Cardinal aquarium fish is one of the most striking, eye-catching and beautiful. Contrary to expectations, it is not purple like the cassocks of real cardinals. The article tells about it, about how to keep it, how to feed it, what to do at the time of spawning.
Appearance
Cardinal fish was brought to Europe from China in 1938. In nature, this representative of cyprinids prefers to live in mountain streams. At the same time, the cardinal fish quickly got used to the aquarium content.
It has an extremely bright body color, beautiful fins. Males are somewhat different from females, as they look slimmer and brighter. Typically, a cardinal fish has a slightly elongated body with bright longitudinal stripes. The color of some species of these aquarium inhabitants has a flickering effect.
The aquarium fish Cardinal was so liked by European aquarists that very soon all kinds of species were bred. For example, Banggai Cardinal Fish remotely resembles a scalar, and the cardinal (Tanichthys albonubes Lin Shuyen) is like a veil-tail goldfish.
Aquarium Maintenance
These representatives of cyprinids do not need special conditions, so it will not be difficult to maintain them. But it is worth remembering that they are used to living in a pack, therefore at least four individuals must be kept in the aquarium. In this case, you can add cardinals to the aquarium to other fish.
Cardinals behave peacefully and friendly, do not interfere with other fish. But still it will be easier for them to get along with neighbors who also have a calm temperament.
The cardinal prefers to have a large space. Usually the fish is kept in the middle and upper layers of water. It is not necessary to heat water in containers for cardinals, but you need to make sure that the water temperature does not drop below 10 degrees.
Cardinal - a fish whose contents do not cause much trouble to its owner, even during the breeding season. She is not picky about food and resistant to disease. Although the aquarist is nevertheless obliged to know about some features of care and pay attention to it.
Cardinal Reproduction
During the mating season, males become brighter and begin the struggle for the attention of females. But do not worry, as this fight is harmless in nature and does not bring much harm to the fish.
For a person with experience, it will not be a difficult task to breed cardinals. To do this, you need a spacious spawning planted with plants, which should be located in a place protected from sunlight. In order to speed up the process, you can lower the normal temperature of the water by several degrees. Typically, the water temperature in spawning should reach 22 degrees.
Before spawning, you need to feed the male and female well. For food, you should choose natural feed. In order for the fish to feel more comfortable, it is worth installing a filter.
Females usually toss about 300 eggs onto leaves of aquarium plants. After a few days, larvae appear from them. Feed the little cardinals is rotifers or infusoria. At the same time, parents will not touch their fry, so you can not rush to remove them from spawning.
Cardinals are wonderful aquarium fish that will bring little trouble, but at the same time will delight their owners.