# Are they really wild?



## Aulonocara_Freak (May 19, 2011)

Hey, I was chatting in the chat room and they were saying that some tetra's are all wild?

Is that true?

If so, What type's???


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

Cardinals for one were always wild caught. There may be some coming from the Far East now, which would be a shame. The 84,000,000 cardinals that were removed from the wild annually helped protect their habitat by providing an income for the people in the area, without the need for removing large areas of rainforest.


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## Aulonocara_Freak (May 19, 2011)

Is that the only wild caught tetra, or is there other's?

How would I go about getting healthy cardinal's?


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

Most tetras these days are captive bred. Cardinals are the only tetras I know that can still be consistently found as wild caught. As for getting healthy ones, start by making sure they've been at the store for at least a month, and have had no major problems; a few fish deaths here and there are fine, as long as there are no mass die-offs. And if you provide optimal conditions for them they should be fine. Other than that, there's not much you can do except hope they do well.


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## Aulonocara_Freak (May 19, 2011)

WAIT 1 MONTH!!! My LFS get's their fish weekly so there is no way I can wait that long. What else can I do???


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

Aulonocara_Freak said:


> WAIT 1 MONTH!!! My LFS get's their fish weekly so there is no way I can wait that long. What else can I do???


Buy a 10gallon QT and do it yourself would be the best option then i suppose.


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## Aulonocara_Freak (May 19, 2011)

I might be able to get my hand's on a 2.5g but that's way to small for the 6 tetra's for 1 week right? What's the minimum size if that is to small?


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## jayzerus (Jun 23, 2011)

Watch Craigslist. You should be able to pick up a 10g with all accessories for $20-$30.


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## Aulonocara_Freak (May 19, 2011)

I don't have room for anymore tank's! The largest I can go is 5g. What should I do?


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

5 gallon is fine for 2-3 weeks, assuming the fish you get are under 1 inch


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## Aulonocara_Freak (May 19, 2011)

so a 2.5g is way to small? the tank dimension's would be 6-1/4"L x 12-1/4"W x 8-1/4"H


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

Simply put, the bigger the better


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## Aulonocara_Freak (May 19, 2011)

Ok thank's so much. I will see what I can do. How long can they stay in the 2.5g or the 5g? Just to make sure they are healthy!


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## Chromedome52 (Jul 25, 2009)

On wild Tetras, most species actually are wild caught. A relative few are commonly bred in the far east and Florida, such as Black Skirts, Glolites, Head and Tail Lights, etc. However, all the pencilfish and splash Tetras are going to be wild caught, as they are not prolific enough to be worth commercial breeding. There are also several new, even undescribed species that are coming out of Peru in particular, that are not yet being commercially bred. _Poecilocharax weitzmani_, the Black Morpho Tetra, will always be wild caught if it comes through commercial channels. Few people have had any success breeding them in aquaria.

Of the three "Neon" Tetras, only _Paracheirodon innesi_, the regular Neon, are primarily commercially bred fish. _P. axelrodi_, the Cardinals (also known as "Red Neons" in many countries), are being bred in the far east, and even some in Florida, but the vast majority are still imported wild fish. The third species _P. simulans_, has started to become more available, but so far as I know, all are imported. Originally known as False Neons, they actually look more like a pale Cardinal. These days they are being sold as Green Neons, which is confusing to older hobbyists, who used to use that name for _Hemigrammus hyanuary_.


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## Aulonocara_Freak (May 19, 2011)

WOW! thank's so much. That is a pack load of info. Where did you learn that?


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

If you are quarantining fish the minimum amount of time you should quarantine is 30 days. Some diseases have incubation periods of 2 weeks or more and may not show up for some time.

A 5 gallon tank is perfectly fine for housing small fish like cardinals for a month or so. I would suggest the following:

1. Keep a cover on the tank to reduce evaporation and keep the fish from jumping out. It's also a good idea to black out the sides and back of the tank to keep the fish calm.
2. Add an airstone to keep oxygenation high. This can be used to run a simple sponge filter which is the best type of filter to use in a quarantine tank.
3. Treat prophylactically with metronidazole. Intestinal and skin parasites are quite common in wild fish and do not cause much harm because their densities are very low in the wild. That is not true in aquaria and the densities can become very high which can be lethal to the fish. A preventative treatment can keep this from happening.

Cardinals like warm water so a small heater that can keep the water temperature at 80-86 degrees F is recommended.

Andy


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