# how many?



## Gilraen Took (Apr 19, 2007)

I'm planning a 20 gallon tall tank for cardinal tetras soon. They'd be the ONLY fish in there most likely. How many would I want to keep in the tank? I was also planning to get some MTS and some ghost shrimp(unless I get a really awesome deal on some coloured ones) for it.


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## freakmonkey1423 (Jan 21, 2007)

Once it is well cycled and if there are many plants, I bet it would hold about 20-30, I have 5 neons and 6 glow lights in my ten they stay in a pretty tight shoal. I would suggest ten at first and add them in pairs until you decide it looks like enough


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## stepheus (Jun 13, 2006)

For me, its important that they have soft and acidic water, very much like the one they have in their original habitat. My batch died one after the other when i had them in hard water.

edit: dread.. i missed the part where you asked "how many" lol. i reckon 20~30 pc.


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

As long as the plants are growing you should be ok with 20 or so. My 20h has 4 Juvenile Keyholes, 2 Bolivian Rams, 2 Flagfish, and 2 Apisto double red males. The bottom of my tank is a total free for all until I actually rip it apart to migrate the Keyholes to the 55.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

You could probalby keep up to 40 or 50 of them if the tank was stable. I wouldn't recommend it though since it would look too crowded for a nice visual effect.

Why not add in a few corries so there is some action at the bottom? They'll help clean up uneaten waste too.


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## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

guaiac_boy said:


> Why not add in a few corries so there is some action at the bottom? They'll help clean up uneaten waste too.


I would save room for two otos, as well! Great algae eaters.


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## Gilraen Took (Apr 19, 2007)

Wowee! And I was thinking 15-20 would be pushing it! Aren't they pretty picky about water conditions? That was why I was thinking to add them as the only fish. I'm off to work, I'll figure out the wording of what I want to ask when I am there and post when I get home


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

I guess there is also the psychological issue. Individual fish would like to have personal space and would not want to keep bumping into each other.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

People keep 3 or 4 angelfish in a 20g tank without too much trouble, but I wouldn't personally recommend it. I guarantee that 40 full-grown cardinals will produce much less waste than even 2 angelfish. It's the mass that counts, not the length of the fish. Do yourself a favor though and stick with the lower end of the theoretical limit. You'll have fewer algae issues and the visual effect is usually superior.


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## Gilraen Took (Apr 19, 2007)

Oh, I definately would not planning on stuffing 40 in there. It'd end up looking like a pet store's overcrowded tanks, and I gave away my oscar because I was sick of the 2x weekly water changes of 75% with creeping nitrates  

I think I could start out with 10 or so and see how they look and add more if they look too sparse, right? That wouldn't be too many. 

What about cory cats now? I thought they needed a decent sized school to be happy as well? How would that work out with the cardinals? I figure that the shrimp would add basically nothing to the bioload, so they'd work, but I know the cats would. Would 3-4 be okay on the bioload with the school of cardinals? (still afraid I'll kill my pretty tetras, since they've never done well for me in community tanks, which is another reason I want to try them by themselves ) Would they be happy in a school that small? I think one of the local stores has peppered ones in all the time. 

Oh, also, while I am at asking questions, would I be better off using my HoB for the tank, or a powerhead only? I'm not planning on adding anything that will need CO2 added. The only time I've ever really used my HoB is for filter floss, or for rocks when I had my salt tank set up. They both move around 120/hour I think.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

I dunno about the corries. People always say you need a bunch of them to keep them properly, but I'm not sure I buy into that completely. I have 9 in a 180g tank that sort of loosely hang out together once in a while. Usually they act more like individuals. I think 3 would be fine in a tank that size. You can always go with one of the smaller varieties.


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

Adragontattoo said:


> As long as the plants are growing you should be ok with 20 or so. My 20h has 4 Juvenile Keyholes, 2 Bolivian Rams, 2 Flagfish, and 2 Apisto double red males. The bottom of my tank is a total free for all until I actually rip it apart to migrate the Keyholes to the 55.


Of course after I say this I completely emptied the tank and removed everyone but the rams and the Apistos.


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## Gilraen Took (Apr 19, 2007)

Okay, I'll see what I can find. I'd really love panda cories, but the only place that ever has those charges close to $10 a piece, and the only other store that orders them gets a completely different species, sooo. . ...


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

I'm not sure what kind of setup you have but I would highly recommend a UV with cardinals. I've had cardinals for a long time and I always lost about 50% during acclimation (yes I did drip and waited sometimes 3 hrs). After the UV my survival rate went up to about 90% under the same conditions. Many LFS don't even stock cardinals because of this. They are very prone to stress and it opens them up to infectation. The UV will eliminate some of that and increase the survival rates. Again this was my experience and depending upon stock quality, etc others might have different survival rates.


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## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

Cardinals are tricky little fish. The stores around here won't stock them either, for the same reason. Our fish club recently did a group order of these fish. The test batch of 100 fish looked dismal--60% of the fish died. . The price was right, however so I went ahead and ordered twice the number of fish to make up for projected losses. This time every fish lived! I think that the group order was for over 300 fish! I now have 20 beauties swimming in my tank. 

As for the cories, check out the pygmy ones. They are so cute. A school of 6 of them would be a perfect complement to 20 cardinals (and two otos  ).


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## Gilraen Took (Apr 19, 2007)

The "tricky" part was why I wanted to keep them solo. To make sure the water is as clean as possible. The store I go to for my marine stuff usually gets good fish in, and I'm sure he'd hold a few for me to qt them and make sure they are healthy. He's got a ton of fish in his tiny 30 planted display(seriously, stopped counting at 30, 2 are discus, 1 is a small plec of some sort) from galaxy rasboras to neons to cardinals to white clouds, ALL in pretty nice sized schools <_<

I seriously doubt I'd be able to get pygmy cories here. It's a hard enough thing to get anything other than "staple" livestock. I'd be waiting for years to get them. . . . .


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