# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Characins >  Cardinal tetra kept at 24/25 degrees celcius?

## moonwalker

hi,
I have a 2ft tank with moss, 15pcs of tetra and 25pcs of shrimp. Recently *just* bought 2 120mm dc fan which are quite powerful. my tank temp dropped from 29-30 degree to 24-25 degree. I think It should be ok for the moss, shrimp and cardinal tetra since from what I read, the ideal temp for cardinal is 25degree.
But the problem is that from what I see, the tetra eat less than before significantly. Is there any problem with them? other than that, they seem fine.
p/s: my tank had been set up for 2-3months, circled, got a canister filter. water topup now is 3l/day.
btw, I want to keep cherry, yamato and crs together, any advice on it?
thanks a lot

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## Aquaculture

They will be fine after a while. My tetra tank is also about that temperature.

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## Quixotic

As long as the temperature does not fluctuate drastically, it is not a problem. Otherwise, fishes will get stress and when they get stress, they get sick easily.

Generally, if the temperature is high, the metabolic rate of the fishes will also be higher, and they would need to eat more. Lower temperature slows down the metabolism, hence they would eat less.

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## moonwalker

thanks a lot, now the temp is stable at 24-25 degrees, hope they will get well soon.

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## Heiko Bleher

Hi,

this is Heiko Bleher and I just saw these temperatures for cardinal tetra and must say: this is wrong.
I am quite sure that you have wild cardinals (as tank breed are very few and almost only available in Europe), and wild cardinals come from an average of 28 degress centigrades 24-25 is much to low and they will hardly feel and eat well. I was just in November again collecting cardinals in nature and the temperatures were 28 in average and the lowest 26 (early morning).

So please ajust it and you will have happy fishes (if the biotope is also nature-like).

Best regards

Heiko Bleher
www.aquapress-bleher.com
www.aqua-aquapress.com

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## spgan

Hi, I have a tank of about 40 neon tetras and with temperature around 24/25 degrees as well. When feeding, these tetras simply go crazy with the fish food. Hope your cardinals can do well soon.

- joegan.

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## moonwalker

hi Bleher, I am not sure my cardinal haven't adapted to the new temp or not, but they still eat very little. But it s ok, I will ship them to another tank which doesn't have any CRS, can keep at a little bit higher temp.
Thanks a lot for your help

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## Heiko Bleher

Hi,

good. Also have a look at the habitat of the cardinals at: www.aquapress-bleher.com and go the Latest News and
Expedition Aracá.

Also: I think several magazines will soon bring my long articles on all four neon tetras (including the new species I discovered recently). There you find all the water parameters, distribution, etc.

Keep an eye on temperature and pH. And maybe try to change the food also.

Best regards

Heiko Bleher

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## xaine

Hi Heiko,

It must have been a great expedition you have there in Brazil. Having to see the cardinal tetras in the original environment. It is an eye opener for us to have a chance to experience that.
Nice pictures.

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## Heiko Bleher

Hi, Xiane,

next time you come with me. I go several times each year (since 1965...), and not only to the Amazon...
Next to Amazon expeditions are in August and September (before Russia, Sierra leone, New Guinea, Tajikistan, China, Canada...)

Thanks and all the best

Heiko

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## moonwalker

hi, I shipped the cardinal to a new tank, with a fan on during photo, but now they still eat very little...almost don't want the pellet betta food. I feed them with frozen blood worm, still the same...
any idea what going on? the ph i think is around 6.5, the new tank got ada africana....
another thing is my tetra very shy, each time I come close, they all hide behind the wood and plant...
thanks a lot

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## Heiko Bleher

Hi,

I am not sure waht is happening to your cardinals. Surely you should feed them with flakes (not blood worms) and also, if they still do not eat, do the following:
take a hard boiled egg and peel it. Take only the hard yellow inside (the eggyolk) and let it sit dry for an hour or so. Than screen it through a fine tea net (wire screen tea-filter, or whatever you call it), so the yellow eggyolk comes out in very tiny round balls. And those you take between two fingers and feed the cardinals slowly with it. But do NOT place in much, just what you can hold between two fingers and look if they eat it.

