Cardinal tetra question

[Jhoussock]

Always stocked my discus tank with rummy tetras but after some time decided I wanted a dozen cardinals instead of rummy. After a week of waiting my fish came in. I'm already down to 6 in just four hours! I have 5 5" discus that never ate any rummys however they are haveing a field day with the cardinals. The cardinals are definitely smaller but before I go ordering jumbos online and spending way more than I planed I wanted to make sure size is really the problem. If I get some big cardinals should this fix the problem or do discus usually eat the heck out of cards. Also anyone have a reasonable online store to order some bigger cardinals?

[disfish]

I have a discus that has a taste for cardinals too. It will eat both small and jumbos but will not touch rummynoses. There are 2 left in the tank that it will not touch for some reason. Thought about trying one more time but I have a feeling I would just be buying live bait.

[William1]

I had an interesting scenario where one discus spent most of a day and half chasing cardinals but never caught one. My experience with cardinals is they always seem to dwindle as time goes buy. Some get eaten, some just can't hang and I'll notice one missing. I've tried several times to have a group of twenty or so, I have five left. I had eleven six months or so ago. Once they are big, like my five, they are very hardy. Problem is, out of two dozen to start off with, in a years time you may have only a half dozen. I've thought about getting more. Probably will, but not a priority.
It sounds like your guys have a taste for them. Not much you can do about that. Try jumbos I guess, but that could be an expensive experiment. I've got eleven Rummies too. They are a tad hardier and don't get eaten. Great fish Rummies. I also have fifteen pristellas that I bought to cycle the tank. Like those guys a lot. You don't lose any and they are nice active fish.
Tough dilemma you have. Good luck with your sharks.

[anngocta]

I had the same issue before. I had about 15 neons in a tank with 2 4.5" discus. I was fasting them for a day so I could change their food to a dry food. But they decided to make dinner out of the neons instead.

[Keith Perkins]

People swear by this sponsor (John, SNOOKN21) as having great jumbo cardinals, when he has them available. I'd suggest checking with him.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?181-SNOOKN21-s-Wild-Discus-Freshwater-Tropicals-(John)-Fort-Myers-Florida

[Poppa Ryno]

Just got 200 from John (snookn21). Excellent suggestion as i have not lost a 1.

[DatDiscusDude]

Brain from Discus n more - also a sponsor here has some very nice, healthy and robust cardinals. They are not of the Jumbo variety just yet but I don't see why they will not be in a few months time based on their big appetites and overall health and activity.

Someone made a good point to me, they said they prefer younger smaller albeit healthy cards over the bigger of the batt guys because they will live a lot longer.

That being said, I understand your fear that they will become a snack, but if anyone is looking for some nice cardinals, give Brian a chance. Really nice guy to work with, great customer service!

[DISCUS STU]

I have a very crowded, planted tank full of both Cardinals and Black Tetras, about 7 full grown Discus in a 55 gal., and they aren't interested in eating any of them.

I'd like to think that it's because they're so well fed, or overfed, but I've never really had this issue. My fish eat ravenously but just seem too lazy to bother expending the energy to hunt. There's also about 7 Cory Sterbais.

[zenone]

I also got 100 cardinals from John last year, not jumbo size though, about 80 left in a 125 planted tank. Some just don't make it.

[pitdogg2]

Over the years i have had great luck with the tank bred german cardinals and rummy nose. Can be expensive but worth it in the long run. Problem with cardinals is at night they settle down and sleep on the bottom moreso than rummies. Easy pickin's for Discus to snatch up.