2lucky

My cardinals are in a tank with small angelfish, dwf gourami, mollies and a BN.
I have the water to their like - fairly soft, and all other params are in check. So they are all fine and happy, they move around the tank etc.

Just one prob: when it comes to feeding they dont come to the top, do the other fish scare them? I have to put the food into the water so it sinks for them to eat it. I'm getting concerned that this is going to produce to much waste. Originally I only had 4 and I thought that was the reason so I want and got 6 more so now they have a big school, still scardy cats though.
So what can i do?
Thanks

sirdarksol

They tend to be middle swimmers, and the angelfish may be scaring them away, as angels can be pretty aggressive eaters. Have you tried feeding the angels first, and while they're busy at one end of the aquarium, put food at the other end for the cardinals?

Aries

Well how long did you wait till you started putting the food farther down for them to eat? They will eventually start coming to the top. The angel might eat them when it gets older. Do you have future plans to move them around? The cardinals may have been eating what was already getting pushed down by the filter too.

capekate

My Cardinal tetras never go to the surface to eat either. They pretty much stay at the bottom of the tank and wait for food to drop. They never swim much higher than mid tank during the day, and most times are spent in the lower half swimming around the plants and decorations. I always think they are not getting any food, but after almost two years with the remaining few I have, I know they are eating. These guys are so small they find food that has dropped to the gravel.
As far as your Angel eating the cardinals, I guess it will really depend on the fish itself. I kept my adult Angel fish with the cardinals and never had any problems with them.

sirdarksol

Another thing to add is that you may want to get slow sinking granules/wafers (OmegaOne is a great food, if you can find the slow-sinking stuff, otherwise, Hikari makes sinking micro-wafers that work well). These make up the majority of what I feed my community, to make sure that the more timid fish get fed, too.

mikki

I have noen tetras and glowlight tetras they do not come to the top either. What i found out is they like to hang about on the bottom and they eat at the bottom. I have only noticed them going to the top if they are really hungry but it is only to get a few bites then they are away back to the bottom.

Aries

You re totally right. This is definitely up for debate with hobbyist who have cardianls missing and those whose angels wont eat anything. It seems that if the angel grows up in the tank with them there is a better chance that they wont get eaten. But no guarantee. Then this is the case anytime you have a torpedo shaped fish and another fish big enough to eat them LOL

2lucky

Hmmm.. well I've had the angels in with them since they were tiny so I thought it would be alright. And I've heard of angels eating neons but I thought I was doing the right think mixing them coz cards are bigger...

Thanks for the replys, well they are eating when it sinks, and its reasurring that other peoples tetras do it aswell
I think I might get a school of corys to hoov up any food.. what do you think?

agabr123

cories are a great addition! definitely make sure that you get at least 6 of them though (depending on the size of your tank, did i rightly assume that this is the 107 gallon?), as they LOVE to be in schools. if you want even more than that, you can get the pygmy cories, they only get up to an inch and a half as opposed to two or two and a half inches. personally my favorites are panda cories, but there are SO many different varieties.

David593

Same here. They justwait for food to fall, i even watch them eat the food, so they are getting enough. So far all the tetras I have had, tend to stay in the middle/bottom of the tank and wait for food to fall. Especially my rumm-nose. They literally are like a quarter of an inch from the bottom of the tank. They like it down there.

DarenHowells

Hi there,

My Cardinals also only eat in the middle to lower end of the tank.

What I have started doing when feeding fish flakes is pre-soaking them in a bowl of tank water so they are ready to sink when they are added to the tank. Some float for the Platys and Lemon Tetras and the rest sink down quickly where the Cardinals can get to them whilst the others are busy.

I started doing this because I was concerned the top feeders may eat dry flakes that would swell in their tummys and potentially affect their swim bladders (I have a Lemon in the hospital tank now swimming on his head).

CoryMac

try to feed them with the light off my neons & cardinals tend to come out more to eat with the light off, neons are nocturnal.

Tom

My cardinals never go to the surface, they just wait for the food to go to them. The only time I've seen mine go to the surface for food is when there is a feeding frenzy going on and the food is one of the many frozen foods I feed them.
Tom

kirsty0569

mine hang out in the middle and catch the food as it passes! Sometimes I use the stick on glass tablets in the middle of the tank, but they still hang around waiting for the other fish to disturb the tablets and create food clouds...!

cerianthus

Most fish are better off eating sinking food rather than taking gulp of air as they eat from the top. Besides, eating moistened t food is beeter thqan eatng dry food. Has anybody noticed some fish (neons, etc) when they snatch fry flakes form the top, they tend to do headstand in angle for while?