Featherfin / Red-Base Tetra (Hemigrammus stictus) Breeding Guide

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

Overview

Hemigrammus stictus (Durbin, 1909), the red-base or featherfin tetra, is a freshwater benthopelagic characid recorded by FishBase from the Amazon and Negro River basins, the Orinoco River basin and coastal rivers in Guyana. It reaches 4.3 cm, reported up to 6 cm. FishBase lists no breeding details, and no whitelisted source documents a captive spawning, so the notes below pair 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 gives water parameters of 23-27 C and pH 6.0-7.0 for the species. In the absence of breeding data, the genus approach is to condition a maintained group on small live and frozen foods until females 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. stictus 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. stictus itself.