Im done with cardinals!

[AJinNY]

Well Ive added 3 separate batches of cardinals to my tank.

The first and second batch have long since died.

The third batch consisted of 18. One died the next day and one died the second day so it wasnt too bad - because I did expect some not to make it.
Now its day 3 and this morning I found 5 dead in the tank.
The ammonia is fine and the ph is 7.2 but I did acclimate the fish very slowly and acclimated them to the temperature before adding to the tank.
Im not sure what to do anymore - its not looking good. Apart from throwing money out the window, I feel bad for the fish.

After this batch I will try a school of neon tetras to see if they fare any better.

After that, Im done with both the cards and neons.

All other freshwater I have gotten didnt seem to have a problem...I dont know why these tetras are having such difficulty surviving in my tank. They look fine one minute then the next theyre lying dead on the substrate.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks!!

[mps9506]

Cardinals are an amazon basin species, requiring softer more acidic water and slightly higher temperatures. I kept mine around a pH of 6.0.
In my experience they are fairly sensitive to water chemistry changes. Make sure you are getting them from a good fish store also that is keeping them in the proper tank conditions as well. If they are keeping them in hard water as well, they will probably have a shortened life even if you introduce them back into softer acidic water.

[AJinNY]

How would I lower the ph?

The store is very reputable and I never had a problem, so Im wondering if I was able to lower the ph by just a bit, would that be acidic enough for them to survive?

But youre guess is the ph is the problem?

Also would neons do any better or would they probably meet the same fate?

Thanks!!

[naperenterprise]

You know what I like to do when I kept them years ago...
Use Black water extract. It will darken your water, so use your discresion if you want to go this route or not.

Also aclimate them very very well.
You can put them in a bucket and use air line tubing with a open/close valve and drip water from your tank into the bucket for 30 to 60 minutes to perfectly adjust them to your water levels.

Also buy some of those floating live plants and put them in the bucket durring aclimation.

Do you have live plants in the tank already?

[SubRosa]

pH is less of a problem than the hardness.I used to keep Cardinals when I lived down the Jersey shore and the pH stayed around 7.2,but the hardness was something like 50 or 60 ppm.Neons are easier,but why keep fighting your water?There are plenty of beautiful fish that will thrive in hard water.Get some!

John

[AJinNY]

This is true John.

How do I know hard my water is? If I bring a sample to the lfs, would they tell me?

Also, I have rainbow fish but the colors are not that spectacular....yet.
What other fish are colorful? and peaceful?

You think Id have better success with neons?

[SubRosa]

Neons will probably be better than Cardinals.And having syphilis is better than having AIDS,but neither is best!If you want some nice fish that will appreciate hard water try the following:

Shell dwelling Africans like Neolamp. ocellatus,multifasciatus,etc.
Most Barbs
Livebearers (try something different like Montezumae swordtails)
Florida Flagfish
Peaceful Sunfish like those in the genus Elassoma,or Orange Spots(Lepomis humilis)
Native shiners like Rainbows,Yellowfins,Blue Noses,etc.
The harder to find fish can be found from time to time on Aquabid.com,which is like Ebay for fish.Most lfs' including the one I run sell the same old fish over and over again,because that's what sells.There is a whole world of really great fish if we would all take the time to look!

John

[mps9506]

I couldn't agree with subrosa more. I got into livebearers a bit when I moved to the coast where we have hard water, even put them in small tanks on the porch outside. The colors were awesome.
Most states or larger cities have freshwater clubs where you can find people that breed the more colorful livebearers that are harder to find at most stores.

The Neolamprologus cichlids are also quite fun and ready breeders. Brichardis, brevis, leleupi, multifasciatus are all found quite readily in most stores that sell cichlids.
Neolamprologus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[AJinNY]

you would go with aquabid over lets say liveaquaria.com?some of those fish I never heard of and am sure have never seen at the lfs.

the beautiful colors is what i miss most about the saltwater tank