guppy07

I have 6 Cardinals! They seem to be doing great. They are schooling and happy. They mostly hang out at the bottom of the tank and when feeding time rolls around they won't come to the top they just wait for the food to come to them. Anyway, I was wondering if this is normal. I know they are "supposed" to be middle to top. They have been in my tank about a week so maybe they are just getting adjusted to their new home? Just thought I would ask.

susitna-flower

They are eating? Sounds to me like everything is fine. Mine only go to the top when there IS a problem. My school is over a year old, and they live mid to lower portion of the tank. They never come up to eat, just wait till bits of flakes drift down to them.

Tom

If you just got them within the last week, they should be fine. All 12 of mine did that and now they swim closer to the top of the tank but still at the back since my angel is at the front and they are all wild caught. Hope it helps.
Tom

guppy07

very helpful! Thank you !

Tom

What do you feed them?
Tom

guppy07

tom,

currently I am feeding them TetraColor tropicla flakes. I am also serving up omega one freeze dried bloodworms. They seem to dig the flakes but the bloodworms float at the top and they show no interest in coming up to get them. What do you think? Is there something else they would like?

susitna-flower

If they don't eat the freeze dried bloodworms, don't feed them. Any uneaten food will just foul the tank.

Mine like frozen brine shrimp. It may be hard though to feed a small enough amount that they can clean it all up.

guppy07

does frozen brine shrimp sink?

susitna-flower

Yes. Thaw them, and just drop in a small portion at a time. They sink, and the fish can find them. Don't feed more than they eat in 3 minutes. Refrigerate the rest until used. The ones I get are in small cubes, you can actually cut part of the cube off while still frozen, and put the rest back in the freezer.....this works too.

I feed these once a day to each of my community tanks, and all fish seem to enjoy them.

guppy07

SUPER HELPFUL susitna-flower! Thank you so much I will try that very soon. I would like to vary their diet sound like this might be a good way to do that!

susitna-flower

I also feed frozen bloodworms. These sink also, but the cardinals are a bit small for them, unless you can find small ones. The variety I use for small fish are "Bio Encapsulated with multi-vitamins" with stabilized vitamin C. (this is stamped on the back of the package) I don't know if they are advertized as being any smaller, but they do seem to be. You can tell if the fish has a hard time swollowing the bloodworm.

Once again, cut the cube into smaller pieces, and these can be fed a couple of times a week.