Endemic to the Paraguay, Paraná and Uruguay river drainages in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.

The smallest of the three Aphyocharax species seen in the hobby, the redflank is relatively uncommon in the hobby in the aquarium trade.

It is also known as the Green Fire Tetra.

A good beginner’s tetra, as it’s a hardy species that will adapt to a relatively wide range of conditions. In a well-insulated house it can even be kept in an unheated tank, although it won’t be as colourful as when kept in warmer water.

It’s also quite long-lived and captive specimens over ten years old are not unheard of…

Choice of décor is not especially critical although it tends to show better colouration when maintained in a well-furnished set-up with live plants and a dark substrate.

A natural-looking arrangement might consist of a soft, sandy substrate with wood roots and bran…

The most recent diagnosis appears to be that of Géry (1977), in which it was separated from other members of the group by the following combination of characters: dorsal-fin insertion at or slightly anterior to mid-body; caudal-fin brick red to orange-red; body depth fits less than 3.6 times in SL; head length fits 3.5-4.0 times in SL; caudal peduncle length u…

In the aquarium hobby the name Hyphessobrycon stegemanni has frequently been misapplied to a species that has been described as Hemigrammus ataktos Marinho, Dagosta, & Birindelli 2014. The reasons for this confusion are presumably that the two occur sympatrically in the rio Tocantins system and both possess a dark lateral stripe on the body.

This species is occasionally available in the aquarium trade, although usually as bycatch among shipments of other fishes.

It is sometimes traded as H. sp. ‘Araguaia red’, H. sp. ‘Araguaia’ or ‘Schultz’s tetra’.

Widely-distributed throughout much of the Paraná and Uruguay river systems in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.

Some records from Buenos Aires province, Argentina are now considered to refer to the congener H. togoi (Miquelarena and López, 2006) so the common vernacular name ‘Buenos Aires tetra’ may not…

Generally peaceful making it an ideal resident of the well-researched community aquarium.

It is perhaps best-maintained alongside similarly-sized characids, gasteropelecids, lebiasinids, smaller callichthyid or loricariid catfishes and non-predatory, medium-sized cichlids.

Try to buy a mixed-sex group of at least 8-10 specimens, incl…

This species is uncommon in the aquarium trade although its name is sometimes applied to other species.

It was originally described in the monotypic genus Pseudopristella, and can be distinguished from the vaguely similar Pristella maxillaris by possession of a relatively large (vs. relatively small) humeral spot and having black pigmentation in the anal-fin restricted to the first ray (vs. a prominent distal blotch).

P. maxillaris is one of the more popular tetras in the hobby, and is easily obtainable from most aquatic shops. It must rank among the very best choices for the newcomer to fishkeeping as it's peaceful, hardy and inexpensive. There's a selectively-bred "golden" strain available which is actually a semi-albino fish. Care is much the same as for the standard form.

Currently the only species in the genus, in older literature it's often referred to by the now invalid name…