Banggai Cardinalfish

UMdmd · 11-02-2006, 10:25 AM

Just got three Banggai Cardinals. Any advise on how to make them thrive.

amcarrig · 11-02-2006, 10:32 AM

I never had any problems keeping this fish and have even had one that ate flake food. It also ate all of my cleaner shrimp. Keep in mind that cardinal fish tend to be very territorial so unless you have a mated pair among the 3, be prepared to end up with only one fish as the dominant one will kill off all but a mate.

Dustin75 · 11-02-2006, 09:24 PM

I feed frozen brine to my banggai, that was the only thing they would eat in the beginning. I had to separate my pair for the dominant one nearly killed the other one (guess they were not a mated pair!).

JustPhish · 11-03-2006, 05:42 AM

Care should be very easy though almost all only take frozen foods only(of course live foods as well but not flake or pellets). Even the captive bred ones from ORA it seems. I wonder what they are feeding down there.

But anyway. Hopefully you have gotten captive raised ones. The ones from the wild seem to die after a short time in captivity for apparently no reason at all. Plus I have heard here and there they are starting to get low in numbers out there. I don't really know how true that is.

Also as others said, 3 is sure to be two. But, that's if only one is a male. If you have three males, you'll end up with one fish eventually.

Good luck.

UMdmd · 11-04-2006, 10:47 AM

How can I tell the sex? If I have one male and to females will they still try to eliminate the odd one out.

amcarrig · 11-04-2006, 11:26 AM

If I'm not mistaken, it's the size/shape of the mouth that determines the sex because these fish are mouth brooders. I'm not sure what to look for but maybe JP will have some more info about that. I'm pretty sure that if you have a male and two females, the additional female will eventually be "phased out" by a mated pair.

JustPhish · 11-04-2006, 04:06 PM

It is the shape of the mouth but it's very subtle and it can't be determined as far as I know until they reach sexual maturity. The only way I have been able to sex them so far is when I had a tank full to choose from. I am 100% so far, but really it's mostly luck.

A female will have a flat slanted bottom jaw while the male will have one a little fuller since they have to hold the eggs and fry.