The Buenos Aires tetra is now provided to the hobby almost exclusively from fish farms in Florida, which means it usually has been raised in alkaline, hard water. It will, however, adapt back to its original conditions of neutral soft water. In fact, the Buenos Aires tetra is one of the most adaptable fish in the hobby. It does well in almost any water conditions in terms of pH, hardness and temperature.

Two things to be noted about the Buenos Aires tetra are that when it gets large and older it tends to be somewhat aggressive and is a fin nipper. It will eat plants with a vengeance. Other than this, it is a fine community tank fish. It will eat any and all kinds of fish food with great gusto.

Breeding the Buenos Aires tetra is very easy. It spawns in typical tetra fashion, dropping somewhat adhesive eggs into thickets of plants or artificial spawning mops. It is very active when spawning, so it should be given as large a tank as possible for this purpose.