PICS-500 Cardinals quarantine ?s

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Hello Folks,
Just got a box of 500 Cardinals.
Wondering if anyone knows the quarantine procedures for this fish. What meds. The no's and don'ts. Any special requirements to acclimate them.

Thank you very much for any help.

Dan

[Willie]

I brought in a box of cardinals about two years ago and here's how I prepped them. Biggest problem is that these fish haven't eaten in about 2 - 3 weeks so they're starving to death.

I dropped them into a 55-gallon tank with soft, warm, basically discus water. The tank had cycled filters going but I added a powerhead to get a lot of agitation to increase dissolved oxygen. The cardinals were fed with live bbs for about a week.

I lost exactly one.

Willie

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Thanks Willie. The box had 3 dead ones when I openned it. Any meds to clean them of parasites. Did you salt them like discus?

dan

[Willie]

I didn't add any salt or any meds. They all lived a long time with my discus. Started losing some after 6 months, so I think it was old age. I wanted mediums and ended up with jumbos.

Willie

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Thanks bro. ;D ;D

Fed them powered beefheart and they ate it with gusto. So I'm happy.

Dan

[Howie_W]

Hey Dan,

That's pretty exciting news! :bounce:

How many are going in the show tank? :o

Howie

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Hi Howie,
My plan is to breed this fish. I have a friend that's been successful breeding Cardinals and he is willing to give up his secrets. ;D ;D

I would probably put 200 in the show tank.

dan

[Howie_W]

Dan,

That sounds great! :thumbsup:

Cardinals have always been my favorite fish to keep with Discus in the community planted set-up.

Please keep me posted on how the breeding goes...in secret of course. :vanish:

Howie

[BGTW]

Me too, Dan!
Bob
India

[billy s]

over the years ive but cardinals in with my discus a few times and the discus always ate them all up, even tried some real big one's they ate them as well, this was a bit pricey so i went back to feeding beef heart lol.

regards billy

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Hi Billy,
I too have had experience with Cardinals in the past and never had any problems with Discus eating them. I currently have approx. 30 cardinals with 4 large discus in a planted tank.

dan

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Here's a pic

[Rick00]

Nice pic..... ;D ;D I've always liked cardinals....

good luck with them...

Rick

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Thank you Rick :)

[Larry Grenier]

Dan,

A little off the topic but that driftwood with the anubias and java fern is very cool.

[Harriett]

Wow, hats off if you can get cardinals to breed in captivity--it's a notoriously difficult process!!

I was taught that cardinals are very sensitive to poor acclimating and that one issue frequently causes a lot of die off, other factors excluded---I have tried a couple of ways and got excellant results from dumping them (and their bag water) into a bucket; then draining off as much water as possible but leaving them enough to get around in. Then set up a drip system of the water in your QT tank down to the bucket. I used airline hose tied with a knot that let out about a drop every few seconds--acclimate for an hour and then fish out the cardinals with a net or your hands and pop them into the QT tank--the slow exchange of water gives a more gentle slope for pH, temp, and other water param changes for these sensitive fish.

The other thing I found is that after the QT was over for the cardinals (6 weeks minimum for me), if they were to go into a discus tank (always!) I would get them into a tank with baby or juvenile discus first---in my tanks if the size discrepency between the 2 species was not SO huge, the discus juvies were less likely to see them as lunch--and when the juvies grew up, they seemed to continue to accept the cardinals peacefully.

Best regards,
Harriett

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Thank you Larry.

Hi Harriet, I think they're a lot like Discus. You can plop them in the tank as long as you're going up on Ph not down.

I placed the bag in the tank and poke holes to allow the water to slowly exchange then cut it open. No deaths. They're eating beefheart and BBS.

[CARY_GLdiscus]

FINE LOOKING FISH! ;)


THATS A GOOD SOURCE ;)

[Howie_W]

Dan,

Great pics! Love 'em!

Each time I see a new pic of the show tank there seems to be more plants and more Discus...great job. Nice healthy looking growth of anubias...another favorite.

I've never had a problem with cardinals...never had to do any special acclimating and always found them extremely hardy with good appetites.

Enjoy!

Howie

[JasonBR]

AWESOME DAN!!!...A good source for Cardinals is sometimes hard to find...I really enjoy the photos...I currently have 50 Cardinals with my Discus...Wish I had 500.


Jason

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Thank you Jason... :)

[limige]

awesome! i had a school i lost to some wild rsg's...the domestics never bothered them...

i was just getting ready to ask cary if he could help me out with a stingray/cardinal order! i was thinking about getting a box of cards as well, kinda expect to loose some and i want a decent school.

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Thanks Limige,
I traded 5 - 4"common discus for the box of 500 from a LFS. The LFS pays $250.00 per box. fair deal. ;)

dan

[samcatj]

Dan

Your school of cardinals looks great.

I am looking for a good source to order a large school of cardinals like you have done. Anyone here know of a place to order some large cardinals at a reasonable price? Any information would be most appreciated.

Samcatj

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Ask your LFS. See if they'll sell you the whole box.

Dan