Cardinal Tetra behavior

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evident

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Dec 24, 2008
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Newtown, PA
Real Name
dave
Hey everyone,

I just stocked my tank after getting it completely cycled for 30 days. I got 10 cardinal tetras from the LFS where the guy working there said they've been there for two weeks with minimal daily losses. the stock looked strong. i know these guys are finicky but it's been over 3 days and they seem to be doing okay. I have some questions about their behavior though.

they are very shy and skiddish when i come to look at the tank ( i feel like i could kill them by just looking at them for a long time). they hide in a shaded corner most of the time but they DO come out and school around. they like to eat the slowly sinking hikari pellets and they don't like to come up to the top to eat. i feel like i wasted a ton of food the last two days since i have some dried brine shrimp they never munched on at the top of the tank. is this normal? one thing that worried me was last night around 11PM, i checked up on them before going to bed and they all lost their color and was sitting at the bottom of the tank. i was thinking oh crap i'm probably going to have a bunch of dead tetras in the morning, but nope, this morning they were all swimming around again with their color back.

has anyone else seen this behavior in their cardinals?


btw, my tank is a 45g w/ pfs, driftwood, a small anubia and java fern, and taller fake plants
 
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get some cories to clean up the uneaten food and act as dither fish

as for the pale color at 11pm that generally means that they are trying to sleep
(turn off the lamp when the sun sets)
 
Cardinals, as a general rule, only feed in the water column.
Although I have had an occasional individual cardinal that will sometimes
make a quick dash to the surface or somewhat more often feed from the substrate.

Plenty of cover(places to hide) will help them be less shy.
 
Fractalis said:
get some cories to clean up the uneaten food and act as dither fish

as for the pale color at 11pm that generally means that they are trying to sleep
(turn off the lamp when the sun sets)
Click to expand...

cories are on the way. it be ok to leave the hood light on during the evening when we're at home to look at them, right? i have a timer that turns the lights on from 6pm-10:30pm
 
that sounds like a decent amount of time

(there are some lightings systems for saltwater coral tanks that have light timers that simulate the amount of sunlight thoughout the day)
e.g. intensity, wavelengths, duration, etc.
 
I think what you are seeing is normal. They will get braver with time and yes they do loose their color at night. One of my favorite ways to feed them is get a block of freeze dried worms and push it onto the inside of the tank and watch them eat. Very cool!
 
You might want to check your water. If you have uneaten food, you may have a problem brewing. :( Especially since you will likely have at least a mini-cycle from the increase in fish load.
Lisa
 
Wren said:
You might want to check your water. If you have uneaten food, you may have a problem brewing. :( Especially since you will likely have at least a mini-cycle from the increase in fish load.
Lisa
Click to expand...
i'll probably check my parameters tonight. measured on monday and they were at 0 ammonia 0nitrites 20 nitrate (from the tap), hopefully they are still acceptable.
 
Any new fish you add will be skittich until they are adjusted to the new surroundings and get used to you coming up to the tank. My Tetras will now go nuts when I go near the tank and await food.

Give them a few weeks to adjust.
 
How old are the Cardinals? I got 10 juveniles from my LFS about 3 weeks ago, lost 1 during drip acclimation. These are quite young and dart around like crazy when I drop in food. They'll even come to the surface to grab the pellets or flake, whatever I'm feeding. My previous batch was older stock, and while more assertive than Neons they were not as spry as these fry. :)
 
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