Jump to content

Cherries with Cardinals -- yay or nay?


Puddles

Recommended Posts

Setting up a Sulawesi tank for just Cardinals, no other types. Going to have some rabbit snails in there. I would like to have some neos in there as well, I think it would be fun and there are rumors on the internet that they can act as "dither" shrimp and encourage Cardinals to be less shy and more readily eat prepared foods.

 

On the other hand, I have also heard that they don't due well in Sulawesi conditions, I would assume because of the temperature. I think using 7.5 Sulawesi mix, all the parameters will be great for neos except yes the temp will be a bit high. Does anyone have experience in this matter, if it worked or didn't, why not, etc?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a tank of Sulawesi cardinals for approx. 18 months.  When I first got them they all died....next time I had a bit more experience with them and they did well, but I never could find them without a light...they hid real well, very frustrating to have such a pretty shrimp and never get to see it. 

 

One day I decided to try some moss in my tank, which up to now had only bare lava rocks and caves.  Unknown to me I had a hitchhiker in the moss that I put in the Sulawesi tank....I was looking in and there sitting on a rock was a baby yellow Neo!  I thought for sure it would die from the heat and high PH, but it survived and was constantly wandering around....then I noticed something unusual...I started to see my Cardinals more and more out in the open.   So I popped a few more yellow adults in the tank and within a week I had a lovely sight of red and yellow shrimps eating happily on an algae wafer.  The yellows remained and bred and my Cardinals bred several times, so it seems the Neos can and do adapt to many conditions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a tank of Sulawesi cardinals for approx. 18 months. When I first got them they all died....next time I had a bit more experience with them and they did well, but I never could find them without a light...they hid real well, very frustrating to have such a pretty shrimp and never get to see it.

One day I decided to try some moss in my tank, which up to now had only bare lava rocks and caves. Unknown to me I had a hitchhiker in the moss that I put in the Sulawesi tank....I was looking in and there sitting on a rock was a baby yellow Neo! I thought for sure it would die from the heat and high PH, but it survived and was constantly wandering around....then I noticed something unusual...I started to see my Cardinals more and more out in the open. So I popped a few more yellow adults in the tank and within a week I had a lovely sight of red and yellow shrimps eating happily on an algae wafer. The yellows remained and bred and my Cardinals bred several times, so it seems the Neos can and do adapt to many conditions.

Thanks for sharing! I'm having the same problem with cardinals hiding. I think I'll put a few neos in there to try it out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had cherrys and yellows hitchhike in on moss into my sulawesi tanks.  They did well....a little to well (I still haven't been able to remove all the cherries since they keep breeding in there).  I didn't notice they helped make my sulawesi's any less shy though

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I couldn't believe it either at first, but I finally figured out that because the yellow didn't seem bothered by my looking at it with a magnifier, it made them feel more safe.  Before they would just drop back under rocks etc when I did this and that was all I got to see of them was the little white feet.

 

After a week or so they started venturing out into the open (down by the front of the tank where the algae wafer was) and once they were comfortable with me standing there, they just ignored me and went about their business of grooming the rocks for biofilm.

 

I got to enjoy seeing the tiny baby replicas sitting out in the open with a yellow neo beside it.....cool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...