Normally that is the best food for cardinals and used by the best exporters in Manaus. I have teached them this, as it comes close to what most cardinals eat in nature: the yellow meat of the palmfruit Burity... (see also in my book). And normally if they do not eat well, or at all, they will always take on the eggyolk.

You surely will have success with it.

Best regards

Heiko Bleher


\

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## moonwalker

Hi, Heiko
Thanks for your help again, such great info you have there :Wink: 
I tried it yesterday, the cardinals did take some, good sign though, but not as much as i expected :Sad: , today I feed some more, but they still take very little...
I saw your post in another thread said that shouldn't keep cardinal together with shrimps? will it affect the cardinals a lot? because previously, I kept them in my old tank, with shrimps and moss etc...they ate quite well..
My new tank also has some shrimps, 8 pieces only and the tetra, that's all. There is no sign of illness, the coloration is still very good. :Confused:

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## rogerboi

upon reading this thread .. i have 50 neon tetras in my 4 * 1.5 *1.5 tank and the temperature is 31 degrees celcius .. they are doing real fine .. however, i am considering to put in cardinals ... Can i assume that cardinals can thrive in this temperature as my neons are able to?

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## Heiko Bleher

Hi,

just a fast easter note: Happy easter. Here in Italy we eat agnello = Lamb

Anyhow, the question is: why does anyone have to have the temperature at 31 degrees Celcius? You spend energy (which you must pay for I guess) and the fish metabolism goes much faster (and lives a shorter life...). 

Think about it. And better not to mix cardinals and neons together, as both live in different environments and do not mix well.

Shrimps, if they are small size shrimps, why not.

And feed more eggyolk to the cardinals, little more everyday and you will have great results.

Best regards

Heiko Bleher
wwww.aquapress-bleher.com

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## az_jedi7

Hi Heiko,
I've mix cardinals & neons for sometime now. They school at times. When you say they do not mix well, do you mean they'll end up dying, sharing diseases or getting stressed?

Thanks

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## Heiko Bleher

Hi,

cardinal tetra lives in different habitats than neon tetra, and complete different water parameters, that is why I suggest not to mix them. I do not think they will die living together in your tank, I just suggest not to do it. Neon I would mix with Petitella georgia and cardinals with Hemigrammus bleheri, as those live together respectively and both form excellent group and you enjoy it much more.

Also: with cardinal tetra you can mix P. simulans, as these are the only neons which live in same places with cardinals.

Best regards

Heiko Bleher
www.aquapress-bleher.com

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## warrenlee

the singapore LFS owner told me my cardinal will die if I use the chiller with set temp 24 degree.

Is this true ? because I want to get some CRS shrimp

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## joydiv

It is simply not true! From my experience, cardinal tetra do just fine at that kind of temperature. I keep mine in 24/ 25 degree tank... proper acclimatisation is the key.

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## apistomaster

Believe and heed Heiko Bleher's advice regarding keeping the Paracheirodon spp of the Cardinal/Neon types.
Neons do bests at a lower temperature than Cardinal need. Neons kept in warmer water will have shorter lives and the inverse is true of Cardinals kept inwater that is too cool. They are each adapted well to a specific habitat.

My personal favorite in the group is P. simulans, the Green Neon. They are a much smaller species than Cardinals but they thrive in much warmer water than P. innesi.

There is a world of difference between keeping fish alive vs keeping fish to thrive.

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## Heiko Bleher

Hi,

this is Heiko and I wanted to underline what Larry (Apistomaster) said: Cardinals come from warmer temperatures than Neon Tetras. There is a difference of 2-3°C (lower in neon) normally in average. But it is also true, if you acclimatise Cardinal at say 25°C they probably will be ok, but live a little shorter life-span. P. simulans live in many places together with Cardinals, in the same habitat. Just found both again in one swampy pool in the upper Aracá last year. Black water and pH only 3.7, temperature was 28.5°C as it was shady, but in some parts up to 29.5°C.

All the best from a collector,

Heiko Bleher
www.aquapress-bleher.com

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