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How many cardianal tetras??

2878 Views 13 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  fish042099, 
Pearl2011
Im setting up my 25 gallon amazonian bio-type, and im wondering how many cardinal tetras i could put in it?? My original plan was 7 peppered cories, 12 cardinal tetras, and one bristle nose pleco/farlowella catfish. I now dont want any cories and am wondering how many cardinals I could have. The tank will be planted and ti was an aquaclear 20 turned up all the way for filtration. I was think 16-20. Too much?? Or could i do more??

I saw a tank full of them at the aquarium. Sealed the deal for me getting them :p

-Cass
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nicolaas
I'd say 16 cardinals are the maximum if your also getting a Farlowella.

What type of plants are you thinking about?

You will need 6500K for most plants at least
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Byron
I would go with even more cardinals.:) They are quite sedate fish when they are settled, rarely swimming much except at feeding time. They need lots of stuff around them, be it branches and/or plants. Good floating plant cover will darken the water; they have what one source calls a light phobia.

Any reason the corys are out? They would add some interest. Farlowella vittata is fine; another good interesting substrate fish is Rineloricaria parva. This one tends to stay on the substrate more, whereas Farlowella will be on every surface grazing for algae. Even the smallest plant leaves.

Byron.
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Pearl2011
Byron said:
I would go with even more cardinals.:) They are quite sedate fish when they are settled, rarely swimming much except at feeding time. They need lots of stuff around them, be it branches and/or plants. Good floating plant cover will darken the water; they have what one source calls a light phobia.

Any reason the corys are out? They would add some interest. Farlowella vittata is fine; another good interesting substrate fish is Rineloricaria parva. This one tends to stay on the substrate more, whereas Farlowella will be on every surface grazing for algae. Even the smallest plant leaves.

Byron.
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More? Like maybe an extra 0 added to it?? :p

The tank at the aquarium had pygmy hatchet fish, cardinal tetras, otos, sterbai cories, and a Rineloricaria Paryya. The cories were cute, but not as i pictured them. I thought they would be a little more active. I think I'll get the Farlowella since it will be on all the plants. And personally i don't really like the look of the whip tail catfish.

The cardinals were just STUNNING!! They were glowing and the driftwood and plants were perfect. I (personally) love the look of the a huge school of the tetras, they look like gems.

They're was a piece of driftwood that went of to the surface and around it was a bunch of a plant (stem plant, maybe?). It was light green and kinda leafy, not at all like anacharis is. Any idea what it might be?? I really like the look of it. I have picture but my phone doesnt take bery good pictures. I could post them tomorow if you want. And the plants on the bottom looked like some kind of sword plant. Not a dwarf sword or pigmy chain, it was about 6-10 inches high (i think) and the end were fatter them the stem. Any more ideas??

Geez i love that tank :p
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Byron
Pearl2011 said:
More? Like maybe an extra 0 added to it?? :p

The tank at the aquarium had pygmy hatchet fish, cardinal tetras, otos, sterbai cories, and a Rineloricaria Paryya. The cories were cute, but not as i pictured them. I thought they would be a little more active. I think I'll get the Farlowella since it will be on all the plants. And personally i don't really like the look of the whip tail catfish.

The cardinals were just STUNNING!! They were glowing and the driftwood and plants were perfect. I (personally) love the look of the a huge school of the tetras, they look like gems.

They're was a piece of driftwood that went of to the surface and around it was a bunch of a plant (stem plant, maybe?). It was light green and kinda leafy, not at all like anacharis is. Any idea what it might be?? I really like the look of it. I have picture but my phone doesnt take bery good pictures. I could post them tomorow if you want. And the plants on the bottom looked like some kind of sword plant. Not a dwarf sword or pigmy chain, it was about 6-10 inches high (i think) and the end were fatter them the stem. Any more ideas??

Geez i love that tank :p
Click to expand...
Which aquarium was this?

Check our plant profile photos, you may spot the plants.
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Pearl2011
It was the Vancouver Aquarium. And wow i completely forgot about the plant profiles >.< I'm such a genius

EDIT: OMG i just realized i spelled cardinal wrong. Wow....
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Byron
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Pearl2011 said:
It was the Vancouver Aquarium. And wow i completely forgot about the plant profiles >.< I'm such a genius

EDIT: OMG i just realized i spelled cardinal wrong. Wow....
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Do you live out here? Or just a visit?

