Fish Cardinals in a Home Aquarium: Features of Care
Fish cardinals are quite popular withaquarists, their name was given to the individuals because of the presence of red in color. This is the only type of fish that can safely withstand temperature changes. Before you start cardinals, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of the content and care.
Description of fish cardinal
Cardinals are moving small fishes of a smallsize (length is up to four centimeters). The cardinal's body is elongated and narrow, slightly flattened from the sides. The sides are brown, the back is dark with a greenish tint, and the abdomen has a silver color. On the sides is a golden reflective strip, in young fish it has a turquoise hue. Gill fins of bright lemon color with black edging, anal fin red with transparent corners. At the base of the tail is a black spot. Contents of cardinals
The content of fish cardinals is not difficulteven beginners aquarists. We just need to remember that this is a schooling fish, so they need to keep at least ten pieces, the females should predominate (no more than two or three males per flock). The shape of the aquarium should be rectangular and elongated, not less than sixty centimeters in length, since the fish cardinals are high-speed, they need a place for various maneuvers. The capacity of the aquarium can be small, 30-40 liters. Optimum water temperature for the content of these fish is 20-23 o C, acidity can fluctuate within 6.5-7 pH. Cardinals are extremely demanding on the purity of water, so it is recommended to change the third part of the total once a week. It is important at the same time not to allow sharp changes in water temperatures, otherwise cardinals may develop a fungal disease. It is desirable to aerate the water and use the filter. Fishes prefer bright lighting, put the aquarium in a place with natural and good light, in the evening you can use artificial lighting. Preferably lush and dense vegetation in the aquarium, leave part of the space for maneuvering fish. Cardinals prefer the following types of plants: fern, ludwigia, elodea, mirofillum, limnofila. Sand and pebbles can be used as a primer. Keep fish in an aquarium closed with a lid. Nutrition and breeding
Cardinals are unpretentious in nutrition, practicallyare omnivorous. They with great pleasure eat canned, dry and live food: small bloodworms, tubule, daphnia, and coret. If you feed fish with live food, the cardinals develop much faster, their color becomes brighter. Cardinals are not particularly difficult to create, fish can reproduce in an aquarium and spawning grounds. To do this, fill the spawning ground with water (up to twenty liters), place a few bushes of plants, a pair of fish, a nebulizer. Within two weeks, feed the fish with live food. Females in a day put off on thirty eggs. With the advent of fry, move the fish-producers to another aquarium, and in the spawning fry the fry. Starter feed: mashed egg yolk, cowwort, Cape nauplii, live dust, infusoria. Cardinals are very peaceful, they get along well with fish of similar temperament, small sizes: neons, guppies, fire barbs, zebrafish. The life expectancy of fish in the Cardinals is about two years.
