cardinal or rummy nose

[kenneth_kpe]

well... my cardinal tetra population is reaching an all time low of 4 cardinals... just cant keep em alive.. i dont know whats picking them out one by one.. could it be the temp ?? 30- 32 deg celc...


anyways im thinking of repopulating my tank with fish... and was wondering if i could mix rummy nose tetras with my cardinals ? or i should just get more cardinals .....


advice greatly appreciated ..

 

[kenneth_kpe]

btw my water is a big neutral to basic... cant find ways to lower the tank acidity without injecting tannins... i dont want the tank water to be brown ....

 

[The-Wolf]

to lower the pH why not add peat to the filter. If you use peat granules rather than peat fiber, it dosn't stain the water too much.

cardinals and rummynoses (if you can get "true" rummynoses) will be fine together
as will fireheads which are 99% of the time sold as rummynoses.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

ok.. il try to look for peat granules... this wont have adverse effects for my plants ?

il try to look for fluval brand peat granules. i think i saw them being sold before... btw how much should i add (im using a hob, filter space is valuable) and how much will it effect my PH ?? ? and also does the peat have a er... life span ? should i replace it everymonth ?

thanks so much

 

[kenneth_kpe]

http/www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/produc...ategory_id=2583

i found this as sample of what im gonna get.... im still hesitant about the water tint...... and also the plants decisions decisions : )

 

[annka5]

Can't comment on peat granules/water staining.
But cardinals do need relatively acidic, soft water, and this could well be the reason /part of the reason why you're losing them. I think rummy noses also prefer this type of water.
I think you'd be better either working to get the tank water checmistry right for the fish, or choosing other fish to live there, rather than buying more cardinals/ rummy noses immediately.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

amen.. im working on it right now actually reading around, i think i might think twice about the peat granules but notch up my KH and c02 to make the water slightly more acidic at around 6.8?? somewhere there...

im worried about the peat because it will stain the water brown and it will block the light reaching my plants... dont want to jeopardize the tank because its diong great right now the plants i mean

 

[Briarmoor]

I have high pH too and although my tetras have survived it, I am buying from a LFS who lowers their pH close to neutral, so I would be stressing fish coming from there to go from 6.8 to my higher pH of 7.4, at least I think so.

I tried a more natural approach instead of pH decreaser chemical, I got Blackwater Extract. It does turn the water but just for a few hours and I can bring down the pH more gradually and also control how low it goes. Sometimes, at least I am told as I haven't tried it, running peat through the filter can bring it too low.

This Blackwater Extract also has B Vitamins in it in addition to the peat extract. The fish and plants have tolerated it well. Seems a lot of plants grow well at neutral pH also.

As for your rummy noses, I think they are just lovely and would like to have some. A nice lister posted a link to tell the difference between about 3 species that are sold as rummy noses, but really only one is a true rummy nose. I don't know if it would make much difference in a community tank unless you were breeding them or their size difference was substantial. If you browse a search on the forum for "rummy nose" you might be able to find that link. I didn't save it. Sorry.

P.

 

[millym]

hi
we have both & our tapwater here in london is very hard ( pH often up around 7.9) and we've had the cardinals for 2+ years the rummys about a year+. both gorgeous fish & we've never had probs despite both of them rumoured to be difficult in some circumstances. but then our fish were conditioned to the water in our lfs which is not far away & must have the same tap water as us. ive always been a bit wary of fiddling with pH as i know swings in pH are far more stressful/damaging to fish than leaving well alone.
after some research i think our rummy noses are actually flamehead tetras but theyre beautiful fish that school together alot of the time & are always very active. i love the cardinals & our rummys but would highly recommend rummy if your having no luck with the cardinals.

 

[Griz]

Rummynose (fireheads in my case) are a truly wonderful fish. I got a school of 9 several months ago after reading so many positive things about them, mostly here in this forum. They are the best schooling fish I have kept, I highly reccomend them.

As for peat, the effect on your pH is dependent on the hardness of your water. Mine is GH9 / KH6 and the effect is slight. Softer water is needed to really change the pH much. Peat has other benefits however for both plants and fish. Many people don't like the tea stained water but I and many others really like it. It's a more natural environnent for many fish including cardinals and rummynose. IMO the tannins actually enhance the colours of the fish. There is no harm in giving it a try. My water is stained pretty dark and my plants seem fine. I use the Fluval granules filling about 1/3 of my Aquaclear 200. If you don't like the look just remove the peat and regular water changes will remove it. You can speed this up by using charcoal in the filter.

 

[@ombomb]

Is it just me that think a constant temp of 86F - 90F is too high?

 

[Griz]

I missed that. Yup, definitely too high.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

yup its realy high, im working on lowering it right now actually im managing to keep it at around 29 deg celcius (84 far.).

Hmm given these il probably get around 5 rummy nose tetras and see how they do with the 4 cards, hope they do well with each other the LFS well.. person im gonna get them from lives only a block away and the fishes have been under hsi care for the longest time already so i guess i shouldn't fiddle around with the ph level anymore... but i might still try the peat but sloowly

any more tips on the rummy noses ? they wont massacre my shrimp wont they ? they do have a similar temperment to cards right ?

 

[millym]

hi
what sort of shrimp have you got? our rummys live quite happily with 5 amano shrimps (caridina japonica shrimp/algae eating shrimp - about 2 inches big) the rummys are cardinal sized with small mouths & i cant imagine them eating any shrimp bigger than a mm or 2 in size. ive never seen the rummys annoy any other tank occupants, theyre very peaceful & active & spend a lot of time swimming in a school.

 

[IMCL85]

Whats ur current ph right now? I have no problem at all keeping my cardinal on a ph of 8 and 80-82F it probably the stress u have that kill them. And my tank just have a few plants they eat like pig when feeding have them for almost 6monthes now lost two duing ich I have about 2 monthes ago and rest is fine. Rummynose will do fine with other tetra but I really dont like their poor coloration. Neon/cardinal is my fravoit. And they r very hardy over all in my opinion.