The hatchets they have in their cardinal display are not pygmy but the common Silver Hatchetfish, Gasteropelecus sternicla, if memory serves me correctly.

I drop in there periodically, and the attached photos are of this tank. I think I took these a couple years ago; not very good quality, as I was hand-holding the camera and didn't have my tripod with me. Been meaning to go back with my camera for some better photos, if I can find a day when the place isn't full of kids.

Byron.

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Pearl2011
Yes! That is the tank! Yes I live out here and if you go closer to closing time it gets pretty empty. When we got there i could hardly get pics for some tanks, and around closing there were like 10 people in the Amazon area. And school starts Tuesday (bleh) so there wont be as busy.

Do you know what those carpet plants are?? I just love them and kind what it is :/ They should also say what plant are in the tank. Oh well. Back to google.
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Byron
Pearl2011 said:
Yes! That is the tank! Yes I live out here and if you go closer to closing time it gets pretty empty. When we got there i could hardly get pics for some tanks, and around closing there were like 10 people in the Amazon area. And school starts Tuesday (bleh) so there wont be as busy.

Do you know what those carpet plants are?? I just love them and kind what it is :/ They should also say what plant are in the tank. Oh well. Back to google.
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The plants in this tank are the common Amazon Sword, Echinodorus bleherae, check our profile. And for those who worry about algae, notice how enc rusted some of the leaves are, in spite of the fact that this tank is not b rightly lit in defference to the forest fish. There are several hundred cardinals in this tank.

When I lived in the West End I used to walk down to Stanly Park every Sunday and made it a point to hit the Aquarium when they opened around 10 am. Few people were there yet, but more importantly the non-fish critters in the Amazon Gallery were out and about much more. I could reach out and pet one of the Iguana sitting on an overhanging branch, have the butterflies land on my hand, get within inches of many of the birds, etc.

For those readers who don't know this display, it is an open gallery you can walk through on a plank "trail" as if through the Amazon forest. You cross over a small lake in which there are some of the most beautiful rays and turtles, and the 20+ feet high banana and other trees house various lizards, several colourful birds including Scarlet Ibis and blue Amazon parrots, and a host of butterflies. All these creatures roam free. It is a wonderful place.

Byron.
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thekoimaiden
I'm a little late to the party, but I was in a similar situation just a month or so ago. I went conservative and bought 12 cardinals, but now I'm upping that shoal to 18. (And I have a farlowella, too! love that guy!) The cardinals like to break off and go exploring the tank but for the most part they just hang. The only difference is tank size as mine is a 29 gal. Just a little bigger, but not too much. If you want 20 cardinals, I say get them.
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Pearl2011
thekoimaiden said:
I'm a little late to the party, but I was in a similar situation just a month or so ago. I went conservative and bought 12 cardinals, but now I'm upping that shoal to 18. (And I have a farlowella, too! love that guy!) The cardinals like to break off and go exploring the tank but for the most part they just hang. The only difference is tank size as mine is a 29 gal. Just a little bigger, but not too much. If you want 20 cardinals, I say get them.
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Then 20 it is :) If I can manage too keep up with school work and water changes *crosses fingers*

Where did you get your Farlowella and how much did he/she cost?? I'm assuming quite a bit since no LFS in my town have them :/ Oh well, 1.5h to a good store....
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thekoimaiden
Yep! As long as you keep on top of water changes you should be just fine.

I couldn't find a farlowella locally either, so I ended up ordering mine online from a phenomenal seller. I even got my cardinals from her, too. Unfortunately she doesn't ship to Canada. :(
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Byron
Pearl2011 said:
Where did you get your Farlowella and how much did he/she cost?? I'm assuming quite a bit since no LFS in my town have them :/ Oh well, 1.5h to a good store....
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You said you were in the Vancouver area...I know where you can get Farlowella vitatta when in season (they are wild caught). Prices are usually around $12 to $18 each.

I may be able to give you one or a couple, if my fry mature. I have a trio that I got 4 years ago, and they spawn regularly. I have raised fry a couple times, and currently have over 12 in my 10g. Difficult to feed at this stage, that is the tricky part, but a few usually make it to maturity. They are only a couple weeks old now, so they would be "ready" by the Summer.

Byron.
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F
16 seems fair, it would look so cool!
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