Tropical Fish Forums

flyjawn · Regulars Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Location: toronto

last week I added 6 red phantoms to my tank. 2 of the phantoms have begun to school with the 6 cardinals that are in the same tank. the other 4 wander around, hide, school and then hide again.

is this normal behaviour? and how on earth do I know if they are all doing okay when I can't find most of them half the time? they are very skilled at disappearing amongst the plants.

hedgelj · Regulars Joined: 02 May 2006 Location: Ohio

The red phantoms that are schooling with your cardinals...are they of a similar size to the cardinals? That may explain it. I have red phantoms and black phantoms in my tank and they don't school very tight, but neither do my cardinals...

The other thing I noticed is that they are much less aggressive eaters then the other tetras I have kept. They don't like to go to the surface for their food, they only eat when I cumble it under the surface so it is kinda suspended.

Danikins · Regulars Joined: 19 May 2006 Location: Edmonton, AB, Canda

Yeah, phantoms are middle-feeders so you have to make sure some food gets down to them.

Otherwise... I've seen my phantoms exhibit many different behaivours. Sometimes they dart around the tank, full of energy, and something they hover in their favouite corner for hours at a time.
_________________
In the beginning, the Universe was created. This made a lot of people angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move.

Cinder · Regulars Joined: 16 Jan 2006 Location: Colorado

My black phantom tetras school with my Cardinal tetras at times. Other times they go it individually or school with just themselves. As mentioned above - they are mid-feeders so make sure food floats down to them.
_________________
135 gln. freshwater tank
29 gln. freshwater tank

Charles · Regulars Joined: 10 Jul 2005

my RED and Black phantom tetras school with my other schooling fishes, which are Pinkskirts and x-rays. They don't school very close together, but most of the time, they're pretty close to each other...and they all hang out near the plant. I rarely see them in empty spots, whether in school or alone. So I believe they're behaving normal.

flyjawn · Regulars Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Location: toronto

well for about a week I was sure that 3 of my phantoms were dead because I couldn't find them anywhere.

then I found one stuck to my intake filter Sad

but the others are all fine, 2 just prefer to hide while the others school happily with the cardinals. (they are all the same size by the way).