cardinal advice :)

[kenneth_kpe]

well cardinal tetras are not common fish around here and i went to a good lfs this morning and saw quite a bunch of em

the question.. should i but some ?
why not ?
1) i think they wont like the temp of my tank now, its getting high reaching 32 deg celcius and i am recently managing to keep it down to 29 because of ice
2) they are still pretty small i think ? only around half to a full inch i think ?

so what do you guys think ?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Temp is fine- cards are often kept with discus.

Small is also good. Cards are a notorious for being bad about being transported- whether shipped or just brought home from lfs in a bag. They are also not happy about being moved into new water params.

I lost the first 35 cards I got and then 8 of the next 15. The next 65 I got were of the size you described and after a year+ most are still doing well. A good trick for upping the survival rate of newly acquired cards is to feed them freshly hatched bbs for the first 1-2 weeks after you get them.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

bbs ? hmmmm o ya im gonna get me around only 5 ? they are a bit expensive and i only have a 13 gal tank, should i get more ? i already have 3 cories and 2 ottos with around 10 shrimp in a planted tank... whats a bbs ?

any special tips aside from the usual thing they say on the websites, feed high quality flake food ? : )

 

[freddyk]

They're very easy to care for, clean water and food is all they ask for. There are number of factors determening their survival rate when introduced, but heavy losses like that aren't normal. Still, a couple of extra couldn't hurt, just in case. They have a small bio-load and aren't aggressive swimmers.

bbs is baby brine shrimp - I find it easier to use the frozen stuff.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

i see i see, i just wanna make sure that they survive the heat i really cant control the temp of the tank it might spike up to 32 sometimes, but my water is really soft almost only 1 - 3 deg and around neutral to slightly acidic ph im thinking they will do ok once aclimated ?

 

[freddyk]

That's pretty warm, but it might be ok. I haven't kept the cardinals through a summer yet (temp gets to around 30, usually 28ish) so I'll be finding out soon enough, but most tropicals have been fine and i'm pretty confident. How long does it tend to stay above 28 for?

Since water holds less oxygen as it gets warmer understocking is a good idea, as well as good water and surface movement, just in case.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I got the tip about feeding live baby brine from a person who has kept fish for over 50 years and has owned several fish and pet stores in that time. trust me it works- not frozen, not freeze dried, live.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

i see i see ,the summers gonna last around 2 months here and it will drop slowly the temp i mean, coldest would be around 29 without ice,

regarding the oxygen, should i be worried ? i have a heavily planted tank

hmm i wonder where i could get baby brine shrimp, i have to hatch them tooo.... breeding tank !!