banggai cardinal food suggestions

BHenderson79

BHenderson79

Member
i've had a banggai for probably 6 or 8 months now (i had 2 until last week when one was murdered by a suddenly insane tomato clown, who now lives back at the LFS). they have done great in my tank, but they refuse absolutely every food i've given them except brine. they'll take it live or frozen, doesn't matter. but they spit everything else out that i've given them. SOMETIMES they'll take zooplankton, but rarely.

any recommendations for something i mightn't have tried that could vary up the diet?
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Keep trying different foods, especially other thpes of small shrimp.

To get them started on a new food, feed it along with brine shrinp, and hope they will chomp down on the new food and like it.

Sometimes it helps to let them go hungry for a few days. "Hunger is the best cook."

It may help to have a few fish, such as damsels, that will feed on anything. They sometimes show the other fish what to eat, but remember damsels can later become a problem.

Don't overlook dry foods, for some reason, some fish will eat dry food, and skip other foods that you'd think they would like better.
 
cioutlaw

cioutlaw

Well-Known Member
My Bangais never eat anything other than Mysis, Rods reef food(parts of it anyway) & cyclopeez on occasion. They are picky eaters.
 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I feed my pair live black worms along with other meaty foods every day.
They spawn every few weeks.
 
BHenderson79

BHenderson79

Member
Paul B said:
I feed my pair live black worms along with other meaty foods every day.
They spawn every few weeks.
Click to expand...

i originally picked up a pair of them in hopes that i might get them to spawn, but without a consistent way to sex them, it seems i turned out with 2 of the same sex because they basically just avoided each other at all times.
 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
If they avoid each other I would say they are both females. Maybe you could return one.
If you get a pair and want to breed them you should feed live worms. I feed these to all my fish that I want to breed. Clowns, damsels or gobies get in breeding condition in a week or two with this food.
Paul
 
BHenderson79

BHenderson79

Member
Paul B said:
If they avoid each other I would say they are both females. Maybe you could return one.
If you get a pair and want to breed them you should feed live worms. I feed these to all my fish that I want to breed. Clowns, damsels or gobies get in breeding condition in a week or two with this food.
Paul
Click to expand...

well, i dont need to worry about returning one because the smaller one got killed by my tomato clown last week. the tomato clown got returned as a result. i suppose i could try to add another cardinal and hope they get along.
 
framerguy

framerguy

Well-Known Member
I have learned that freshwater feeder fish have the wrong type or too much fats in them for SW fish. It can build up and become a problem. My cardinals won't touch flake foods. They will eat the prepared mush I make. I make two kinds, one more green based and one more meat based. They like the meat. I use fresh ocean caught fish (tuna or salmon), oysters, deli shrimp (in shell), nori sheets or spinache leaves, selcon vitamins and Seachem garlicgard (immune booster and liquifier). Blend it all together starting with liquids , then oysters and adding other meaty stuff later. I don't measure, just throw stuff in til it "looks delicious". I finish with the greens so they aren't as chopped up as the meats. The green based food just has more spinache added. My cardinals go crazy over this stuff. I'll have to try some of Pauls black worms...I wonder where to get them?

Freeze the mush in a ziplock bag mashed flat. Then cut and thaw and serve.
 
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Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Framerguy, sounds delicious, actually except for the Selcon, I eat all of that myself.
Blackworms are very common in any fish store in NY, I feed them almost every day and I can keep them alive indefinately so I can store a lot of them.
They are a very rich food so only a little is needed to keep fish in breeding condition. They live about 10 seconds in salt water but they never last long enough to hit the bottom anyway.
 
framerguy

framerguy

Well-Known Member
AQTCJAK said:
create a rubble pile in a corner or in the back of the tank the will breed there
Click to expand...
also cover that rubble pile with a cover of some kind like a strawberry basket, or a box made of eggcrate. I used a clear ..thing (for lack of a better word) from the shower accessory section at lowes. It has suction cups and holes in it and is made for holding soap.
 
Lee

Lee

Member
I feed my fish 2 parts mysis, 1 part brine, and 1 part pygmy angel formula once a day, (all mixed together) and a pinch of dry flake food once a day, and my Banggai Cardinal eats all of it except for the pygmy angel food, which looks like a clump of algae.

In quarantine, the Cardinal seemed to ignored some foods, especially flake, but once he was in the main tank, he just followed my Chromis, whom eat anything, and now he eats everything. The Chromis have even taught my Yellow Tang to eat flake food off the surface. Its pretty cool!
 
BHenderson79

BHenderson79

Member
Random update 3 months later:

The juvenile cardinal in my tank suddenly started ravenously accepting all the dry food I put in the tank about a week ago. Microcrabs, flakes, whatever! I haven't fed any brine since then and it seems quite happy. This makes my life much easier!
 
CMG

CMG

Member
Good news! I got mine to eat Formula one on accident today! haha. He only eats mysis and brine but I shot some formula one out of the turkey bastor and he sucked it in! hehe sucker!

Did you happen to "starve" yours for a week by not feeding brine? Or did it just suddenly accept it?
 
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