Ember Tetra
Hyphessobrycon amandae
Small orange tetra for nano planted tanksBeginner
- Lifespan
- 2-4 years
- Size
- 2 cm / 0.8 in
- Social needs
- Shoaler; keep 8-10+ together
- Time
- Low; daily feeding, weekly water change
- Cost
- Low
- Diet
- Omnivore; micro pellets, crushed flakes, frozen foods
Overview
What is this animal?
- The ember tetra is a tiny characin from the slow, vegetated waters of the Araguaia basin in Brazil, named for its warm orange-red colour.
- Rarely exceeding two centimetres, it is one of the smallest popular tetras and well suited to planted nano aquariums.
- Captive-bred and hardy, embers are genuinely beginner-friendly once a tank is cycled.
- Their small size means they are easily bullied or eaten, so tankmate choice matters more than for larger species.
Temperament
- Peaceful, shy and social, embers shoal loosely and drift through midwater plants.
- A larger group gives them the confidence to swim in the open rather than hiding at the back of the tank.
- They suit calm nano communities with other tiny, gentle species such as pygmy corydoras, small rasboras and dwarf shrimp.
- Keep them away from anything large enough to swallow them or boisterous enough to outcompete them at feeding.
A good fit for
- Planted nano and desktop aquariums
- Beginners wanting an easy colourful shoal
- Peaceful shrimp-friendly community tanks
- Keepers with limited space
Common mistakes to avoid
- Food too large for their tiny mouths
- Housing with fish big enough to eat them
- Keeping too few, causing them to hide
- Parameter swings in small, poorly buffered tanks
Enclosure
Minimum 40 litres (11 US gallons) — for a group of 8
Cannot be kept alone. The minimum is 8, and the space above is for that group.
- A shoal of eight to ten fits comfortably in 40 litres (10 gallons), filtered and gently heated to 23-28C.
- They look best against dark substrate in a densely planted tank with driftwood and light tannin staining.
- They prefer soft, slightly acidic to neutral water and low flow, as strong current tires such small fish.
- Stable, well-cycled water and plenty of planted cover let timid embers leave the back of the tank and colour up.
Supplies
Setup
- Tank and stand
- Filter
- Heater and thermometer
- Substrate, plants and decor
- Liquid test kit
- Dechlorinator and starter supplies
Ongoing
- Micro-pellet or finely crushed tropical flake
- Frozen daphnia and cyclops
- Frozen or live baby brine shrimp
- Microworm culture (optional, for fry and conditioning)
- Spirulina-based flake
- Fine net for removing leftovers
- Small feeding spoon for accurate pinches
Safe substrate: Inert aquarium gravel · Fine, smooth sand · Aquasoil for planted tanks
Care routine
Daily
- Check temperature and equipment
- Feed
- Head-count and look everyone over
Weekly
- Top up evaporationevery 3 days
- Clean glass and clear algae
- Count the school
- Test the water
- Water change and gravel vacuum
Monthly
- Trim and thin the plantsevery 2 weeks
- Check supplies and reagent dates
- Rinse the filter media
Less often
- Replace chemical filter media (Carbon/Purigen)every 2 months
Vet: Quarterly school and stability review — every 3 months
Top resources for more info
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Diet
- Embers are micro-predators with tiny mouths, so food must be small.
- Offer fine micro-pellets, crushed flake and powdered foods as the staple, supplemented with frozen or live cyclops, baby brine shrimp and microworms.
- Feed small amounts once or twice daily, only what is eaten quickly.
- Larger frozen foods such as whole bloodworm are often too big; chop them or choose smaller items so every fish gets fed.
Health
- Embers are robust for their size but vulnerable to the usual stress-linked diseases, ich and fin rot, when chilled or kept in unstable water.
- Their small bodies show problems quickly, so daily observation is the best early warning.
- Stable temperature, soft water and weekly partial changes prevent most issues.
- Acclimatise gently, quarantine new fish, and avoid sudden parameter swings, which hit nano species hard because small volumes buffer poorly.
Is your enclosure big enough?
Is this urgent?
In a fish tank the patient is usually the water. Test before you treat — dosing a healthy tank for a disease it does not have makes things worse.
Go now
Today
Soon
Never add a new fish to a tank that is not fully cycled, and never treat blind. A test kit is cheaper than the fish.
This is general guidance for a healthy adult, not a diagnosis. An exotics vet who knows your animal always overrides it — and the time to find one is before you need one.
What it really costs
Setup, monthly, first year and across a whole life, itemised and with the electricity worked out from the actual wattage. Published figures for the same animal disagree by a factor of four, so the calculator shows ranges rather than picking one.
Bedding and substrate
Substrate in an aquarium is a filter as much as a floor. Most of the biology lives in and on it.
Safe
With a caveat
Never
This is our general list for freshwater fish. We have not built one specific to Tetras yet.
My kit says 0.25 ppm. Is that dangerous?
A liquid kit measures total ammonia, but only the un-ionised fraction is really toxic, and that fraction is governed by pH and temperature — each whole pH unit multiplies it roughly tenfold. So the same reading can be nearly harmless in one tank and lethal in another; this works out which one you are in.
Compare with other animals
The same axes for every animal, side by side — the way the guides are written makes that a fair comparison rather than two articles.
Tetras, side by side
Same axes, same care guides — the honest way to choose between types.
See all Tetras side by side →
