Cardinals Question

[Benunited]

Hi folks

Having apparently completed by fishless cycle - double zeros in 12 hours - I'm now considering what fish to add.

Ideally I'd like to try neon cardinals and a single siamese fighter fish. While I've read that cardinals are perhaps not for beginners, I am more than prepared to put in the time and effort to care for them as best I can.

From my research I understand I should be aiming for a ph of around 6 for the cardinals.

My tap water ph is between 7 and 8.

So... should I

1. Forget cardinals
2. Add cardinals with ph around 7
3. Try and lower my ph?

But, if I lower my ph, will the problems I had during my cycle start again?

I found during the cycle that my soft water meant the ph kept dropping, which stalled the cycle and caused the nitrites to rise.

I don't want to produce nitrites in the tank which won't be processed into nitrates within 24 hours, thereby harming the cardinals - that's if I'm understanding the situation right.

Any advice much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[llamalord305]

I'm not sure about cardinals, I have no experience with them. But the betta is certainly out of the question, in my opinion. Male bettas are pretty aggresive in general, while very few can stand other fish. Good luck.

 

[nmonks]

To start with, don't focus on pH. Many beginners do this. It isn't critical. Hardness is important, and pH stability is important, but the actual pH value isn't all that important at all. Cardinals will be fine at pH 7.5, provided the hardness is middling (say, 10 degrees dH) and I'd suggest the carbonate hardness somewhere around 3-4 degreed KH.

Most folks lose cardinals because they keep them in water that is too hard and too cold. Cardinals are fine in medium hardness water, but very hard water (like that in most of Southern England) will quickly wear them down. You'll find they have a relatively short life, maybe a year, but with individual fish dying every few weeks. So while cardinals are -- perhaps surprisingly to some -- hardier than neons, they are fussy about water chemistry. I find a 50/50 mix of tap water and rainwater works well.

Ideally, you'd keep cardinals in soft (5-10 degrees dH) water with a strongly acidic pH (6.0). The problem here is that biological filtration doesn't work below pH 6.0, and even below pH 7.5 it works much less effectively, especially once the pH drops below 7.0. Soft water also lacks carbonate hardness, and water with less than, say, 3 degrees KH is likely to experience unstable pH levels. While there's some argument whether or not this is directly harmful to fish, it certainly isn't a good thing for your biological filter, so the debate is somewhat academic. Once the pH drops much below 6.5, biological filtration becomes a limiting factor, and below 6.0, you have to use an alternative system (such as zeolite).

Water temperature should be around 26-28 degrees C.

Mixing bettas with tetras is generally a poor idea. The problem isn't aggression but physical damage: the bettas are an easy target for fin nipping, and even otherwise placid species are likely to peck at them. It certainly doesn't happen every time a betta is put in a community tank, but it does happen, and neons are certainly known to peck at them. While I'm not 100% sure if cardinals do, I wouldn't risk it. The best tankmates for bettas are fish (or shrimps) that can't possibly bother them; things like kuhli loaches, banjo catfish, cherry shrimps, etc.

Cheers, Neale

 

[drobbyb]

I responded to your other thread, and basicailly gave you the same answer (not as eloquent perhaps.) nmonks is correct, it's not about pH but stability and hardness.