Banggai Cardinal Fish help!!!

[WatchinFish]

hey guys. ok so i purchaced 5 banggai cardinals and i dont know much about them. i have noticed that they are nocurnal so now im a little confuesed. can i train them to eat during the day with the rest of my fish. plus if you know any information on them please share with me. i would really like to keep them all really happy althogh one of them doesnt seem to be eating. the rest are doing great so far. thanks guys. i would be lost without my RS family

 

[BigAl07]

Mine aren't nocturnal at all but at first were very "skittish". They wanted to try and stay more hidden than out. Give them some time to adapt to the new surroundings and they'll probably be more active. Also they will learn your feeding schedule and before long be in the MIDDLE of feeding. They are PIGS I tell ya. It's amazing at how MUCH their mouths will open up and gulp down HUGE chunks of food. Pigs I tell ya!!

Also this one is easy but in the future you want to research BEFORE you buy. That way everyone wins in the end

 

[Snelly40]

they will get braver, if that's a word, mine were always inthe rocks and now the go everywhere!
just wait till they start breeding!!!

 

[WatchinFish]

oh man im all excited. well they dont hide at all. but they seem to be much more active at night. ya i have a problem with impuls buying. i need to go to rehab for that.lol but its a relief that they will get use to my feeding habits. i have been wakeing up to feed them for 2 days. ya i know kinda crazy but i love my fish. thanks guys.

 

[jellyman]

Watch them carefully. Bangaii do not assume sex they are born male or female. I'm assuming they are either all juvenile or all female if you have not seen any agression yet. If they are all juvenile as they mature the males will need to be seperated or you will start losing fish. The males will fight until one dies. If you are thinking of breeding it is best to have a recovery tank for the males. The females, especially if more then one female, will continuosly keep the male bangaii with eggs and during this time he does not eat. If not given time to recover it will eventual die of starvation.

They are not nocturnal and are probably just eating at night because the other fish are asleep and you are feeding them. Stop the night feedings and within a day or two they will eat with the rest of the inhabitants.

Hope that helps

 

[saltysupply]

do you know if they were captive bred or not? I highly recommend only buying captive bred of this species as they are being decimated by our hobby, over 700,000 each year.

 

[WatchinFish]

that helped a lot jellyman. thank you. not sure if they are juvenile but i know that they arnt showing signs of agression yet. if i see agression i will take them out and send it back to the LFS for another till i find 5 that work. im not trying to breed them and actually hope that they are all females. i dont wanna go thru the trouble of raising them in a differnt tank anyways. oh and i will stop feeding at night. thank for the help.

do you know if they were captive bred or not? I highly recommend only buying captive bred of this species as they are being decimated by our hobby, over 700,000 each year.

they are captive bred. lol just about the only thing i new about the fish before i got them was that they are schooling and that they are close to being endangered. lol

 

[saltysupply]

very good to hear! let your friends know as well, don't support the shops that are still bringing these in from the wild

 

[WatchinFish]

ya. i cant see why they still bring in wild ones. i mean tank raised have a better servival rate anyways. pluss they dont have to be trained to eat pelets and flakes as much.

 

[jellyman]

pluss they dont have to be trained to eat pelets and flakes as much.

Anyone who has tried to raise bangaii know this is sooooo not the case. The babies start out on 100% live foods and are not easy to get fully transitioned to prepared foods. I loose 25% of the babies transitioning them from live brine to prepared frozen foods. They will not even touch flake or pellet until they are at least 4+ months old if they do at all.

The main reason they are still imported is simple-it is ALOT cheaper. An average clutch is only 20-25 babies every 5-6 weeks. In comparison with clown fish that can be 300+ every 2-3 weeks.

Mass production will not replace wild caught anytime soon. Just remember that you may pay more for captive bread but it helps keep more in the wild and you are probably going to get a healthier fish and you know exactly how old it is.

 

[WatchinFish]

thanks for the info. lucky for me they whent straight to frozen food and i even saw them eating flakes. i guess i have to thank the stores for that

 

[jellyman]

I started putting the transitioning babies in with establised frozen food eaters and it has helped out and raised my success rate a little bit.

 

[surfzone]

I started putting the transitioning babies in with establised frozen food eaters and it has helped out and raised my success rate a little bit.

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