Cardinal Tetras

[prabir1005]

Hi looking to purchase cardinal tetras as tankmates for my discus tank. Live in the Atlanta area. Could you please suggest stores or other retail where I can get them from ?

Thanks in advance.

[Willie]

Depends a lot of how many you're looking to get. If you're doing 50 or less, than your LFS is the best bet. Fish are just starting to come in from the Amazon and the early batches have the highest survival rates. If you're doing more, then you can consider getting them from Snook21 (Aquabid). They're down in Florida so the shipping should not be a killer.

In either case, consider giving the fish a quarantine tank and feed with bbs for a week. None of the fish get fed from the time they're caught in the river to the time they get to the LFS, and maybe to when they get to you. Most fish can handle a 30-day fast but tetras don't have a lot of reserves. A week of fattening up will do wonders for your survival rate.

Willie

[dornblaser]

Echoing Willie most Cardinals sold are wild-caught, they are very fertile in the wild but less so domestically. Most importantly the harvesting of Cardinals tetras supports indigenous people.

[NCHornet]

Many are having success with tank raising them nowadays but most do come from the wild still. I wouldn't buy them from chain stores as they basically over crowd them like feeders. I just purchased 120 from Jack Wattley Discus and the quality was excellent. Email or call them, ask for Gabe and tell him Kevin L. from NC sent you. He gave me a nice discount for buying so many. I would have paid full price for the quality I received. I got 8 juvenile Discus from him yesterday that are actually insane the colors they are showing at just 2.5". Take Care.
NCH