20 cardials in new 40 gallon?

[jcgd]

With my fish club I am ordering 20 cardinal tetras at 65 cents US each for my 40 gallon.
I this too many fish to add at one time? I can seed the tank with media from my aged 20 gallon. They will arive next week.

[bharada]

When my 40 gal tank was a week old (three months ago) I added 2 chinese algae eaters, 5 Schwartzi corys, and a few guppies. A week later I added 8 Rummynoses and 10 Cardinals. Except for the CAEs I still have all these early additions. But I planted heavily from the very beginning so there was no conventional cycling time. Ammonia and Nitrite was at 0 from the third day on and adding the fish never caused a spike of any kind.

If your tank isn't fully established then that many Cardinals at once could be dicey, if only because Cardinals are a delicate fish in a newly setup tank. Even in a fully established tank I would expect some losses with freshly delivered fish. I tried adding a second set of 10 Cardinals from a LFS that had them out for only a day or so. Bad decision as I ended up losing 6 out of the 10. At least you'd be out only $.65 each, but it's never easy to accept the losses.

[John P.]

Originally Posted by justincgdick

With my fish club I am ordering 20 cardinal tetras at 65 cents US each for my 40 gallon.
I this too many fish to add at one time? I can seed the tank with media from my aged 20 gallon. They will arive next week.

What fish club is that? I can only get them locally for ~$2/each.

[GDominy]

Heh.... Cardinals are almost $6 each where I live...

[aquaverde]

I think bharada is on the money. With it being Cards, I would want to get them into an established tank. They don't travel well to begin with. If the tank is heavily planted, it shouldn't be an issue, the plants will suck up the ammonia. If you insist on doing this, by all means seed the filter with mulm/media from an established tank, and that should be some great insurance against trouble.

If I could get Cards at that price, I'd buy twice what you have. Love those fish.

[anonapersona]

I wouldn't skip quarantine with them.

I recall reading on APD something about cardinals often having something, that was easily treated. Might have been flexibacter, which I researched when the cories I had shipped in fell ill so badly. I lost over 50% of the skunk cories as I couldn't use most of the suggested treatments. Though I will say that massive water changes helped and Melafix stopped the dying as soon as I added it. Do a search on APD and maybe you will see the post I am recalling.

[anonapersona]

I have seeded newly set up tanks with bacteria from old tanks many times and I find the tank is fully cycled in a day.

I just added 23 1" discus to a new 20 Long tank after squeezing out the sponge from the big planted tank into the water. It would be best to do it a day before the fish arrive so the mess clears up, gets sucked into the filters. In a barebottom tank with sponge filtration, I did siphon up the floor of the tank a few times as it settled.

To run the Q tank, you want to keep it barebottomed and super clean. If the fish have anything, it may be falling off as cysts or something that might be consumed by the other fish or might hatch out in a few days, best to vac daily if you can stand it. Most fish are terribly stressed and some are damaged from teh shipping, the slime coat has been hurt, open sites for bacteria and parasites. Calm conditions, no other fish with territory issues, massive fresh water, a bit of Melafix, and constant vac'ing of the bare tank can cure most ills.

You do not want to have something started in the community tank that takes out half the new fish and half the old fish.

[corigan]

Originally Posted by anonapersona

You do not want to have something started in the community tank that takes out half the new fish and half the old fish.

This is the truth. I have added many fish into one of my aquariums unquarantined, and I feel like I've dodged so many bullets that I am lucky. I now have a quarantine tank and make sure to use it.

Matt