Cardinal and Neon Tetras?

When I set up my 20 gallon long tank, I planned on having a school of Cardinal Tetras. I bought 10 and half of them died within the first week. I bought a few more and a few more died again. I got tired of losing fish so I decided to buy some Neon Tetras because they are a bit hardier. Anyway, to make a long story short, I now have 4 Cardinal Tetras and 3 Neon Tetras.
I know that you’re supposed to have a group of 6 or more of these particular tetras. Even though they’re two different species, they look so similar that I wonder if they even know they are different. They all stay together as a group and act as one species.
I also have 6 Rummy nose Tetras in the tank.
Has anyone ever kept Cardinal and Neon’s like this before?

 

I've never kept cardinals before, but I have kept neons and glowlights before and they pretty much stuck together so I think your cardinals and neons should be fine.

-Chelle

 

Thanks . I hope so too.

 

Cardinals and Neons will get along fine. From my experience Cardinals are much hardier than Neons.

 

Cardinals hardier than Neons?.....hmmmm. Our differnce in experience is very fascinating. Don't you think?
Here's another question for you: Will Neons and Cardinals inter breed?

 

Since most of my experience with Cardinals and Neons was in a shop environment I can't tell you for sure about interbreeding. Generally we kept Cardinals and Neons separated since it is so hard to sort them out when you sell one. Also shop conditions are not condusive for breeding. I have had suppliers and breeders tell me that they will interbreed but the resulting color is more like a Cardinal with the red color appearing slightly faded.

 

I've never kept cardinals, but I have had absolutely horrible luck with neons. I've never been able to keep them alive for more than a few months. They either got sick for no apparent reason, got neon tetra disease, or killed eachother.

-Chelle

 

Neons are a love/hate situation for me. I love the way they look streaking through the water in a school. It's absolutely beautiful. The problem with Neons from my experience is the difficulty in keeping them alive. They are exacting on their water conditions. The only people that I have known that have had what I call success in keeping them, kept them in a species only tank and were meticulous about the water conditions. Also, Blackwater Tonic from what I have been told is a must in keeping them alive. From what I can tell they are the most demanding fish with regard to water conditions, even more so than Discus.