impressed by cardinal's

[justrelax]

my lfs finally got cardinal tetras in, so the 30gallon got it's first fishies yesterday! i had a bio wheel hob running on an established tank that i moved over to accommadate them. so in went ten cardinal along with two gold mystery snails. this morning i found the smallest of the ten dead, but he was about half everyone's size and had poor color by the time i acclimated them. i figured he wouldn't make it through the night

on a happier note, i sure do like the look of these cardinals! they are so bright and colorful, and fun to watch, too. i left the light off yesterday to help them ease into things and i'm excited to get home today and watch them in the light. so i'm on the road to my sons dwarf cichlid tank! can't wait to add apisto's...

 

[Zagz]

Congrats. Glad to hear almost everyone made it. Can you take the one back to the lfs that didn't make it and get another or credit?

Where are the pics?

 

[rich311k]

Congrats on the new fish and good luck with them. They are a site to seen when they school together.

 

[MSU Fan]

i was considering cardinals in my tank, but went with Rainbows instead...once more MTS kicks in, then i am going to get cardinals!

Where are the pics!!!

EDIT: oops, btw, congrats!!!

 

[justrelax]

thanx! pics hopefully coming tonight. i tried to get some right away, but they were being kind of shy... unfortunately, these were a no guarantee purchase.

 

[hc8719]

you'll have to tell me how hard they are to keep compared to neons, i was thinking about getting some when setting up the tank, but when i heard they were real fragile, as well as $4 a fish (neons were only $1) i went with neons...

 

[StinkyPete]

I've had a bunch of neons and cardinals in the same tank for a while now. They school together and seem pretty much interchangeable. I've had a few casualties in both camps, in contrast to my absurdly hardy red-eyed tetras.

 

[bigmac1878]

i prefer neons to cardinals as they are the first fish that i ever liked, and, it has only been over the last few months that i knew that cardinals existed. also i now the difference between neons and cardinals.

neons are the best.

 

[justrelax]

these guys sure are skittish! still hiding out whenever anyone comes near, so a good pic hasn't been taken yet. the mystery snails, however, have been snailin' all over the place checkin' things out.
i wanted cardinals instead of neons because they just seem a little more exotic to me. i like their red bellies

 

[BrianNY]

Anyone ever find that after purchasing a school of cardinals, after a few months time there is only one left? This has happened to me on several occasions. There's a theory that they emit a chemical which attracts fish of the same school and repels fish from an alien school. In a small closed environment such as an aquarium, this chemical emmission may act as a toxin which results in the cardinals poisoning each other.

 

[Wood_Dog]

Anyone ever find that after purchasing a school of cardinals, after a few months time there is only one left? This has happened to me on several occasions. There's a theory that they emit a chemical which attracts fish of the same school and repels fish from an alien school. In a small closed environment such as an aquarium, this chemical emmission may act as a toxin which results in the cardinals poisoning each other.

Wow that is freaky,kinda cool if it is true,but I have had schools of cardinals for ages with no problems

 

[justrelax]

ok, i need to change the title of this post to "impressed by how quickly i killed ten cardinals" crap... so what they say is true, cardinals are hard to keep. i woke up to 4 more dead, then when i got home from work this afternoon i found the rest. removed them and did a water test right away, but that did not reveal any clues as to what happened. the only indication of anything wrong was a drastic color change i noticed this morning. from the anal fins back, there was almost no color in any of them.
so how about some suggestions on colorful tetras to keep with apistos... rummynoses are out of the question right now. no gaurantee on those either i'm thinking head and tail lights... of course, i'm open to something besides tetras if someone has a suggestion.

 

[hc8719]

how about the same thing, in a smaller, hardier package... neon tetras

glass catfish are pretty cool, and one of the few starter fish i dont regret getting. dont cheap out and get glass fish, they're kinda creepy after awhile.

there are also glass tetras ive seen recently, they're pretty cool to, and alot cheaper.

see if you cant return the dead cardinals

 

[CaptnIgnit]

I have a few Black Phantom Tetra's that are fun to look at. I also like Glowlight Tetra's a lot, the orange stripe looks better than the blue stripe on the Cardinal's and Neon's too me.

Both of those are very hardy fish as well so they should be good for establishing a tank.

edit: I also am looking for some Boraras brigittae but they are a tough to find and I'm not sure how hearty they are. But they sure do look great in a school!

 

[justrelax]

just got back from the lfs. decided to go with lemons. with any luck, tomorrow y'all will see a new thread with some pics of 'em!

i thought about replacing with neons, but these guys were acting pretty cool at the lfs so they won. i also thought long and hard about getting more cardinals, but just couldn't cope with more fish losses than were neccessary.

this whole cardinal experience really put me in my place, though. a good learning experience. i've had such a good run getting in to this hobby... fast cycle, only a couple losses, an easy time indeed. fish really have a way of humbling you and making you very aware of what you do and how it effects another life. i'm sad those guys had to go, i sure hope it makes me a better aquarist.

 

[Sicklid]

My cardinals did great. I think it was because driftwood softened the water, but they got picked off by the angel one at a time (I had no idea angels eat them in the wild).

I once had a dozen gold Pristellas that survived a bout of ick, two hurricane power-losses, and alot more (but not my convicts at breeding time). They were awesome... I also like glowlight tetras. Rummy Nose are cool too...

 

[severum mama]

Sorry about your losses. Lemon tetras are supposed to be very hardy, so you shouldn't have any problems with them.

 

[Tostada]

All the Hyphessobrycon tetras (Lemons, Flames, Phantoms, Bleeding Hearts, Serpae, etc.) are much stronger than neons/cardinals. I'm not a big fan of the "heart" spot behind the gills on a lot of them, which is part of the reason I really like Lemons. They usually look pretty pale in the LFS, but after you've had them about a week the color will really start coming out.

Most pictures really don't do Lemon Tetras justice, either. The translucent bright yellow and the black stripes on their fins is really cool.