Actual Cardinal Tetra aquarium lifespan???

[Magnum Man]

Been considering some for my Tetra tank… I’ve never had good luck with neons, or cardinals, before the RO system… my Tetra tank is doing well now, since the addition of the RO... so I was thinking… maybe…
Reading on Seriously Fish, or another on line source, that these are considered an annual fish in the wild, and may go to 2 years in an aquarium, if everything is right

This makes me wonder, if they are really worth buying… yep, awesome looking fish, but if they only lasted a year, after being at the seller’s, then shipping, and possibly quarantine…

How long have your cardinal's and neon's lasted, once in their final tank???

 

[GaryE]

Mine have reached 7, and were healthy when an "outside" catastrophe killed them. I had the idea that they'd make 9 before they started to time out, but that was a fairly random number choice. At one point, I bought 300 cardinals and sold the extras - a friend I sold some to recently let me know 11 of his 15 had reached between 6 and 7, and were going strong.

My current lot are only 3, and I would say they are not even middle aged.

Cardinals face enormous predation in the wild, and their safest habitat is a flooded forest with a dry season coming. Their wild lives seem quite short.

These were all wild caughts. I haven't kept neons in ages. I prefer cardinals.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. Cardinal Tetras live about 3 years in normal conditions. But, if you go beyond normal fish keeping conditions, they'll live a lot longer. Five years isn't out of the question. I have a lot of Tetras. I have some White Skirt Tetras that are going on six years. Of course, their tank gets large water changes every few days and they aren't overfed. Most fish you get will live longer than normal if you take exceptionally good care of them.

10

 

[seangee]

Mine average about 6 years. But that's with a 75% water change weekly and very soft water (i.e. RO with nothing added).

 

[GaryE]

In both the houses my cardinals have lived long in, I have had moderately soft to soft water (120tds in the first, and here, 65 tds), with a pH just under neutral. I have always done large water changes on their tanks, about 40% every week. I've fed once a day, 6 days a week with occasional live food. My oldest group shared their 75 gallon with 4 wild caught Colombian angels, which had grown quite large before I gave them to a friend who helped me move here. He also got my then 4 year old cardinals (second group in the well established tank). They were a group of 50 which time had whittled down to the low 40s. He had a long winter blackout and lost both the angels and the cardinals, sadly.

I've restarted with 10 2 year olds, and 3 1 year old ex-fry that grew up after a breeding attempt. I am going to try to order another 100 lot and split them with a friend. 50 more would be good. If that doesn't work, then I will fire up my breeding attempts next early winter.

I think that having good numbers of them helps with long term survival rates.

 

[Back in the fold]

It has been my experience that almost all fish live until they die . Not sure how the science of that works .

 

[seangee]

I think that having good numbers of them helps with long term survival rates.

That's a good point. Mine are in a 50G tank with pencil fish (n. marginatus) and cories (paleatus and sterbai). I try to keep the numbers at around 60 and when they drop close to 40 I buy really small fish to get them back up to around 60. Haven't bought any since before covid and don't need a re-stock yet.

 

[Ceez]

It has been my experience that almost all fish live until they die . Not sure how the science of that works .

What's the exception (you said almost all fish)? We need to study that asap

 

[Back in the fold]

What's the exception (you said almost all fish)? We need to study that asap

This is best left to an expert . @Colin_T help me out here !