Glass bloodfin tetra

Prionobrama filigera

Also known as Glass blood fin tetra

FreshwaterFish

Glass bloodfin tetra (Prionobrama filigera) — Chronotopian · CC BY-SA 3.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 73–81°F; 23–27°C
pH: 6.0–7.5
Adult size: 2.4 in; 6 cm
Minimum tank: 20 gal; 75 L

Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Easy
Breeding: Egg scatterer · Hard
Rarity: Common
Family: Characidae
Origin: South America

Overview

The glass bloodfin tetra is a peaceful, active schooler for a calm community tank, and it is simple to keep.

Did you know

The glass bloodfin tetra's see-through body is a real defense in open water, since a predator's eye has little to lock onto. It works best when many fish move together and break up any clear outline. That is part of why these tetras school so tightly when something startles them.

Caring for the glass bloodfin tetra

Keep glass bloodfin tetras in a school of six or more, in a tank of at least 20 gal (75 L). They are busy swimmers that hold to the middle and upper water, so leave some open midwater space. Plant the tank and keep the flow gentle.

Hold the water at 73 to 81°F (23 to 27°C), soft to neutral, with a pH of 6.0 to 7.5. Feed flake and micro pellets, with the odd frozen daphnia or mosquito larvae.

Glass bloodfin tetras are peaceful and active, and they mix fine with other small, gentle species. They scatter their eggs and give no parental care, and breeding them in a tank is difficult.

Good to know

Prionobrama filigera is a characin in the family Characidae. You can see its internal structure through the largely transparent body, and the red tail fin gives it the bloodfin name. The species is listed as Least Concern, with stable wild populations.

In the wild

The glass bloodfin tetra lives in clear to lightly tannin-stained rivers of central South America, including the Paraguay, Parana and Guapore basins. These are slow to moderate waters with plenty of plants and a fine sand or mud bottom. There it eats small insects, crustaceans and zooplankton.

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Tank mates

The glass bloodfin tetra is a peaceful, schooling species that keeps to the middle. These picks share a community profile with it, are safe together in both directions, and overlap on water type, temperature and pH.

Check the full mix in the stocking calculator