What fish compliment cardinal tetras well?

platytudes said:
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.
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I was considering neons, they too are "glittery" ;) I liked black neons for awhile, but now I don't find them as cute, same with glo lights. When it comes to tetras, I'm really picky :0) for some reason.

I kinda of like harlies, but I'm not "IN LOVE with them" like I am the cardinals now. (sadly 3 died, 2 over night, 1 this morning, water params are good though).

Any fish that aren't tetras that you think would work? I was *considering* rainbow fish? Like turquiose rainbows :) (Saw them at petsmart as well)

I'll probably just have to go look at fish for awhile, that's how I determine what fish I usually get when I'm not sure :)
 
platytudes said:
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 :)
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Don't the white clouds do best in cooler water tanks?
 
lookit said:
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.
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As much as I like the color of serpaes, I thought the same thing :) I would be worried about my gouramis as well. Thanks for the idea of rummies, I don't like the look of them too much thought :p
 
You don't like the look of rummies? Whoa! What's not to like? A fish with a bright red nose and a flashy NASCAR tail? They're great fish, but like Platytudes said, they can be hard to acclimate (but so can cardinals).
 
Cardinals are probably just as sensitive as rummynose tetras. Turquoise rainbows get quite big and would add a lot to your bioload, they're also pretty expensive. If you're going to do rainbows, they need to be your main focus, in my opinion. Dwarf neon rainbows are smaller and more like community fish. If you like that color scheme, Columbian tetras are similar.

Picky about fish? Meh, gold gouramis :p: Not a fan, myself.

Fish that go well with gouramis are barbs, and some of them are lovely, such as rosies and gold barbs. Tiger barbs can be nippy, but this is really exaggerated...there are way nippier fish out there, and the nippiness is improved A LOT by simply keeping them in proper numbers, over 6.
 
dani_starr said:
I was considering neons, they too are "glittery" ;) I liked black neons for awhile, but now I don't find them as cute, same with glo lights. When it comes to tetras, I'm really picky :0) for some reason.

I kinda of like harlies, but I'm not "IN LOVE with them" like I am the cardinals now. (sadly 3 died, 2 over night, 1 this morning, water params are good though).

Any fish that aren't tetras that you think would work? I was *considering* rainbow fish? Like turquiose rainbows :) (Saw them at petsmart as well)

I'll probably just have to go look at fish for awhile, that's how I determine what fish I usually get when I'm not sure :)
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Consider the lamb chop rasboras? Trigonstigma espei and trigonostigma hengelii. There's a slight difference (the amount of copper coloring) between the two, and I prefer their markings over the harlequins. Both can be hard to find, though.
 
platytudes said:
Cardinals are probably just as sensitive as rummynose tetras. Turquoise rainbows get quite big and would add a lot to your bioload, they're also pretty expensive. If you're going to do rainbows, they need to be your main focus, in my opinion. Dwarf neon rainbows are smaller and more like community fish. If you like that color scheme, Columbian tetras are similar.

Picky about fish? Meh, gold gouramis :p: Not a fan, myself.

Fish that go well with gouramis are barbs, and some of them are lovely, such as rosies and gold barbs. Tiger barbs can be nippy, but this is really exaggerated...there are way nippier fish out there, and the nippiness is improved A LOT by simply keeping them in proper numbers, over 6.
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Oh okay, I always that rummies were WAY more sensitive. Well my cardinals are doing good, after the first 3 deaths, everyone else is happy and alive :D *knock on wood*

As for the rainbows, at petsmart they were only $2, half the price of my cardinals!! Lol :) Although their picture of a brilliantly colored male I presume is false advestising imo, I googled and youtubed them, NONE were that color! :( http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3954077 the pic at the store was even BRIGHTER!

And actually, I had the columbians before, not my thing either lol. Nor the dwarf neons.

Lol I LOVE blue opalines, but I saw the large gold one in a tank by herself with other random fish and she looked "sad." And same with the small gold one. I love the blue color, but the golds are now my babies because they aren't so chasy as the blues and have more troubles getting to food.

I actually LOVE rosy barbs. I saw some long fin ones at my LFS but they said no because I had my gouramis.. :( Now I'll just go back and lie again bout what fish I have. (They said my blue tetras wouldn't work either, they do!)

And just curious, what fish are nippier. I know I've had tiger barbs before and they never were monsters, I had a school 0f 8, they were fine :)
 
Lol I don't know, I'm just odd I guess :P
 
Rosy barbs are quite peaceful, I can't see any problem with keeping them with gouramis. They may chase the cardinals a little, but they shouldn't nip at them and they definitely won't eat them. Gold (Trichogaster sp.) gouramis, are more territorial...hopefully yours are females and will stay peaceful :)

Pfft, most people at Petsmart really have no idea what goes with what, the employees around here all think of Malaysian trumpet snails as "parasitic" when most people with sand tanks, keep them on purpose. They are always really surprised when I ask for some!

Just like with cardinals, if I buy a dozen rummies I can always expect at least two to four, to disappear on me. They seem to be very sensitive to any drops in temp, also. But if you don't like how they look, that's nothing to worry about!

I can't really figure out what your aesthetic for choosing fish is, why don't you check out a fish book like this, and choose fish you find appealing: http://www.amazon.com/Tropical-Freshwater-Aquarium-Compass-Guides/dp/0764130560
(This is a great book, I paid $12...full price...and have gotten years of use out of it)

You can always check Aqua Advisor or here, to see if they are compatible.
 
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