Cardinal Tetras Or Neon Tetras?

[Ginty]

Which is easier to keep?
All info/advice welcome.
Just want views and opinions. Especially those from London England. As tap water will be similar. But all welcome

 

[attibones]

Lately it's been noted that neon tetras are losing their hardiness. If you can get wild caught ones, then they are are far less sensitive. Cardinals these days are the healthier species.

 

[Ginty]

Thats exactly what im hearing. Thankyou. If theres any other info you know please share.

 

[Gruntle]

From my experience, Cardinals are more expensive but seem hardier. For instance, 6 Neon Tetras for $20, Cardinals about $6-8 each. However, I have lost 11 out of 22 Neons, so in effect the price is around the same. I have a friend with Cardinals and he hasn't had any issues.

 

[dorecs]

I can also agree, I have had both cardinals and Neons and the cardinals have survived far longer.

 

[the_lock_man]

Cardinals FTW!
 
Leaving aside the hardiness issues which others have mentioned, the cardinal is better looking anyway, with the red extending the whole body length, and the blue is, IMHO, a tad brighter.

 

[Alasse]

With Neons i expect to lose half, even with that they are cheaper than cardinals for me, i'm getting ready to buy another 20, they will go into quarantine fir a number of weeks and i should get at least 10 out of the batch to put in my display tank
 
The neons i have in my display tank are absolutely gorgeous and their colour is bright as, just the school isnt big enough for my liking, with the normal die off from initial stocking of the tank
 
If i do happen to see cardinals on sale somewhere someday i will be grabbing me some lol

 

[Ch4rlie]

Another vote for cardinal tetras, I am a fan of Cardinal Tetras, Paracheirodon axelrodi
 
Imo, they are more colourful and are slightly larger than neons, but do bear in mind, cardinals can be fairly active and despite their small size, they do require a largish tank, around 15 US Gals or 60 litres being minimum preferably at least a 2 feet long tank.
 
And also, they are soft water fish really, pH of 5.5 to 6.5 is considered the ideal and do not forget, they are shoaling fish, the more you can get, the better, at very least 8+ minimum imo.
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/71825-cardinal-tetra/
 
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/paracheirodon-axelrodi/

 

[DrSlackBladder]

Another vote for cardinals........I have both (cardinals added only within last couple of months0 and they shoal together nicely, but the cardinals looks great.  As nature takes its course I will eventually replace the neons and some others of my community to make it a cardinals & cory tank only.  And I've probably lost about 1/2 of all neons I've ever bought within a month or two, but not lost a cardinal (ok, have only bought three so far!).

 

[Alasse]

As a person who has now just found some cardinals cheap lol I will shortly have 20 of them swimming in my tank. I'll let you know how they go

 

[Ginty]

As a person who has now just found some cardinals cheap lol I will shortly have 20 of them swimming in my tank. I'll let you know how they go

Yes please. If you dont mind.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Wow... lots of 'hate' on the neons (not really, but not a single vote for the neons)!
 
 
I vote neons!  I have kept neons since I was a kid.  I have kept neons myself for a long time, and still have a shoal of 9 neons.  The neons are from a local mega-chain fish store.  I only buy them when they are $1 each, and I've NEVER, not even once, lost half of them at once.  In fact, they have been some of my hardiest fish to have kept.
 
For example, I had a problem tank at work, and it killed bloodfin tetras (commonly described as very hard), but the bloodfins died in the tank within hours (12-24).  I tried to figure out the problem, fix it, tried again, same result.  The neons went into the tank and they are still swimming.  My original shoal of 20 neons from 4 years ago is now down to 9.
 
 
I will concede to TLM that the cardinals have more red.  They are also larger, so you can't have as many as you could neons.  And for me, the added neons adds a little something to the appearance.
 
 
Anyway, I don't want to dissuade you from the cardinals, but I wanted to add a good word for the neons.  I've done some very informal observations and it seems that UKers are having much more trouble with neons than USers.  Perhaps there's an issue in the breeding stock over there, that's not an issue here.  Not sure, but that's just something I have noticed over the last few years.

 

[ShinySideUp]

I have neons, they are three years old now. I started with twelve but am down to six now I don't how bad or good that is as I have no idea how long lived they are generally.
 
Just to get my plug in for my favourite fish and totally irrelevant to this thread; my Clown Loaches are coming up to 12 years old now and are still growing.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I have neons, they are three years old now. I started with twelve but am down to six now I don't how bad or good that is as I have no idea how long lived they are generally.
 
Just to get my plug in for my favourite fish and totally irrelevant to this thread; my Clown Loaches are coming up to 12 years old now and are still growing.

 
 
Clown loaches are awesome fish... if only I had a tank big enough to keep them.
 
 
 
Re: neon tetras life span...  I've seen it said that they can live up to 10 years, but I've never had any live longer than 5-6 years old.  There are a lot of variables for that too.  Higher temps generally expedites the life cycle of most fish.  
 
I'm not sure what the cardinal tetras life span is off hand.

 

[Ginty]

Wow... lots of 'hate' on the neons (not really, but not a single vote for the neons)!
 
 
I vote neons!  I have kept neons since I was a kid.  I have kept neons myself for a long time, and still have a shoal of 9 neons.  The neons are from a local mega-chain fish store.  I only buy them when they are $1 each, and I've NEVER, not even once, lost half of them at once.  In fact, they have been some of my hardiest fish to have kept.
 
For example, I had a problem tank at work, and it killed bloodfin tetras (commonly described as very hard), but the bloodfins died in the tank within hours (12-24).  I tried to figure out the problem, fix it, tried again, same result.  The neons went into the tank and they are still swimming.  My original shoal of 20 neons from 4 years ago is now down to 9.
 
 
I will concede to TLM that the cardinals have more red.  They are also larger, so you can't have as many as you could neons.  And for me, the added neons adds a little something to the appearance.
 
 
Anyway, I don't want to dissuade you from the cardinals, but I wanted to add a good word for the neons.  I've done some very informal observations and it seems that UKers are having much more trouble with neons than USers.  Perhaps there's an issue in the breeding stock over there, that's not an issue here.  Not sure, but that's just something I have noticed over the last few years.

Thankyou for your input. I do really like neons but as you say i think there is a breeding issue with them.in the uk as they dont seem live long here. Its a real shame , because i really do l8ke them
Thanks every one. You've all been a great help. Im still undecided as what im going to get yet. Im go8ng to have room though. Im giving my 3 danios to an aquarium shop tomorrow because they are bullying my guppies to the point where one of their tails are almost gone.