cardinal tetras...

[NickT]

are cardinals as passive as neons? im thinking of doing a run of the mill heavily planted cardinal tank and was thinking about what tankmates i can have with em.

i was drooling over the "not for sale" tank at my LFS it looks like some of the Takashi Amono tanks ive seen online (only not as amazingly perfect) with heavy ground cover and nice large pices of planted drift wood. they have a school of about 20 cardinals and the little guys look so at home and peaceful in the tank by them selfs but i have never seen cardinals being kept in a comunity? is there a reson for this? or do ppl just like to look of them on there own.

EDIT: woops im in the wrong topic.... move me?

 

[sylvia]

Cardinals are very peaceful and also very pretty. I have seen them kept in community tanks and have kept some myself. You can keep them with any peaceful fish with similar requirements and that wont eat them. Various gouramies, other tetras, some barbs, most rasboras, corydoras catfish, plecos, most pencil fish, hatchets, sometimes danios, anything that wont bother them is fine. I actualy preffer cardinals to neons because they aren't as inbred and mass-produced but just as peaceful and attractive.

 

[Final Dynazty]

Yeah they can go with most tropical community fish. were i work we kepp them with hatchets loaches corys stuff like that. Just remember no Angels!!! They will eat your cardinals.

 

[bartender_in_ny]

love my cardinals !! SEE SIGNATURE, and they look really cool in the moonlite;s they *sleep on a angle* kinda cool, just make sure u plan on losing 50% of what ya buy immediatly, happened to me every time i got um, but the tuff ones make it and last long...they like it a lil warmer too i have found 78 degrees..even 79....frozin brine shrimp really brings out there color too........i have um in both my tanks, the barbs are bullys but the ones in the 55, have it made......LOL they live in a mean pad!!!! there my fav, fish but i have a hard time finding them do when i do see a good batch i usually buy um all........MAKE SURE THEY GOT BRIGHT COLOR IN LFS!!! and baby the crap out of um on way home....there really sensitive....good luck, LOVE THEM CARDS!!!!!

 

[freddyk]

I'm keeping 15 of these guys in my 25 gallon. They're very passive, very hardy, and do well with any fish that won't eat them. They always stick together, making for a nice schooling show. They'll do well with most community fish, especially when kept in higher numbers.

 

[NickT]

thx for the replys. i got more questions now tho....

1 do cardnals school tighter than neons?

agan after looking at the nice planted tanks at my LFS i noticed even tho there is only cardnals in the plandet tank and they arenot stressed, they seem to school verry well. they beat my neons at schooling but my neons are with nonschooling pecful fish so that might be why mine do so bad at it . (any ideas on making my neos school wold be nice too! )

2 will neons or jumbo neons school with cardinals.

they look so simalr?? if i where a neon i wold hang with the big guys so i didnt get eaten.....

3 is bartender correct?

just make sure u plan on losing 50% of what ya buy immediatly

seems like poor odds!? where you cycleing your tank with them bartender? i think there too expensive to buy an extra 50% so im just going to have to MAKE them stay alive! B)

 

[noelberg]

IMO bartender's not far off. I bought 8 and lost 3 - one of whom was already sick but didn't notice it until i took it home. Had perfect water parameters, and a pH of 6.5, too.
i would recommend treating the tank with some anti-ick or parasite meds as a preventative after you get them in the tank, since they are VERY ick prone in my experience. i also highly recommend having a pH between 6.3-6.8 , since they live in slightly acidic water and many are wild caught.

good luck - they're gorgeous fish

 

[freddyk]

My experience has been quite opposite. I recieved a shipment of 16, and one died day after introduction. The rest have been doing great. They were the first inhabitants of the tank and have proven themselves very tough.

 

[SarahBravo]

Mine have been doing well too, I bought 12 and 10 made it. They school with the neons and seem quite happy in my community tank. They're not the most energetic fish, but are very very pretty!! My PH is really high too, which isn't meant to be good for them, but they really adapted well.

Sarah

 

[NickT]

my tap ph is 7.4. and i have no problem keeping it stable. i hope they can adapt to that PH since i wold rather keep it stable then try to alter it. the thought of losing half or even any of the little guys is almost making me change my mind. ive never lost a neon *knocks on wood*... when i was a kid i kept a school of em till my filter died and killed the whole tank (aprox 1.5 years). i know neons are prone to ick/velvet nd i seem to remember ppl saying they where weeker than cadinals du to imbreeding. when i got my newest school the smalest one contracted velvet the first day. i treated with my specal brew and it seemed to work fine.

BREW: i treat velvet with a 10 minut dip 3 times a day in "cure ich" witch contains malachite green and formalin, salt and a water conditioner that contains aloe.i mix all the ingrediants into a gallon jug and poure it into a gallon ziplock, then i use a second ziploc for a bag full of aquarium water to rinse the fish/net in. both bags are floted in my tank and treat ment is done 3 times a day. this only works for velvet and i treat only the fish who are visibly infected.

i checked the price of those little guys today and it looks like $3.75 each or 4 for $10 so im gonna spend $50 on a school of 20. then im gonna haveto makeshure none of them die by pointing my finger at em and shaking it while saying "yous guys better not die on me or ill kill yaz".

ok one more thing! i have the choce betwen a standard 55gal and a corned 29.
i know the corner 29 will b slightly overstocked by the 1 inch of fish bull hokey but i dont live by that crock. IMO its more about how dirty the fish are and how much you feed/change the water. with the 55 i wold have more room. but tahts a doble edged sword.more room for fish to swim more plants for me to buy. with teh 29 i wold be able to spred even light form a 150watt metalhalide this wold let me plant a bit lightly then let it grow in to fill the tank....

what do you think?

 

[bartender_in_ny]

NO!!!! lol i always cycle w/dainios NEVER DIE!!! i hit the tANK WITH E.M. TABS THE OTEHR DAY + LIL SALT raised temp everyone is doing well... also put in aquaisol for ick ....the neons hang with the cards.. lost umm 5 so i did lose 50% amonia is zero..so hope al is well.....everyone has bright colors again so hope they make it this time they were $1.49 ea.

 

[NickT]

a friend at the lfs told me to day that they lose 50% of what they buy. i started the convo with "how herty are teh cardinals?" and that was tehre response. you know its a good petshop when they say teh same thing.he also says he thinks they are so frail from the conditions they come from before being imported.

 

[noelberg]

a bit of driftwood will naturally dip the pH down and keep it fairly stable if you're interested. the thing with cardinals is since they are usually wild caught, they are less prone to adjust to different pH's like your tank-bred fish. they also demand great water quality in a mature (preferrably) planted tank.

a shoal of 20 sounds really nice! *jealous* good luck with them

 

[Sanj]

I have cardinals with Angels!!! Muhahahaha

No, tbh If angels are intorduced with these fish when small (and the cardinals are not tiny specimens) then the Angels will likley not regard them as food.

My largest angel is currently 4" dia and he is not naughty.

Infact its my dwarf chain loach that bothers them more and he is only an incy bit bigger.

 

[George Farmer]

I also have Cardinals (eight) with Angels (controversially in my 34G). Other tankmates include Rummynoses, True SAEs, Otos, Zebra Loaches and Cory Julii.

I beleive they'll do better in softer more acidic water but if you match your LFS water and they were ok in that then they should be fine. If I could turn back time then I would probably have only kept a large shoal of Cardinals and some algae eaters.

See my planted tank with the Angels and Cardinals on display.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=65991