Increasing the family

L and I acquired 5 Cardinal Tetras to increase the Cardinal school in the tank, which has slowly been dwindling due to the ravages of time. We also bought 5 Golden Zebra Danios so that we can have a few fast moving fish swimming around the tank amongst the slowish Tetras.Hopefully they will also swim close to the surface as we feel that area of the tank is a bit empty at the moment.

Tank Pictures

A few pictures of the tank

 General look and feel, including the new Penguin Tetras

Penguin Tetra swimming next to the new Cryptocoryne wendti shoot

Plant Growth

The Broad-leaf Amazon Sword has had some plant growth in the last few weeks and has started to loose some of its older leaves. The Cardinal Tetras still love to hang around the plant regardless of its state. Must remind them of home, as both the plant and the fish come from the Amazon river.

Beginning of plant growth with all adult leaves

Young leaves growing well, but adult leaves turning brown

Close up of brown leaves and new leaves

Bigger Babies

Since my last post, the babies have grown considerably. Some are bigger than others. Not sure if this indicates sex, as I have noticed that the female adults are bigger than the males, or the bigger ones are those that are just quicker at getting the food. I am thinking of releasing the babies into the tank in a week or two, as the breeding trap is starting to get a bit crowded and the baby Mollies are nearly as big as the smallest Cardinal Tetra.

7 of the 8 wanting their food

Siamese Fighter watching his meal get bigger

Mom sucking the babies food through the gaps

New Arrivals

Yesterday L and I went and bought 6 more Cardinal Tetras. We felt that we needed more of them to fill the middle layer of the tank as it was looking a bit sparse. I was surprised to see that the extra 6 did not make much of a difference to the group, as they have blended in with the rest and are a bit smaller than the current ones. Instead of them all swimming around in one big group, the group now occasionally breaks into 2 smaller groups in different parts of the tank. I think increasing the numbers even further will improve the different group sizes and the overall appearance of the tank.

Cardinal Tetra Fact Sheet

Here is a fact sheet of the Cardinal Tetra

Scientific Name	Paracheirodon axelrodi
Family	Characidae
Common Names	Cardinal Tetra
Origin	Northern South America, Venezuela, through Brazil Into Eastern Colombia
Adult Size	5cm
Social	Peaceful, suitable for community tanks
Lifespan	3 - 4 years
Diet	Omnivore, eats most foods
Breeding	Egglayer
pH	4.5 - 7.0
Hardness	2.0 - 8.0 dH
Temperature	24 - 29 C

More Cardinal Tetras

We went and bought six more Cardinal Tetras today. The original plan was to buy four and get two more female Mollies, as the male Molly is constantly harassing the speckled female Molly and ignoring the other two females. I thought this was a bit strange until I discovered that there are two aquarium species of Molly, the Black Molly and the Sailfin Molly. Males are easy to tell apart, one has a small dorsal fin and the other has a long one, but the females all look the same (to me at least). I guess I bought one Back Molly female and two Sailfin Molly females. Once again not doing my research has led to this predicament. As I was perusing the pet shop tank for new females that look similar to the one we currently have, I noticed a dead Molly in the tank. One thing I have learnt from all my research is that never to buy fish from a tank that has a dead fish in, as you do not know what the cause of death was. So we ended up just getting the six Cardinals instead.

Can you spot the new ones?

Bloodworms

Today we went to the local fish shop to get some frozen bloodworms for the guests. I thought it would be a good idea to vary their diet. The bloodworms come in a pack of 30 portions. I popped one portion out and dropped the frozen cube into the tank. It took a while to thaw out and then sank to the bottom of the tank as one big lump of knotted worms. The fish loved them, especially the Danios, Cories and the Cardinals. One Danio ate so much that it's stomach is now exceptionally swollen. Hope this will not cause it any harm.

I think the amount of worms in one portion is too much for the number of fish I have in the tank at the moment. Next time I treat them I will only give them half the amount and also thaw it out before hand so that it can spread around the tank in the current, giving the fish more of a chance to get some, instead of them all fighting over it at one location and the strongest hogging it all to themselves.

I am a bit worried about the last Guppy at the moment. He was not interested at all in the worms and is very lethargic at the moment. I suspect he is not well and might be checking out soon as well.

The King And His Entourage Have Arrived

Today L and I went to our local fish shop to see what they might have and we came home with a Siamese Fighter (Betta splendens) and six Cardinal Tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi), or as I have named them, the King and his entourage. When we bought them they all happened to be in the same tank and Siamese Fighter has the same colouring as the Cardinal Tetras (both have red, white and blue in them)

They appear to be settling in OK. Everyone is busy sorting out the pecking order. The Danios are taking nips at the Siamese Fighter, who either ignores them or just swims away. What is funny is the fact that the remaining Guppy is chasing the Siamese Fighter around and harassing him. It appears the Guppy is quite the bully. I suspect the Guppy is not happy that the Siamese Fighter gets to stay in the penthouse.

Siamese Fighter

Cardinal Tetra