Aqua Tools

Compatibility check

Can Cardinal tetra and Swordtail live together?

Cardinal tetra and Swordtail are not recommended together based on the current rule check.

not recommended

Quick answer

This pairing is not recommended by the current rules. The highest-risk factors are marked as fail below; fixable water-parameter overlap alone does not cancel out predation, aggression, fin-nipping, or explicit avoid-tag conflicts.

Factor breakdown

Factor Result Explanation
Water type OK Cardinal tetra is freshwater; Swordtail is freshwater. Compatibility pages are generated only for matching water types.
Temperature OK Temperature overlaps at 24-28 C. Cardinal tetra is listed at 24-29 C; Swordtail is listed at 22-28 C.
pH OK pH overlaps at 7-7. Cardinal tetra is listed at 4.5-7; Swordtail is listed at 7-8.3.
Hardness Conflict Cardinal tetra is listed at 1-8 dGH, while Swordtail is listed at 10-30 dGH; there is no shared target range.
Adult size and predation OK Adult sizes are not an obvious predator-prey mismatch (Cardinal tetra: 5 cm; Swordtail: 12 cm).
Temperament and aggression OK Cardinal tetra (peaceful schooling) and Swordtail (peaceful to boisterous livebearer) do not have an obvious aggression clash in the dataset.
Fin nipping risk OK The dataset does not flag this pair as a fin-nipper plus long-finned combination.
Schooling and group needs Caution Plan around full groups, not single display fish. Minimum group sizes: Cardinal tetra: 6+; Swordtail: 3+.
Explicit avoid tags OK No explicit avoid-tag conflict was found between these two records.
Minimum combined tank size OK Use at least 30 US gallons (114 L) for the pair, based on the larger minimum tank plus bioload and activity adjustments where relevant.

Species profiles

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Sources and attribution

Source links are verification references for taxonomy and identifiers. Care values are AI-generated from common hobby consensus and need expert review.