# Cardinal tetra alternatives?



## awood85 (18 May 2013)

Hey all, 

Although my dwarf gouramis, odessa barbs and orange laser cories are brilliantly colourful, none of them really 'pop' or 'flash' under the lights like I know some cardinal or neon tetra would, they all kind of blend in a little or keep under cover in the plants or shadows the majority of the time. 

Are there any other small alternatives to the tetra mentioned which have such an iridescent colouring or 'glow' which would really stand out from the plants.

I was thinking of a small shoal of 8 to 12 max of something pretty small as I'm probably getting near the stocking limit for the tank. 

This is my 125l fluval roma, standard t8 lights, 1200lph external, pretty low tech nowadays, bit of ei ferts very occasionally. 






Current fauna is: 2x dwarf gourami, 8 odessa barb, 2 orange laser cories, 6-8 unknown rasbora (supposed to be chilis but werent) and my two remaining endlers guppies as well as a healthy herd of cherry shrimp. 

Thanks

Adam

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## Ian Holdich (18 May 2013)

Green neon tetras? 

They school really well.


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## Henry (18 May 2013)

My local Maidenhead's had Green Neons. In the tank next to them were some bright orange variety of tetra, of similar size. Both looked lovely and would colour up strikingly.

A bit of a wild card, but I think Cherry Barbs are massively underrated fish. When coloured up properly and competing for dominance/mates, their deep red colour is unmatched in the hobby.


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## Anthony89 (19 May 2013)

What about pencils. Male go a deep red when settled in and they shoal great. I have 5 unfortunately all male. They tend to battle between them but its great to watch. I will be adding some females soon to see how they change.


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## NanoJames (19 May 2013)

Henry said:


> A bit of a wild card, but I think Cherry Barbs are massively underrated fish.


 Henry, you beat me to it! I think these guys are great fish and an added onus is that they can breed in the home aquarium!


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## awood85 (19 May 2013)

Thanks everyone for your suggestions...  I've never really thought about pencils,  I'll have to have a closer look at some. 

I've always liked the cherry barbs but I already have a bit of red with the odessas so I'm looking for something a bit different. 

Is there anything that may be hiding at my lfs that doesn't look great in the shop but colour up well once settled? My odessa were very drab in the shop but look stunning now. I only noticed them because there was a tank at last year's aquatics live with some in full colour. 

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## NanoJames (19 May 2013)

Dwarf cichlids? Stuff like _Apistogramma_ and _Ram_ do OK in a community set up and can display really nice colour.


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## Lindy (20 May 2013)

I ilke lampeyes. They're greyish but have an irridescent 'lamp' above the eye. They keep a pretty tight shoal too, especially when someone is near the tank. Makes for a lovely sight and happiest in large shoals, I have 15 in my 54ltr.  A hood is a must as they jump.


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## roadmaster (10 Jun 2013)

I might try different color spectrum to get more color from fishes.
Combination of 6700 K /10,000K or 6500 K,/ 8,000K bulb's produce best result's for me.
10,000 K bring's out the blue color's of fishes for me, and 8,000K seem to highlight the red's in fishes.


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## DrRob (10 Jun 2013)

If you're lacking sparkle and flash, how about the diamond tetra?


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## Pinkmummy79 (11 Jun 2013)

NanoJames said:


> Dwarf cichlids? Stuff like _Apistogramma_ and _Ram_ do OK in a community set up and can display really nice colour.


 I'm in exactly the same situation  my 260 is in dire need of some sparkle, nanojames, do Apisto's require any special care? with pressurised co2 my ph is 7, and live food?? I've got a local shop who gets the double reds in quite often and have considered them before but always presumed they needed specific care.
ta


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## NanoJames (11 Jun 2013)

Pinkmummy79 said:


> I'm in exactly the same situation my 260 is in dire need of some sparkle, nanojames, do Apisto's require any special care? with pressurised co2 my ph is 7, and live food?? I've got a local shop who gets the double reds in quite often and have considered them before but always presumed they needed specific care. ta


 
Hi mate
Apistos can be fine I community tanks as long as conditions are stable. They would also enjoy a low PH of about 6.5 but it doesn't mater too much if you can't manage that. They also benefit from leaf litter e.g. Indian Almond leaves. With Blue Rams, live food is taken well and helps with colours but is not vital as most tank bred specimens will take flake and pellet food no bother. That reminds me, try and make sure you are getting tank bred and not live caught as the latter are very susceptible to disease and may not take processed food. Also, don't keep them with shrimp as in my experience they quite enjoy a bite of shrimp now and again! Any other questions just ask!
Cheers


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## justissaayman (12 Jun 2013)

Black neon tetra or diamond tetra. 

Why not cardinals if I may ask? I recently put mine into a much larger tank with lower ph water and live food and they are all about 3-4cm now, so huge and very brightly coloured. 

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## Pinkmummy79 (12 Jun 2013)

NanoJames said:


> Hi mate
> Apistos can be fine I community tanks as long as conditions are stable. They would also enjoy a low PH of about 6.5 but it doesn't mater too much if you can't manage that. They also benefit from leaf litter e.g. Indian Almond leaves. With Blue Rams, live food is taken well and helps with colours but is not vital as most tank bred specimens will take flake and pellet food no bother. That reminds me, try and make sure you are getting tank bred and not live caught as the latter are very susceptible to disease and may not take processed food. Also, don't keep them with shrimp as in my experience they quite enjoy a bite of shrimp now and again! Any other questions just ask!
> Cheers


Cheers james, I'd rather not inflict carnage on my herd of shrimps so as I rather like Cardinals and my lfs is getting a fresh supply of xl fish from Czech this week, I think my mind is made up, oh and he also has some rather nice cory adolfoi in too


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## NanoJames (12 Jun 2013)

Pinkmummy79 said:


> Cheers james, I'd rather not inflict carnage on my herd of shrimps so as I rather like Cardinals and my lfs is getting a fresh supply of xl fish from Czech this week, I think my mind is made up, oh and he also has some rather nice cory adolfoi in too


 No bother mate! Although some shrimp would probably make it out, you would find that you had a fast declining population... I certainly had some nail biting moments when shrimp tried to stand up for themselves!


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