Blue Tetra (Hemigrammus coeruleus) Breeding Guide

Captive breeding of Hemigrammus coeruleus is undocumented; this guide records its FishBase taxonomy plus the Hemigrammus egg-scattering pattern.

Overview

Hemigrammus coeruleus Durbin, 1908, the blue tetra, is a freshwater benthopelagic characid recorded by FishBase from the Solimões and lower Negro River basins, reaching about 5.8 cm. FishBase lists no breeding details, and no whitelisted source documents a captive spawning, so the notes below combine the verified data with the egg-scattering pattern of the genus Hemigrammus.

Sexing

No species-specific sexing characters are recorded in the consulted sources. Across the genus Hemigrammus, mature females are generally rounder and fuller-bodied than the slimmer males when in condition.

Conditioning

FishBase classifies the species as freshwater, benthopelagic and tropical. In the absence of species data, the genus approach is to condition a maintained group on small live and frozen foods until females visibly fill with eggs.

Breeding Setup

Following the Hemigrammus pattern, a small dimly lit spawning tank with fine-leaved plants or a spawning mop, or a mesh base keeping eggs out of the adults' reach, with gentle air-driven sponge filtration, suits egg-scattering tetras. Species-specific spawning parameters for H. coeruleus are not on record.

Egg & Fry Care

In the genus, eggs and early fry are light-sensitive, adults give no parental care and eat their own spawn, eggs hatch within roughly 24-36 hours, and fry become free-swimming after a few days, taking infusoria-grade food before brine shrimp nauplii. No egg count or timing is confirmed for H. coeruleus itself.