# 100 Cardinal Tetras!!!



## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

Gang,

Haven't been on-line in a while, sometime life gets ahead of you (intense training for my 2nd degree blackbelt test is taking about 25 hours a week - on top of 40-50 hours/week for work), BUT


Back in December, I ordered 100 jumbo cardinals and 50 rummy nose for my 55G planted tank from Loren at boxlotfish.com. Because his wholesaler was out of Jumbos cardinals, he sent 200 smaller cardinals instead, along with the Rummy nose.

As fate (or my luck) would have it, the Rummy nose made the trip fine, but the cardinals didn't, and by the next day all but two of the cardinals were dead and whatever was killing the cardinals started in on the rummy nose (I treated the tank with quick-cure and brought whatever pathogen it was to a screeching halt).

I sent an e-mail to Loren, and he asked me to contact him when the weather got better.

Well, I contacted Loren about three weeks ago and got an e-mail last week telling me that my fish were coming in via SWA freight and to pick them up that evening at the airport. I went to the airport that night, and again my luck set in - the package was delayed in phoenix and I could pick it up the following day. I thought "Great - another package of dead fish."

The following afternoon I picked up the package and opened it at the SWA freight counter and to my surprise, over 100 swimming cardinals - and only one dead one on the bottom!

I acclimated the fish that night in a 5G bucket (with a couple of drops of quick-cure) and I haven't lost a single cardinal (or any other fish) since.

I just wanted to let you know, that if you want a spectacular tank full of thriving cardinals (Loren can get you just about anything), that Boxlotfish.com is a credible, honest business that works hard on keeping the customer satisfaction (and the experience) bar very high.

- Jeff


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## Jessie (Apr 23, 2007)

Wonderful! It's always great to hear that a company will do what it takes to satisfy the customer and right any wrong.

Show us some pictures 

And thanks for the referral. I'll bookmark them!


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## ianmoede (Jan 17, 2005)

Thats a pretty heavy fish load for a 55, water change and heavy filtration or heavy stem load should do it though. I have about ~50 cardinals, pair of pearl gouramis, trio of rams, 6 C. Zygatus, and an unknown quantity of otocinclus. I also have a eheim 2026 and 2217.


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## Terra Incognita (Jun 12, 2007)

Wow, this is nice to know. I always looked at their website, and the prices seemed almost too good to be true. But knowing this, it looks like I'll have to put an order in! 95cents for Rummy noses is amazing around here. At my LFS (which has breeder-quality, but crazy prices) is 3 for $11 T___T It's terrible. So this is great, thanks for the info.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

taek, you are lucky they replaced all those DOA's.
at the normal wholesale level, retailers do not get
replacement fish, they simply don't order from that
wholesaler again, or savvy retailers make a friend at
the wholesale level who clues them in on the imported
fish health condition. many don't quarantine and treat
imported fish long enough, since they still make money
if they die on the retailer. buyers should be careful at
the retail level of $1 fish sales as they often occur when
the fish first come in and are likely to die during the
first 48 hours of acclimation especially with cardinals.
while most LPS will replace DOA's, some blame it on the
customer, or the customer blames themselves and don't
bother to claim replacements from the LPS. There is one
store here who's livestock consistently die on me, so
I just stopped shopping there instead of blaming myself.
another LPS gets 400 weekly, and the price actually 
rises the longer he has them in stock. that's just a
few of fish sellers dirty little secrets...


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

Ask any pet store,when they order 100s of cardinals, the die off is unimaginable. Entire boxes of them will arrive dead and or not acclimate and eventually die. 100 fish at once is a lot to buy, I wouldnt recommend doing that unless major QTing is done. I'm not real sure if I agree with an entire site selling "boxlots" of fish to the public anywho. Oh well.


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

all depends on personal cashflow and level of personal risk (vs. reward).

I've always wanted a tank shimmering with cardnials - now I have one. And worked with someone who worked hard to make that happen.

Why people are saying "geez, that's a stupid idea" instead of realizing that not only did I get a good deal, but had great customer service...

Well, it's beyond me (or, what should be, the scope of this thread).


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## Tsquare (Feb 9, 2007)

taekwondodo are you still doing RC? I haven't checked in over there for a while now. Getting ready to sell it all due to health reasons.
Gene


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

taekwondodo said:


> Back in December, I ordered 100 jumbo cardinals and 50 rummy nose for my 55G planted tank


150 in a 55G tank... would that be too crowded for the fish's psychological well being?


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

bartoli said:


> 150 in a 55G tank... would that be too crowded for the fish's psychological well being?


I'm a right winger - I don't think fish have a psychology 

Seriously, they look and behave fine.

Remember, the "inch per gallon" rule is long outdated...


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

Tsquare said:


> taekwondodo are you still doing RC? I haven't checked in over there for a while now. Getting ready to sell it all due to health reasons.
> Gene


Occasionally - just trying to maintain sanity right now.

- Jeff


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

Inch-per-gallon is about biological load. But what I am concerned about is psychological health. When fish become comfortable in a tank, they tend to drift apart to give each other personal space. Would a 55G tank provide enough personal space for 150 individuals?


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## PHalas (Dec 5, 2005)

Some fish particularly the smaller species prefer to school, & in the wild spend a lifetime doing so.
I had a five cardinals & they schooled all the time....just an observation


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

bartoli said:


> Inch-per-gallon is about biological load. But what I am concerned about is psychological health. When fish become comfortable in a tank, they tend to drift apart to give each other personal space. Would a 55G tank provide enough personal space for 150 individuals?


I understood - my point was that "inch per gallon" is a poor rule of thumb - 150" of cardinals/rummies is a whole lot different that 150" of rams/angels/discus.

And they look happier than a pig in snot - and if I could figure out how to attach a 300K picture (anything less I lose the resolution) you could see I could probably add another 100 cardinals... :heh:

- Jeff

lets see if this works:


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

That looks very nice and not as crowded as I first thought. Thanks.

Do you have a picture of them feeding?


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

taekwondodo said:


> I'm a right winger - I don't think fish have a psychology


LMAO


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