What or How do you feed Your Cardinal Tetras?

[jiffy]

Right now I am feeding my tank tetramin tropical fish flakes. The dainos go absolutely bonkers for this stuff. The cardinal tetras are another story.

1. They have yet to seem to get nearly as excited to eat. (I have had them 3 days now)

2. They don't swim to the tops to eat, they wait for stuff to fall to them in the middle. The problem with this is that I can't tell how much they are eating and if I am over or under feeding.

I am really concerned with over/underfeeding. I want to make sure all the fish are getting enough food, but I don't want to feed too much.

 

[Bol]

For what it's worth (I've got neons, not cardinals), my neons very rarely go to the top of the tank to eat; they pick off food as it's sinking. Always been that way.

 

[jiffy]

Bol - do your neons each much? Granted that the dainos are larger right now, but they seem to eat way more food than the cardinals do.

 

[jaywings19]

I used to have Cardinals... now I just have Neons. Here are my thoughts to your questions.

First, you've only had them 3 days... some fish have a longer adjustment period to their new environment. Therefore, your cardinals may not have much of an appettite due to adjustment.

Secondly, my Neons feed from the water surface because they've gotten braver over time. This wasn't the case for the first few months I had them. Back then, they used to wait until the filter output caused the food to sink, then pick up the flakes as they were sinking. Now they are brave and come to the surface. Each fish is different... so they may just need time to get comfortable.

Thirdly, I feed my Neons with Hikari Tropical Flakes. They love the stuff... and my corys pick up the leftovers that make it to the bottom. I try to get all food made by Hikari... they seem to be the best quality and most liked by my fish.

 

[jiffy]

jaywings - sounds like how your neons used to act is exactly what my cardinals are doing. They wait for the filer to push some food down and catch some of the other stuff that sinks.

Although, there is still a fair amount that sinks to quickly even though its flake. My dainos take care of some of that though because they tend to scavenge the bottom frequently.

I have also heard cardinals like bloodworms and brineshrimp. If I were to buy some bloodworms, what is the differnce between freeze dried and frozen or even live?

 

[luxum]

My cardinals (and every small mouthed fish i've ever kept) love Hikari tropical micropellets. They also accept Omega One flakes crushed up and released underwater so they sink, and really seem to appreciate Hikari thawed frozen bloodworms. I just got some Tetra tropical granules to try to give them some more variety, previous small fish liked that but i'm not sure if the granules are really small enough yet, i'll try them on Monday and see if they like it. One of these days i'm going to get either frozen daphnia or the kind that comes packed in a jar, i remember previous tetras really liking the Hikari frozen daphnia.

They definitely don't want to come to the top which is ok with me, my rams are bottom feeders too and get some pellets in addition to whatever they steal from the cardinals, so it works out just fine.

 

[Cavafish]

My cardinals will not go anywhere near the top of the tank in fact they stay near the bottom most of the time. Had them about 6 weeks. They didn't seem to eat anything when I first got them which was really worrying as they were real small. They will now pick at frozen daphnia (but I dont feed this much-no-one else in the tank seems over keen on it), they will eat frozen bloodworm (if any ever gets down to them!), and will pick at all the smashed up bits of flake that the tiger barbs have dessimated.

Don't worry too much about them. Mine are looking great and have really grown and they really don't seem to ever have an apetite as such.

 

[MrMashashin]

if you have other fish in there just feed a little more bit not too much more. If they ever get hungry they would pick it off the bottom. Thats what my neons do.

 

[R3GG]

My Cardinals always prefer to go to the bottom and eat bloodworms that have sunk rather than go to the surface, they will also wait for flakes to sink to the middle before eating them and they dont get half as excited as the other fish when its feeding time. I wouldnt get too worried about them not eating enough, as long as you feed them once a day or every other day then they'll be ok, if they're hungry then they'll eat! Yours may still be settling in.
good luck

 

[bomar666]

have you tried Earthworm flakes all my fish love them from my betta to my guppies im an Earthworm flake virgin so lets wait and se

 

[boozybears]

Hi! I had the same concerns when I got my cardinals about a month ago. They didn't eat at all and I was worried something was wrong. Don't worry... give them a few days to adjust and they'll start eating. Mine will eat the flakes if I grind them up really fine and let the filter push them down. They also like the frozen bloodworms (but rarely get any because of all my other piggies ) and the shripbrine if I grind it up so pieces sink to the bottom. They never get excited about feeding time like the rest but as long as I see all of them take at least one piece i'm happy. Good luck! Carnials are great fish!

 

[Bol]

To answer your question, jiffy, my neons don't seem to eat much. At a guess, I'd say ... maybe two or three flakes the size of their eye, per day (that I see).

 

[jiffy]

Thanks for all the tips everyone. I agree that they probably need a little more time to settle as well. It is good to know that no one cardinals/neons seem to eat very much and are doing well.

I will keep my eye on them to make sure that are at least eating some, which may be all they ever want.

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

my neons are absolute pigs! they eat so much and get really excited when i go to feed them. and they feed from the surface as well. my neons are weird compared to all of yours

 

[jiffy]

If I told you that tonight when I just fed my fish, 2 or 3 of the cardinals finally came to the top? It's true. I think they may be braving up. Now the only problem is one that seems a little shy at feeding time looks a little different colored than the rest. But...that is a new post (with pics!)

Thanks for the help everyone.