Brilliant Rummy-Nose Tetra (Bleheri)

Jumpers Born by Mistake:

Although Tetras usually never jump out of open tanks without a lid, the neurotic back-and-forth swimming of the Bleheri school can play dirty tricks. If the school while darting from one side to the other at high speed hits its face against a dirty side glass that it had not seen, the entire swarm will sharply turn upwards literally taking off onto your home floor. Keep tanks covered.

Blood Beyond the Face (The Most Beautiful of the Three):

99% of the time the Rummy-nose they sell you in commercial pet shops is this one (*H. bleheri*), because it is the easiest to breed industrially and the flashiest. You will recognize it and evaluate that it is in excellent health from only one detail: the bright ruby red of the snout must not cover only the nose and eyes like a true *Rhodostomus*, but must literally expand until it engulfs the entire cheek, the gills and even a piece of the posterior belly. The more heavily the red overflows backwards beyond the head, the better the quality of the fish.

Hot Water Without Fear (They love summer):

Unlike other similar little fish (Neons) that die cooked at 28°C (82°F), the *Hemigrammus bleheri* comes in nature from the same stifling thermal waters of Discus and labyrinth fish (Rio Negro). You can fearlessly pair them in high-temperature Amazonian aquariums (27°-29°C / 80-84°F), the important thing is that you compensate for the low dissolved oxygen of hot water by inserting a pump in the tank that forcefully sprays water to create a strong deep current.

Don't Get a Heart Attack in the Morning:

Many novices call in a panic in the morning saying: "They have turned white, the pump died tonight". Calm down. Rummy-noses (like the Cardinal) during the night literally 'turn off' the superficial blood circulation so as not to be phosphorescent red visible to predators in the dark. As soon as you turn on your aquarium lights, you will see the entire school completely pale and grey. Give them 15 minutes of light for them to wake up and suddenly turn their colors back on.