Drew 43920

I want to get a school of tetras. Either Neons or Cardinals. I have a 55 G. with 3 BA tetras, a C. Pleco, and 4 B. Corys. Java Ferns, MTS, and shrimps.
Which type of tetra would you recommend ??
Drew

pinkfloydpuffer

I like cardinals alot better. They have more color and are immune to the 'neon tetra disease'. They also get a little bit bigger.

NaCl

I agree with Pinkfloydpuffer. The Cardinals are more colorful, especially when they school.

Sue

Drew 43920

Your word is good enough for me. Thanks

pinkfloydpuffer

Sheesh, I hope I'm not a man! My momma would have been lying to me for years!


You're welcome

momo9700

Whats neon tetra disease? Inbreeding?

cerianthus

NTD, not just limited to Neons but Cardinals are vulnerable as well as experienced but do agree Cardinals arebit prettier with deeper/brighter Red/ Blue noen colors.
Pathogen which cause NTD has not been verified and confirmed but seems related to exposure to foul water condtion 9shipping stress factors. When purchasing Neons and/or Cardinal, just observe the tankful of fish. If happens to see lots of indivual hanging on top even w/o pale spot on dorsal area, suspect possible NTD. Dont buy any from that tank yet. Go back few days later talked to staff ,since could have removed hanging ones prior to your visit, to find out on their progress that is if this is LFS you trust.
Just remember to watch BA Tetra as they can take few chunks out of neon/Cardinals tail.

agabr123

+3 or whichever number we're on, lol

xfish

Hmmm. I've read in some books that neons were "long-lived" and could "tolerate a wide range of water parameters" (but cannot tolerate dirty water)... while cardinal tetras were supposedly tough to keep alive ("popular but not the easiest to keep"). Is this not the experience others have had?

catfishtabbi

I've read the same, that the care level has been changed to med/difficult. Which probably means good water quality and low pH fluctuations. So after having the same neons for 2years/two tanks my next schoal will be cardinals.

xfish

For neons or cardinals?

Ricardo_NY1

NTD should not be a deciding factor in a choice between neons and tetras. It's quite rare...........not like ICH or something. Take a look in the tank of where you're buying and look for signs of it. If you see any, don't buy.

Cardinals do have the better colors, but neons display more interesting behaviors and are more fun to watch, especially in the mornings when they are most active. You'd have to have kept both species to notice this.

I would not consider either difficult, not even medium. The issue with these fish is acclamation. The better of an acclamation process you deliver for them, the better. After basic water parameters are met, the acclamation process is everything to the survival of these fish. Done wrong, and they will drop like flies in the course of days or weeks. Here is how I do it, and my losses have been next to none..........

Firstly, I use an air line valve that has a knob to regulate airflow. I put this in between the air line to restrict the water flow to a mere trickle. Demand that the clerk put in a good amount of water. You're paying, you're in charge. Don't let them skimp.

When you get them home, empty everything into a container. I use any of my spare 2.5 gallon tanks (Sometimes I have to tilt them at an angle), but any clean container that will hold triple or more the amount of water they came in will do.

Place the container near the tank, bring in your line with the valve and begin the drip process. You want the water flow to be restricted to mere drops. Nothing more than a trickle of 2 drops per second type of thing. Doing it this way gradually brings the water and tank's temperature into the container. You'd want two or more parts of water to the one they came in.

While the drip is in progress, feed whatever fish are in the tank and after you place them in the tank, it should be lights out or you can cover the tank for less light.

Maybe some people do it differently, but this is how I've done it and it works. I do it for all my fish and shrimps. I have both cardinals and tetras.


I'd go with the neons, but both are beautiful fish.

xfish

I was wondering about that, actually. So it's not common enough to worry about? i.e., if you've got an established tank and not adding any more fish, you don't need to be constantly on the lookout for it in case it might just randomly show up? I was considering cardinal tetras just because of their NTD immunity but preferred neons just because I can fit more in due to them being smaller. It's just worrisome online because the aquarists who do get hit with NTD tend to post questions on how to deal with it, so it looks like it could be widespread.

Another thing I read about cardinals is their sensitivity to pH as they need soft water; whereas neons can take a nice range of water. It really does sound like neons are hardier once they are both acclimated, except for the little fact that if one of them comes down with NTD, it could potentially wipe out your whole tank?

(Off topic - What other fish are immune to NTD?)

ATP

I prefer Neons better. I like their fins and their shape.

When I bought 5 and put them in a quarantine. 1 was acting weird after a few days. It had symptoms of Neon Tetra disease. Later, all of them died unfortunately. I got new ones though, and they were healthy.

pepetj

I've read that Cardinals are quite more delicate than Neons. If you happen to have stable water parameters and a good maintenance routine you probably will be able to keep them. They seem to prefer slightly acidic, soft water for what I know.

I also consider the Cardinals prettier than the Neons. I do keep a school of 20 Neons and they are beautiful fish that usually hide if uncomfortable with tankmates.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

gt-ere

I prefer neons as they aren't as big as cardinals and don't grow much, also mine seem to be more playful. But before a few of my neons had a big white puffy lump on their head, on a few of them it seemed to go away, but one sadly died.

Fish_wise_man

I have both Cardinals and Neon tetras in my 125 gallon tank. I have a bunch of other fishes too that are I guess "dwarf" species or just small tetras.

So Cardinal tetras grow a lot bigger than the Neon Tetras and by far, they have very rich color. The Neon tetras just shine when the aquarium light is shinning on them. Although neon tetras aren't as immune to diseases, but the Cardinal tetras are for some reason of which i do NOT know of. So they can be housed with Hatchet fishes, and angels (when they are small and when the angels are introduced into the tank LAST) So I just recently brought in two small angels today, but I am keeping them in quarantine for one day. So then after that I will put them in a new bag and then I will leave them to soak in my 125 gallon tank, and then I will add them in.

Since I am not going to be adding any more new fishes in probably for a LONG time, then I will be putting in the Angels last, and that should probably get the angels to not be as aggressive as they might've been if I introduced them into my fish tank first. Although the angels are voracious eaters, and they will get big but I have some tanks that are filled with water, live plants and a good filter, and that should help me keep the water clean until I put in the (soon to be) large angel fishes in a year or so when they get bigger than my tetras