Silvertip and Cardinal Tetras

[Tenko]

I will be getting some silvertip and cardinal tetras soon and would like to see them shoal. Does anyone know how many of each I'd need to get them to display their natural behaviour? I asume they'll group with their own species and was thinking about getting about 8 of each. Is this enough?

Also, another post suggested that silvertips can be a bit aggressive, is this true? Could they share a tank with the cardinals, 2 angelfish, some dwarf Gouramis and the fish from my sig?

Thanks

 

[Auratus]

In Aquarium USA magazine there is an article called "Smart fish stay in Schools" the guy says this "I have a well planted 20 gallon long aquarium with 50 cardinal tetras, 25 kuhlii loaches adn about a half dozen other assorted fish. Four years later, most of these fish are still alive and doing fine. That's nearly 5 inches of fish per gallon! The key is to pick the right species, plant heavily to absorb wastes, and make a lot of water changes to remove wastes and replenish trace elements." But it then goes on the say how experienced he is and not to do it at home, lol, big help magazine!!!

ACCOMMODATING SCHOOLS:
How many fish do you need to form a proper school? There's no set answer here. It depends on the species, the size of the tank and other factors. But I'll tell you this: It's not three. Too many dealers tell you to buy a trio of fish to see schooling behavior, and they are wrong. Even six of a species probably wont do it, unless the tank is so small the fish can't get away from each other. Then it goes on to say that 25-50 is the best if your aquarium is big enough and that you cannot mix species to form a bigger school. The tend to form separate schools. Also says they have to be long tanks to so schools can move together.

I don't know if all they crap I just typed even helped you out at all I didn't feel like typing the whole 4 page article so I picked out some specific stuff. Hoped that helped.... do you have room for 50 tetras? lol.

 

[kmurph]

I have a 90gal (US) / 340l tank and I have 16 Cardinals and they seem to not really care about shoaling at all. 5 go this way, 3 go that, 1 sits around. Maybe it's because of a total lack of threats of any form with lots of hiding places.

 

[Olive]

I have a 90gal (US) / 340l tank and I have 16 Cardinals and they seem to not really care about shoaling at all. 5 go this way, 3 go that, 1 sits around. Maybe it's because of a total lack of threats of any form with lots of hiding places.

My cardinals did that too. They didn't seem to ever want to school. Go figure, huh?

 

[Tenko]

Thanks for your replies, they have helped.

I have a 180 litre tank, it's 100cm x 40cm x 50cm so I don't think I could fit 50 in with the other fish I have/plan to have. I was at my local zoo the other day and they had a large tank with several varieties of tetras and catfish in. The tetras weren't shoaling at all, just hanging about wherever they wanted, the catfish hid. At the lfs there was a smaller tank than mine with just cardinals in, about 20-30, they were all shoaling. That suggests that it's not just how many you have but the size of tank they're in too.

I'm still not sure how to stock my tank, the lfs told me I could get 40-50 fish in it but I suspect it's more a case of how many he'd like to sell me. I'm getting 9 cardinals (sold in 3's) on Wednesday and will observe them for a while. I can always add more.

When I have all the small fish in I plan to get 2 young angelfish as I've heard that if they grow up in a tank with tetras and guppies they are very unlikely to eat them. Do you think that will make the tetras more likely to shoal, if there's a potential predator around?

 

[Lateral Line]

Shoaling behaviour is an adaption to predation. Small fish school together when they feel vulnerable. Typically, this does not happen in small crowded tanks, it tends to happen in wide open spaces. 10 tetras in a small crowded tank will probably just do their own thing, put the same fish in a large, lightly stocked tank and they will form up.

 

[Tenko]

Thanks, I'm going to try not to overstock the tank but the lfs seems very keen for me to buy everything in the shop.

 

[Lateral Line]

>>> but the lfs seems very keen for me to buy everything in the shop.

Really!

 

[Sanj]

My cardinals will often split, they are only sometimes in shoal. The Rummies on the otherhand are nearly always tight schoolers.

I think when I transfer my rainbows over they might shoal more because of the larger fish around. I also plan on introducing small angels. Even so they may become accustomeed to these larger fish and not shoal som uch over time.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

well if you put an angel in with it they should group together as the ange will eat them when it gets older.

Small tetras are its diet in the wild

 

[Tenko]

I've been advised that putting a smaller type of angelfish in when it's very young should be okay as it will grow up accustomed to the smaller fish and won't necessarily see them as food. This isn't a 100% certainty though.