must be another informal leader…

[Magnum Man22 137]

recently I added another dozen cardinal tetras to my south American tetra tank, that was down to one lone cardinal left from the previous group… the 1st couple days, they found each other, and looked super impressive in the tank, but now, after a couple weeks, I have 2 groups of cardinals, with numbers slit close to half each… at feeding time, they will intermix, but most times there is a group on each side of the tank.. th ohs makes me question if I had a cloud of 50 of them, would they stay in one super group, or would they split off into a couple groups???

makes me think there are leaders, and followers, and we are going to get as many groups as we have leaders???

 

[GaryE21 137]

I've never noticed them having leaders. I think they gravitate to zones for feeding, and how many spots (I don't know what a spot is to them - current swirls carrying food maybe?) determines how many groups.

I have a medium flow, extra deep front to back tank tank with no complex flow around decor, and my 35 or so cardinals are always in one group. They've surprised me by foraging as one unit. That's at 2 months now. I've usually had subgroups form, even for about 3 months years ago when I had 300 cardinals in one tank. I was growing them to sell them in our club, so I could keep 50 for myself, but it was great fishwatching.

The only other fish in the current tank are myersi hatchets and Hoplisoma brevirostris, so with no threats and no competition for space, they are among the most relaxed cardinals I've ever kept.

I can't get sick of that fish. It's the first tank, at eye level when you enter the fishroom, and it delights me every time. They are such beautiful fish.

 

[FattyFish]

I have 18 in my tank, most of the time they are all separated and just dotted around, then every now and again they, along with my Amber teras, shoal back and forth for a while, then disperse again. I guess it's the lack of threat that allows them to just swim around separately.

 

[Back in the fold1 10]

They’re forming gangs . Look to see if they’re carrying little switchblades .