what are the differences between Hemigrammus erythrozonus ( glo lite tetras ) and Hyphessobrycon amapaensis ( ampa tetras )

[Magnum Man]

to my untrained eye, they look identical... maybe a similar developed fish from 2 different river systems???

 

[GaryE]

The natural range is about 800km/500 miles and two countries apart.

Their needs are similar. If the seller is offering a price for 6, buy a dozen.

H. erythryzonus is really common and easy to find. H. amapaensis is way less available - rare in my experience. It should have a strong black line under the glowlight stripe.

The photos on the seller's site aren't great.

There are various internal anatomy differences we can't see unless we know what we're doing (I don't) and if we enjoy cutting up our fish and having a look inside (I also don't).

Both aren't especially hard to breed. Glowlight fry seem light sensitive, but I don't know about amapaensis.

Trigonopoma pauciperforatum is an Asian Rasbora group shoaler that in some populations has pretty well the same glowlight stripe. It's a beautiful fish for those who like having their minds boggled by convergent evolution. I've bought that fish 3 times, got coppery lines twice and a bright pink line once. But I've never seen amapaensis.

 

[Back in the fold]

I like Glowlight Tetras . Of all the Tetra’s a guy could have I think they’re the easiest and most forgiving of all the Tetra’s . Very pretty too .

 

[Innesfan]

to my untrained eye, they look identical... maybe a similar developed fish from 2 different river systems???

Color-wise, the stripe on H. erythryzonus is solid neon orange. The stripe on H. amapaensis is composed of three bands, orange, white and black. The orange stripe is closer to red. As far as evolutionary relationship, there are clades of tetras with similar color patterns that share a common ancestor a couple of million years ago. The Rosy Tetra clade is probably the most obvious and well-known group which includes the Rosy, Bleeding Heart, the Black Phantom and others. But the two species you mention do not share the same clade and thus are not as closely related as you might think. Further, H. amapaensis has an even more similar doppelganger, Hyphessobrycon heterorhabdus, the Flag Tetra, which has been in the hobby forever and is indeed a member of the same clade as H. amapaensis. In fact the clade bears its name..