''Megalamphodus sweglesi'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

tetra Tetra is the common name of many small freshwater characiform fishes. Tetras come from Africa, Central America, and South America, belonging to the biological families Characidae, Alestidae (the "African tetras"), Lepidarchidae, Lebiasi ...

that lives in the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. Its

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

is red phantom tetra. It grows up to . It was previously classified in the genus ''Hyphessobrycon'', as with other members of its genus.''''

Appearance

The fish has a round black spot behind the gill-plate, a black band on the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

that is bordered above and below by creamy-white. The other fins are red same as the upper rim of the eye. The species' appearance is very similar to '' Megalamphodus megalopterus'' (black phantom tetra).

In the aquarium

Water conditions

Aquarists keep this fish in water ranging from that is soft (50–100mg/L) and acidic (pH 6.5). The ''H. sweglesi'' is reported to be very sensitive to water chemistry, which affects the fish's coloration. Frequent water changes are advised for it to thrive and to induce it to breed.

Diet

The fish eats

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateria, bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limb (anatomy), limbs, and usually no eyes. Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine ...

s, small

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s, and

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s. In captivity, aquarists feed it prepared foods and small live foods.

Breeding

The species can lay up to 400 eggs that can hatch in a day. The eggs are susceptible to

fungus A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

. Aquarists put dark substrate in the spawning tank to protect the eggs from light.

References

External links

Red Phantom Tetra Fact Sheet
Megalamphodus Freshwater fish of Colombia Tropical fish Fish described in 1961 Taxa named by Jacques Géry {{Characidae-stub