Neon or Cardinal Tetra?

[Tiffi]

What tetra would you prefer to put in your tank?

On the one hand the Neon can get a "neon-disease" and doesn't look as good as the cardinal (still looks good though), and on the other hand the cardinal is supposed to be weaker since it is a wild-cought.

I just don't want to run back to the aquarium store every few days, because the variety I've chosen dies quickly. What are your experiences with their "strength" 8) ?

 

[lyquidphyre]

It depends on what other fish you have in your tank

 

[mr86mister]

have you looked at any other fish that are a bit hardier?

are you looking for specific colors or just the look of those tetras?

 

[Tiffi]

I am still planning and trying to get information ahead of time here. That means at the moments there is nothing in the tank except plants (still cycling) 8) .
I have a 70gal though and was planning on putting 2 Colisa lalia, 2 Colisa chuna, few Otocinclus, Amano shrimp, few Guppys, and 2 Mikrogeophagus ramirezi.

 

[Tiffi]

I like the red-blue look as a school 8O 8O !

 

[lyquidphyre]

The only thing about neons is they can easily fit in mouths =o)

If it fits in their mouth, your fish will eat them

 

[krap101]

im kinda worried about the gouramis. all fish are different in one way or another, but gouramis are agressive to certain sorts of fish. im not sure about tetras though.

the rams could try, but i highly doubt it. the rest should leave your neons/cardinals alone.

this stuff is pretty basic though

 

[greenmaji]

not saying that either fish is hardy.. but the neon is more so of the two..

 

[Steven A]

I agree with grenmaji, like stated above it depends what they are going with

e.g

Neons + Angelfish = Live Food
Cardinals + Angelfish = Great Fish Tank

LOL.

 

[webmoose]

I prefer the Cardinal over the Neon as adults they are more attractive with the big red band. Both look really good as young fish in the store.

As far as them being sensitive I would suggest that is likely only the case when you first by them. Once they are in your tank and established they likely are just as hardy as any other fish. They are just put throw so much while in the fish stores.

I have 5 cardinals and I would not trade them for neons. I have them in my 58 gallon with 4 Large Bos. Rainbows. (Large but not aggressive fish)

Moose

 

[Tiffi]

Well, I had both kinds of Gouramis before. The chuna is, as far as I got to know the species, a super friendly and careful fish and the lalia only has been mean to the female in the 45gal I had.
I'm tending to get the Cardinal tetras though, when they die in my aquarium after a few days without special reason I can always bring them back to my lfs and get new ones :? .

 

[severum mama]

I've kept both neons and cardinals, and found that there isn't much difference in how hardy they are- both species are very touchy. With such a negligible difference in hardiness, I would go for the cardinals. They get a little bigger and are more attractive IMO.

BTW, have you read the blue ram discussion thread in the general discussion forum? There's a lot of great information there.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=53378
I wish you better luck with them than what I had.

 

[Tiffi]

That with the "better luck" doesn't sound too promising , but thank you!

 

[fearlessfisch]

Is that accurate, that angels will eat neons but not cardinals?

Are cardinals really that much bigger?.....(or do they just taste bad 8O )

 

[greenmaji]

I have kept neon's and didn't notice that they were delicate at all personally.. Ive had never seen cardinal's in stores at the point that I was keeping compatible fish, so I dont have any hands on experience with them.. HTH

 

[scarf]

I find that my cardinals are quite hardy even during my brief periods of neglect But yea, I would say it prolly depend mostly on your batch.

 

[severum mama]

That with the "better luck" doesn't sound too promising , but thank you!

Well, I just said that because like Jchillin mentioned in the GBR thread, finding good stock here is not easy. I bought 2 gold rams and 2 blue rams for a 55 gal angel tank, and now I am left with 1 gold ram. One blue ram died within a day, and the other a day or 2 later. I don't know when the gold ram died- I expect the bristlenose pleco and paleatus corys found the body before I did.

 

[krap101]

hmm.. neons are about 1/3 of the price of cardinals here. neons are like 1.20 and cartinals are like 3.50ish?

 

[fearlessfisch]

Steve Askham wrote:

Neons + Angelfish = Live Food
Cardinals + Angelfish = Great Fish Tank

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Would you really put cardinals with angelfish?

 

[afilter]

Cardinals all the way. A school of 10-20 cardinals in a planted tank looks great. I kept them with Large Discus and Rams in a planted 75gal cichlid Community. I have also had neons, but they never flourished they way the cardinals did.

Tank mates should be a key consideration as well as Temp requirements. IME cardinals do best in a bit higher temp 79-82 deg.

$3.50 seems a bit high. Granted it has been a while, but buying in quantity always helped me.

If you are considering options for schooling tetras do not overlook the rummy nose and lemon tetra. They get a bit bigger, but a school of 6-8 always looked nice and cohabitated well.

Good luck,