# Anybody keep Cardinal Tetras at room temperature?



## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

No. Tried it. Ich.


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## end3r.P (Aug 31, 2015)

I've read consistently that they prefer warmer water. Upper 70s to low 80s. My guess is they won't live long at 65 and I don't recommend trying it.


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## Windup (Oct 11, 2014)

I've been keeping a group In a basement hospital tank for about 8-10 months. The tank is heated but the undersized heater keeps the water at 67-68*F


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

I've kept Cardinal Tetras in a unheated tank for over 2 years now and they are extremely healthy. But my room temperature doesn't drop too low during winter because of the house heater. It's surely gotten low as 62*F when it's been really cold and even lower when we would have power outages (no house heat) for a few days (not sure how cold tank water got during). But I'd say it's typically ranged from 67*F-82*F winter-summer. Sometimes summer would get a little bit hotter, but 82*F was the usual high.

As far as activity levels I can't really say because my cardinals are always relaxed just hovering around, but behavior wise they seem to remain the same year-round. They eat well and their coloration has always been top notch (believe me, my cardinals look like high quality strains with how intense their coloration is). In the colder times the red area is a little not as vibrant (right now the tank is at 68*F), but still nice. Mine have never gotten a disease. I actually keep a bunch of other fish species in unheated tanks and the same great results, never had a issue, even with German rams. I haven't noticed a shortened life span either (particularly kept corydoras, guppies, clown loaches, long enough to discern) or any other non-disease health issues.

I don't know what to say. I guess what I feed my fish gives me the great results with how well my fishes' health are, because I really do nothing special, besides a high quality diet variety and over filtration. I overstock (heavily) and slack on my water changes, you would think my fish would be in poor condition, but my nitrogen levels always at safe levels.

Just speaking my experience. Your's may differ greatly. Especially since you do live in different area/climate. Maybe if the tank stays too low for too long, you might have problems.

But if you want to keep cardinals properly, why not just dish out the $25 or so to get a heater? If you have a bunch of tanks, get a room heater. If the fish do die from being too cold, you would be "wasting money" on the dead fish and should have just spent the money for a heater. Get a Eheim Jager heater, they are definitely worth the cost and last a looooonnnnggg time (I have one over a 12 years old!).

Even though I have kept them in unheated tanks with no issues (I do care for my fish and observe them very closely, if I felt they were in poor health I would surely make changes to better their health), I still would not recommend getting them/keeping them in improper conditions. If you want a small cold water fish, get mountain minnows (they like colder water, so winter is fine, but preferred range isn't in the tropical temps, so too hot during summer may not be so great).


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## TheSnipe (Nov 23, 2015)

Cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi) is restricted to clear and black water habitats in Brazil's upper Rio ***** and middle Orinoco in Colombia and Venezuela. Average water temperature ranges from 73° to 79°F. Room temperature? Doesn't seem like a good idea to me.


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