Cardinal tetras dying

First things first: What are all of the vital paramters (e.g. temp., dH, pH, NO3) in your friends tank? Knowing what the values are might help us help you better!

In my experience and through speaking with some of my friends who have been involved in the aquatic trade through the years, I would state that cardinal tetras generally have one of the higher mortality rates amongst all of the tetras. Capture and shipping probably accounts for a lot of the losses. Also, this fish is very hard to breed in captivity and thus, most of them are wild-caught in the Amazon Basin of South America during the dry season; meaning that they are subjected to a fair amount of water parameter shock upon arrival to the LFS and they are already somewhat weakened and skinny.

Also, though rare, the Oto's in that tank could be attacking the cardianl tetras. Some Oto's seem to prefer the slime coating on fish more so than algae and they will attack fish of similar size in order to get their fix of slime coating... determining if this was the cause would likely require hours of careful observation to determine if any such behavior was noted. Also, they do not always fair well with cichlids, so those blue rams could be attacking them too.

One thing I know for sure though is that cardinal tetras are generally more hardy at higher temperatures... say between 81F and 85F (similar temperatures to a discus tank). They also do best in fairly acidic water with a pH of 5~6 and slightly softer-to-mid hardness 2~6dH. They also like heavily planted tanks with some shadowy spots to hide and tend to do better with darker colored substrate.

-Jimbob

 

My cousin used to have a tank with angels and neon tetras. One day the angels desided they didn't like the neons any more and began attacking & killing them.

 

just something I have noticed with my Cardinals.. when I feed par boiled kale (for otos and for farlowella's - the cardinals eat it too. I ordered a dozen, lost one in transit, and have had all 11 remaining for the past 2 months. also have 6.1 ph, soft water, highish temps .

 

I get a lot of my fish from mark at annubias design. He buys direct from importers and does a nice job quarantining before selling.

I've got eques pencils from his as well that are doing beautifully. This is the first time I"ve tried his cardinals and I they are just gorgeous and again tonight eating kale

[email protected] for annubias design. He is PA so is an especially good source for east coasters as overnight shipping is ONLY $20.

 

Quoted For Truth.

I have had some rather vicious angels. One pair in a 65g tank would destroy any cardinal tetras I'd try to keep.

-MT

 

I bought 40 from Mark at Anubias Design 3 months ago. Lost one in transit and one afterwards, the rest are fine.

I use tap water that's around 7.4 rested and lowered to 6.1 with CO2. Maintain 82ºF at Tom's suggestion and no other special treatment. Absolutely glorious fish.

-Russ

 

I never heard that feeding cardinals enough is an issue.. how much is enough?

 

Some of my friends kept the longest one alive for 10 years. The same is with Neon tetras. Good fish life - long fish life

Kind regards, Dusko.