When we decide to maintain an aquarium or introduce new fish into it. We must investigate its natural habitat and try to recreate a similar environment. One of the most popular and popular fish in aquariums around the world is the cardinal tetra. Very easily recognizable by its bright red belly.
The natural habitat of the cardinal tetra
The waters of the Negro River in Brazil and the central stretch of the Orinoco , passing through Colombia and Venezuela. Its natural habitat, in streams with a depth of around 30-81 cm they share their space with a lot of other very Known as pencil fish, drunken tetras, breasts or fliers, dicrossus filamentosus, dwarf apistogramma cichlids, and corydoras. They also share their space with predatory fish such as creniclicha, leaf fish, and freshwater barracudas.
Read this article: How to Start a Tetra Tank- Tetra Tank Set up Guide
Choice and care of the cardinal tetra
Once the decision is made to have cardinal tetras in our aquarium. The next steps will be to go to a specialized aquarium store, paying special attention to the following aspects in the election of the new inhabitants of the aquarium:
- Your belly should be convex. If it is concave it is a clear symptom of malnutrition or disease.
- A cardinal tetra that stays still will never be chosen since tetra fish that are always in motion.
- If you see white areas near the dorsal fin or white tips on its tail are fish that suffer from Ich or Flexibacter disease or mouth fungus.
Once we have selected the four cardinals for the aquarium, we will take into account the following advice:
Water care
The quality of the water must be optimal. The temperature should be between 24 and 28 degrees. The day before the introduction of the new inhabitants in the aquarium it is advisable to change 50% of the water.
Aquarium mates
The other inhabitants of the aquarium will be carefully chosen, ensuring that they are not larger than 5 cm and the tetra cardinals will be spared living with predatory fish since they will be easy prey at night.
The best companion of tetra cardinalfish is other tetras. Although they can coexist with the barbs because of their small size, they are very territorial and can compete with the tetra cardinals for food and generate stress. A good choice is that they live with the species with which they are in their natural habitat and do not pose danger to them.
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Feeding
The cardinal tetras are omnivorous tropical fish that must provide them with specific food for them, either in flakes or in granules. In their natural habitat, they feed on worms, small crustaceans, larvae, algae, and plankton.
Providing optimal care, they are fish that can live in our aquarium for 8 or 10 years. Now you just have to enjoy them!
“Aquariumfishblog” also invited you to read this article about tetra fish food: https://pets.thenest.com/tetra-fish-eat-3856.html
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