Description
The black neon plays a different card from its famous cousin: instead of blazing red, an iridescent white band over a velvety black one running the length of its flank. Against a dark background and dense planting the contrast is among the most elegant you can put together, and in a large shoal the effect recalls a bank of glints.
It is constantly confused with the common neon, and the mix-up is worth clearing up because it has practical consequences: they are different species and the black one is considerably less delicate. It tolerates a wider hardness range, copes better with a young tank and forgives lapses that kill neons.
That does not make it a fish without needs. It is still a shoaling characin that needs a real group and stable water; it simply gives you more margin while you learn.
Behavior
Peaceful and strictly shoaling. In a small group it turns shy, stays among the plants and loses colour; from eight or ten individuals it comes out into the middle zone and behaves naturally. That is the difference between owning the fish and seeing it.
It bothers nobody and disputes no territory. Males display to each other with fins spread, without physical aggression.
It lives well with other small tetras, rasboras, corydoras, otocinclus and dwarf gourami. It is an excellent companion for a calm community tank in soft to medium water.
Avoid housing it with adult angelfish and medium cichlids, which will eat it; tiger barbs, which nip its fins; and hard, alkaline water fish such as molly or swordtail, which fail not on temperament but because you will never find parameters comfortable for both.
With shrimp: adult Neocaridina coexist without trouble. Newborn shrimplets get eaten, so keep it out of a breeding shrimp tank.
Habitat
Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi lives in the Paraguay river basin, in blackwater stained brown by tannins from decaying leaf litter. These are slow, shaded watercourses with very little light reaching the bottom.
Understanding that saves you a common mistake: under powerful lighting with no cover, the black neon goes dull and hides. It is not sick, the environment simply looks nothing like its own.
Reproducing it is simple and cheap: driftwood, a handful of dried Indian almond or beech leaves, fine-leaved plants and some floating vegetation to diffuse the light. With that the fish shows the contrast you bought it for.
El pez Tetra neón negro es una especie de cardumen, lo que significa que, de forma natural, vive y se desplaza en grupos numerosos y coordinados.
Se recomienda mantener un mínimo de 6 individuos para que se sientan cómodos y reducir su nivel de estrés.
Habitats
Fish sharing this habitat
Estos peces aparecen en uno o mas habitats asociados a esta ficha. No implica compatibilidad directa en acuario.
Details
🌊 Water parameters
🐠 Minimum tank size
Breeding
An egg scatterer: the female releases eggs among fine vegetation and neither parent tends the spawn. In fact they eat them as soon as they find them, so in a community tank you will practically never see fry.
To breed it properly you need a separate tank with soft, acidic water, dim light and a mesh or layer of marbles that lets the eggs fall out of the parents' reach. Remove them as soon as spawning ends.
The fry hatch within a day or two and are tiny: for the first week they need infusoria or liquid food, because they cannot manage brine shrimp nauplii until several days later.
Diet
Omnivorous and undemanding, which is part of its reputation as a hardy fish. In its home streams it eats small invertebrates, larvae and plant debris carried by the current.
- Staple: quality flake or micropellets, sized for a small mouth.
- Supplement: frozen daphnia, brine shrimp or mosquito larvae, two or three times a week.
- Fry: infusoria for the first few days, then brine shrimp nauplii.
Live or frozen food is not an indulgence: it is what keeps the white band intense. On a dry-only diet the fish survives perfectly well, but looks duller.
And the commonest mistake, here as in almost any community tank, is overfeeding. Remove whatever is not eaten within a couple of minutes.
What about your tank?
Enter your tank's values to see only the compatible species that fit them. Litres apply to fish.
Compatible fish
General guidance based on water parameters, behaviour and known exceptions; always review the individual animals' and aquarium's specific needs.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 24–27 °C.
They share water: pH 5.5–7 and 23–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 23–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 23–24 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 24–27 °C.
They share water: pH 7.5 and 24–27 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 7.5 and 24–27 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 5.5–7 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.2 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
They share water: pH 5.5–7 and 26–27 °C.
They share water: pH 5.5–7 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 5.5–6.5 and 24–27 °C.
They share water: pH 5.5–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
Compatible invertebrates
General guidance based on water parameters, behaviour and known exceptions; always review the individual animals' and aquarium's specific needs.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
They share water: pH 5.5–6.5 and 23–24 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 23–25 °C.
They share water: pH 7.5 and 24–27 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 5.8–6.8 and 23–24 °C.
They share water: pH 5.8–6.8 and 23–24 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
They share water: pH 7.5 and 27 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
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They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 23–27 °C.
Sources
- FishBaseFroese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2026. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication.
- Seriously FishSeriously Fish. Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi. Ficha de especie; consultada 2026-08.
Plan your next aquarium
Is this fish right for you? Plan a suitable aquarium before setting it up.