# Cardinals or Neon Tetra???



## LeapingGnome (Apr 15, 2007)

They're about the same. Cardinals will be a little bigger and a little redder. The neons will probably school a little more than the cardinals.


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

IMHO Cardinals grow larger and have a much better appearance.
however you may loose a few during acclimation as they are not
as hardy as Neon's, nor will they school as often as Neon's do.
of course, results do vary from tank to tank, and fish to fish.

If you want a fish with similar bold coloration that are more
tough, active and tightly schooled, then get Endler's males
that school at all unoccupied uncluttered levels of your tank,
and males are fast enough to avoid getting eaten.

male _Tuxedo color pattern_ and female *Endler's Livebearers*


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## Rod Hay (Feb 11, 2006)

Spypet, thanks for the suggestion on the endler's. However, I actually moved the congos out because I didn't like their bold stripe of orange! I thought it clashed too much with the checkerboards... I want a red and blue theme here, ha, ha! 

Maybe when my current batch of endler's in my 10 g shrimp tank grow out enough to sex, I'll try some of the males in my congo tetra set-up. Do you think they can outswim hungry congo tetras????:icon_eek:


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

Rod Hay said:


> can Endler's... outswim hungry congo tetras?


well, at least it won't cost you anything to find out :tongue: 
and yes, I do understand your need for something blue.

you might want to look at Boehlkea fredcochui or Nematobrycon palmeri
which are small good schoolers with blue/purple and are good at avoidance.
Nematobrycon palmeri are a lot more active than shy Boehlkea fredcochui.
I have Royal Black Emperor Tetras and they don't take crap from nobody,
but in fairness, their blue is only apparent under a certain angle of lighting.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2005)

It's kind of odd, but I find that my cardinals school and my neons don't ...


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## born2lovefish (Dec 29, 2006)

I'm going to try 30 or 50 cardinals in my planted once I get everything ready. I personally believe neons get the neon disease and die out of no where. I'm trying cardinals this time..


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

you might want to mix different tetras together. so many of the same will seem boring after a while, but if you mix a few of the same shape but different stripe colors you may be happier with the results, and they will still school together. I've seen the same cardinal shape and pattern with at least 2 other color variations.


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## oblongshrimp (Jul 26, 2006)

well unless you have something in there that scares them they will stop schooling....my 45 rummynose in my 120gal tank used to school really nicely but now about 6 months later they are all over the damned place. Maybe I need to put something large in there to scare them.


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lounge/38611-terrorize-your-fish.html?


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## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

I've actually never tried neons, but I currently have 8 cardinals and they tend to stay somewhat together, but I wouldn't call it schooling. Now, when I put my hand in there to do a water change, that's another story! 
Keep in mind that cardinals are QUITE delicate, along the lines of rummynose tetras. Just be sure to acclimate them for a long time, keep stable water conditions and you may be ok. After getting through the first week or so, the cardinals colored up nicely and mostly stay in the middle area of the tank, in the back hiding among the plants. Hope that helps.
-Ryan


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## born2lovefish (Dec 29, 2006)

Scrap that 30-50 cardinal idea I had. I just bought 40 neons tonight. I went in to get a new background for my tank and notice they had neons on sale. They just got a new shipment in today and they were doing ok. I figured for 50 cents each I could not pass it up! I would have gotten more, but I did not have any more cash with me!


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

IMO, cardinals are allot nicer, since their colors are allot nicer and a little bigger. Unfortunately, they are usually a little more expensive. There's a guy at SimplyDiscus that sells cardinals for $1 though, which is still far cheaper than most tetras sold around here.


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## LeapingGnome (Apr 15, 2007)

Bought fish the same day they arrived in the pet store?


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## argblarg (Aug 7, 2006)

Yeah I think best time to buy those is the day before a new shipment arrives.


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## snafu (Oct 9, 2004)

spypet said:


> you might want to look at Boehlkea fredcochui or Nematobrycon palmeri
> which are small good schoolers with blue/purple and are good at avoidance.
> Nematobrycon palmeri are a lot more active than shy Boehlkea fredcochui.
> I have Royal Black Emperor Tetras and they don't take crap from nobody,
> ...


the picture looks more like Inpaichthys kerri (note the adipose fin). it's funny...my experiences with the two fish are much different. i've found both the B.fredcochui and N.palmeri not to be very good schoolers. the kerri are probably more likely to school. i would consider both to be fairly aggressive/territorial, but my B.fredcochui being a lot more territorial especially during feeding. also, my B.fredcochui are much more active and are always in a constant state of motion. maybe i got a weird bunch of em. heh. 

i would definitely go with the cardinals (cards vs neons), based on size, coloration, and robustness. it's hard to beat the sight of a nice school of cardinals in good condition.
-snafu


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