It is a deep bodied beautiful fish with contrasting red to black colour and a sprinkling of jewels over its body. There is a large; almost diamond shaped black spot behind the gills. It grows to a length of 4 cm. The fish prefers dense vegetation near the surface of an aquarium and hence may be provided with artificial vegetation. They are omnivorous and feed on worms, crustaceans, insects, plants and readily accept formulated diets especially made for tetras.  The fish needs higher temperature of 26-28 0C, pH in the range of 6.5-7.0 and hardness 8-12 dGH. At maturity, the males are brighter colored than females whereas, the females are fuller bodied than the males. A school of these fish are real eye catchers in the aquarium and are quiet compatible for community aquarium having small fishes. They are egg layers and easy to breed.