What fish compliment cardinal tetras well?

[dani_starr]

Hi everyone

So I just got 13 cardinals from Petsmart, they all are in my 10 gal QT, (I'm watching the water parameters and will be good on water changes) (fun side story, I thought they were 99cents each, no they were $4 each :eek3: )

But anyways, I can't get over how pretty they are!! They are so sparkly and gorgeous! In about a week or so, my other 55 gallon will have all fish rehomed except for my 2 peaceful, female gold gouramis and BN pleco (long story short, I am giving him, my old driftwood and some plants, and rock work, along with a lot of my fish, nice guy in HS very passionate about fish

So with my 1 BN and 2 female gold gouramis, I will have my 13 cardinal tetras. What are some fish that would be good with these fish, and compliment my cardinals colors and that are colorful themselves?

Also, these fish will be my final stocking, so I want fish that for sure won't cause problems in the future

 

[Lab_Rat]

Any mellow blackwater fish that aren't large enough to eat them will go well with cardinals. They're my go to schooler when I can't figure out what I want for a community tank.

 

[platytudes]

I have 8 cardinals and 8 neons in my 20 long, as well as a female betta. I love the two combined, they school together and I can tell the subtle differences between them I plan to get more soon, just waiting for Petsmart to have them on sale again.

I would maybe try black neons, glowlight tetras...harlequin rasboras are nice, but get kind of chunky in their old age I've noticed.

 

[The Zigman]

More cardinals!

I have about 40 of them...

 

[Fishfriend1]

You could try serpae tetras, they look very pretty with my neons. Just be careful they may nip other fish. Depends on the personality and number of fish you've got in the school.

 

[vwill279]

Emperor tetras or black neons would be my choice. Enough of a contrast but still within size and pattern similarities.

 

[platytudes]

Emperors are another great suggestion, although they can be hard to find.

You might try white cloud mountain minnows, even though they come very different areas geographically. I assume this is a community tank so in that respect, they would work

 

[lookit]

I wouldn't put serpaes with cardinals. Although they would present a nice contrast in color, based on my experience with serpaes, they shouldn't be housed with cardinals. Serpaes are too nippy and boisterous for cardinals. If you want a similar contrast in colors, I would choose harlequin rasboras like Platytudes said earlier. Another fish that I think goes well temperamentally with cardinals would be rummynose tetras.

 

[platytudes]

Rummynoses are another fine choice, although they can be tough to acclimate. I usually have a few die off at first, but then the rest go on to live a long time.

 

[iheartbettas]

glow light tetras are very nice. they school nicely and they are very peaceful.