive behaviors to tank mates, but their striking body markings make them an easy target for troublesome fish.
Compatible fish to keep as Rummy Nose Tetra tank mates include:
- Corydoras catfish
- Cherry Barb
- Harlequin Rasbora,
- Pearl Gourami
- Green Neon Tetra
- Dwarf Gourami
- Corydoras Catfish
- Silver Tip Tetra
- Mystery Snail
Origin, Distribution, and Availability
The original Rummy Nose Tetras are the inhabitant of the basins in the Amazon River of South America. Other places where these fish species exist are the Negro River in Brazil and the Vaupes River in Colombia.
The Amazon river basin, where these fish call home, offers ever-changing conditions.
However, the water in the Amazon basin is generally warm and soft hence these should be top considerations when you decide to keep these impeccable fish at home.
Since decomposing leaves always occupy the bottom of the habitat, the water also tends to be slightly acidic.
The Rummy Nose Tetra is widely distributed in the aquarium pets market worldwide. Juveniles are sold when they are 1 to 1.5 inches long at an average price of $2.5.
As mentioned above, it is not hard to find this fish in any aquarium pets store. Also, online pet retailers might carry them for sale.
Frequently Asked Questions
– Are Rummy Nose Tetras Hardy?
Generally, Rummy Nose Tetras are hardy to a wide variety of tank parameters as long as they are consistent. This is an adaptation that is directly related to the changing water conditions of their natural habitats.
These fish are also considered hardy because they survive in relatively small tanks. You should, however, note that this fish is highly sensitive to water condition changes and high waste content in their tank water.
– How Many Rummy Nose Tetras Should Be Kept Together?
Since these tetras are grand at shoaling, it is recommended to keep them in groups of 6. This is, however, not a fixed number as it all depends on the size of the aquarium you have. The tank size requirement for an individual Rummy Nose Tetra is 2 gallons.
– How Many Rummy Nose Tetras Can I Put In A 10 Gallon Tank?
Considering the 2 gallons per fish recommendation, a 10 gallons tank would be ideal for 5 Rummy Nose Tetras. If there are juveniles, you can increase the number but transfer them to a larger tank when they reach adult size.
– Do Rummy Nose Tetras Eat Algae?
The fish is an omnivore that will eat algae and other plant materials. It is recommended for these fish species not only to feed on algae and other plant materials but also protein treats and nutritious dry foods.
– Do Rummy Nose Tetras Eat Plants?
Yes, Rummy Nose Tetras will snack on some fleshy plants but not so serious to cause damage. You should not worry about placing them in a planted tank.
– Do Rummy Nose Tetras Jump?
Rummy Nose Tetras are generally calm but can jump if startled or chased by other fish in the tank. This is why it is crucial to keep them with other gentle and calm fish.
– Can Rummy Nose Tetra Live With Betta?
Bettas can live peacefully with these tetras as they exhibit similar schooling behavior and physical characteristics. These two species will hardly see each other as a threat and will live harmoniously in a tank. However, watch out for aggressive bettas as they may stress out your Rummy Nose Tetras.
– Do Rummy Nose Tetras Eat Shrimp?
Like any other freshwater fish species, a Rummy Nose Tetra will eat shrimps as long as they are small enough to fit in its mouth. Shrimplets would be really a nice treat for these omnivores.
– Are Rummy Nose Tetras Fin Nippers?
As mentioned above, Rummy Nose Tetras will live peacefully with other fish of similar behavior, size, and physical characteristics. However, they can be fin nippers if forced to live in a stressful environment.
Always avoid aggressive fish in a Rummy Nose Tetras tank.
Final Thoughts
Generally speaking, the Rummy Nose Tetra is one of the superb fish to keep in a tank. The fish’s small size makes sense for aquarists and tank fish keepers who prefer to have small tanks.
Rummy Nose Tetras are easy to breed and it’s possible to have these fish year in year out once you have acquired your first batch. Although easy to care for fish, the Rummy Nose Tetra has its own set of demands when it comes to water conditions.
The fish is sensitive to poor water conditions and it would help if you maintained everything at the required level to keep the fish healthy at all times.
With all the knowledge provided in this guide, you won’t find any problems keeping this fish even if you are a beginner in-tank fish keeping.
The Rummy Nose Tetra is one of those tank fish you will spend most of your time watching due to the eye-catching display they exhibit when swimming in groups.
This guide is a great information resource to rely on if you wanted to have Rummy Nose Tetrad in your freshwater aquarium. Get these neat-looking tetras and experience all the goodness they offer at a closer range!
