Cardinal Tetra

[ADelphi]

I have 7 cardinals, they're all juveniles and doing and growing very well. I have had them 3 weeks now. I bit the bullet early in getting them as i still had a small amount of aquarium salt in my tank at the time. I had read this article in practical fish keeping ---> http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...?article_id=335 so i thought what i had left in my tank was negligible.

My tank is all fresh water now heavily planted and a ph of 7.2, i like to feed live food once a day.

And i'm now the proud mother of baby brine shrimp

 

[George Farmer]

er why has no one mentioned that discus..... will eat the cardinals for lunch!

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Jimbooo - Please back this up with a solid source of info.

Discus and Cardinals are well known proven tankmates. There are exceptions as kenneth kpe has described but generally they should be fine together.


As for keeping Cardinals, my advice would be to match the suppliers water and acclimitise very gradually. I have only had one death out of nearly 30 bought. I perform 50% weekly water changes no problem.

Your temp appears a little low for Discus, 80 to 82F is a recommended minimum with most keeping higher than that.

 

[jimbooo]

the discus cardinal thing depends on the time of introduction.

just like angels, if they are all introduced when young the discus wont regard them as food. if you have a discus tank with adults in it, then put cardinals in they will be gone by morning!

 

[Murdoch]

I have never had any problems keeping Discus and Cardinals together for 25 years. In my main tank I have 28 Discus ranging from Juvs to 9" adults and a shoal of cards as well as Flame Tetras, Bleeding hearts, Rams, Bronze cats.
Only problem I get with the cards is a jelly like tumour occasionaly and then its night time for the infected fish. My PH is 7.4 and the Discus, Rams and cards frequently spawn in the community

 

[mr.dark-saint]

expect to see them living in Amazon Water parameteres 5.5 - 6.0 (like in the books) forget it.

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I think you need to do some research on cardinals. they hail from the Upper Orinoco and Negro River basins (major tributary for the Amazon)
they are a pelagic; non-migratory; freshwaterfish that prefers a pH range: 4 - 6 and a temp of; 23 - 27°C

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So, I was off on the exact location and point and a half off on the Ph (according to your info). However, I'll take the rest of the information I gave must be sound since you didn't deem them needing corrections (or shall I do some research?). If it makes you feel like some unappresiated scholar who needs to throw down and put me down knock yourself out.

 

[George Farmer]

the discus cardinal thing depends on the time of introduction.

just like angels, if they are all introduced when young the discus wont regard them as food. if you have a discus tank with adults in it, then put cardinals in they will be gone by morning!

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Fair point mate but still a big assumption IMHO. May I ask where you have read this, I am very interested.

 

[jimbooo]

the discus cardinal thing depends on the time of introduction.

just like angels, if they are all introduced when young the discus wont regard them as food. if you have a discus tank with adults in it, then put cardinals in they will be gone by morning!

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Fair point mate but still a big assumption IMHO. May I ask where you have read this, I am very interested.

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hi mate,

not exactly sure, just what i've heard. i was reading an article on the web about angel compatability (bearing in mind i have an angel and cards in the same tank) the advice was that with angels & discus in particular you need to introduce them at an early stage. ie before the angel or discus can fit the cardinals in its mouth. apparently by the time they "CAN" eat them, they have already worked out what is food and what isn't. put cardinals/neons in with adults (both angels and discus) then they will regard them as intruders to their territory and gobble them up.

i can only talk from experience on the angel side.

my 11 cardinals went in when the angel was an inch long, all still happy 18 months on (and the angel is 5/6 inches now). about 6 months ago i put 22 neons in the same tank. after a week i had 1 and he's still surviving.

i should have mentioned i am only saying what i have heard regarding the discus, not from personal experience.

the bigger the tank, the less of a problem. i'm not sure of the size of murdock's tank but with 28 discus it must be a beast hence nobody will feel threatened or protective of their territory.

kudos to you murdock, that is some collection you have there.

 

[Dubby]

I have cardinals for quite some time now and the local water PH is in the 7.5 range. I have a heavily planted tank and I dont add any buffers to lower PH.

I believe the reason my Cardinals have not been affected by the PH is that my LFS has similar PH.

 

[lopeva]

I've had the same problem with cardinal tetras. I purchased several cardinal tetras in early summer, and all died within a matter of days. I assumed it was the tank and proceeded to re-cycle (basically start over).

Tested most of the water parameters on Saturday and everything was great. So I purhased five more from the LFS, along with some other tetras (diamond and serpae). The folks working there really knew their fish, added stress coat to the bag, etc., so I was sure this time everything would be fine.

By Saturday evening, two had died. I lost two more yesterday and the final one today. I finally came to the conclusion yesterday afternoon it had to be the pH. It's the one thing I seldom test. It's above 7.0, so I've been using a pH decreaser to bring it down.

Do you all believe this is a fair assumption on my part as my other parameters are nearly perfect? It's all very disappointing....

Penny

 

[Dubby]

I've had the same problem with cardinal tetras. I purchased several cardinal tetras in early summer, and all died within a matter of days. I assumed it was the tank and proceeded to re-cycle (basically start over).

Tested most of the water parameters on Saturday and everything was great. So I purhased five more from the LFS, along with some other tetras (diamond and serpae). The folks working there really knew their fish, added stress coat to the bag, etc., so I was sure this time everything would be fine.

By Saturday evening, two had died. I lost two more yesterday and the final one today. I finally came to the conclusion yesterday afternoon it had to be the pH. It's the one thing I seldom test. It's above 7.0, so I've been using a pH decreaser to bring it down.

Do you all believe this is a fair assumption on my part as my other parameters are nearly perfect? It's all very disappointing....

Penny

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I would strongly advice against putting neons, cardinals in newly cycled tanks. They need mature tanks. Also check the PH at your LFS.

 

[qwikimpss]

Another thing, with delicate fish like neons and cardinals you GOTTA make sure you rpoperly acclimate them. When i brough home my 12 neons I drip acclimated them for 3 hours in a 5 gallon bucket and only lost one to NTD. I've never had good luck with neons till I went that route and I'm sold! Also a lot of sound advice about mature tanks. I wont put cardinals or neons in a tank unless it's been running problem free for a year.

 

[Gazoo]

I've been wanting cardinals for a while and this thread inspired me to give it a shot.

I tested my water and all seemed fine; pH = 6.0, temperature = 75°F (24°C). I took about 1.5 hours to acclimate the fish and all seemed fine. My tank is 8 years old and has plenty of hiding spots. During the next three days I lost 3 out of 6 cardinals. Yesterday my LFS replaced the 3 lost cardinals and so far so good.

It stinks when you think you are doing everything right and you still lose fish!