Bangaii Cardinal NOT Eating

[Ryan4485]

My new baby Bangaii Cardinal is not eating. I’ve tried pellet food w/ garlic scent. He’s not taking it… help!!

#reefsquad #bangaiicardinal #reefing #HELP

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

When did you get it?
What other foods did you try?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

My banggai cardinal in the past never went for pellets, only frozen. It might be a picky eater, try other foods.

 

[Uncle99]

Mine didn’t eat for a week, then, I noticed him picking at the back.

 

[ElementReefer]

When my cardinals were little they would ONLY eat frozen or live bribe shrimp. If not even that, try Hikari Baby Brine.

 

[Rico's Reefnecks]

Agree, they can be very picky. Mine only eat frozen, live brine shrimp, or pods in my tank.

 

[Tired]

How big is he?

Frozen food is a good bet. If he won't take that, try live baby brine. I really like this hatchery dish, , as it doesn't require an airstone and is the easiest thing in the world to harvest from.

 

[Ryan4485]

When did you get it?
What other foods did you try?

Today.. Tried pellets only w/ garlic.. What about trying frozen brine shrimp next?

 

[Blake509]

Frozen brine or mysis was what mine ate but when I added live pods he became different animal went nuts for them.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Today.. Tried pellets only w/ garlic.. What about trying frozen brine shrimp next?

IME most fish won’t eat the first day or two. Give it a little time, don’t worry yet. But yes, try some frozen brine or mysis

 

[vetteguy53081]

My new baby Bangaii Cardinal is not eating. I’ve tried pellet food w/ garlic scent. He’s not taking it… help!!

#reefsquad #bangaiicardinal #reefing #HELP

Bangaii's will not eat dry. Feed frozen and try brine shrimp, mysis shrimp ot LRS fish frenzy and you will see it suddenly eat

 

[Jonreefer]

My 2 the one will eat anything. The other is picky and only will eat frozen foods. Won’t touch pellets or flake

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I have three different ones and they all eat different things. I do feed different type foods throughout the day from flake to pellet to frozen.
I would start with frozen mysis.

 

[JasonVH]

Size could be important here. Newly hatched and very young ones have a reputation of being difficult to feed. Basically refusing anything except live food.

If it's bigger mid size juvenile and upwards, could be first day 'jitters'. Don't try pushing food on new fishes on the first day. Give a *tiny* bit of food the second day if super anxious. If it refuses on the second day, do not try again until day three. Again only tiny amount of feed. Trying to throw feed at it could mess up the water parameters.

Frozen food usually is a great temptation. I like to give it 'plain' at first- no supplements. Helps in the case the fish was not already familiar with dry food or pellets or perhaps also with the supplements(vitamins/garlic etc). Once the new fish is eating well, you can start switching to dry or pellets. It's common for fish to reject but a day or two of not getting to eat usually convinces them to give a second try.

I got my two as small-medium juveniles last summer. Now they'll eat anything- frozen, flakes and pellets. Plain or with selcon added.

 

[DaJMasta]

People have said it mostly already, but my advice:

They eat from mid-water, so something that stays suspended for a little bit is good. They tend to ignore small sized foods (copepods) and go for larger, meatier foods (frozen is best). They will take some pellets, but generally not large ones, I've had some luck with TDO B2 for adults, but most things larger they will "eat" and then immediately spit out. They will go for live foods of most types, even some smaller ones. Mine like frozen mysis, bloodworms, brine, and chopped blends (LRS nano reef frenzy has been my choice). They've snubbed PE calanus and SF Bay fish eggs. They also get more interested in a food if it gets into the flow of the tank - I think the movement makes it more enticing.

Also, if it looks like its mouth is full (and especially if it has a mate), it could just have eggs in its mouth, in which case it probably won't eat for three weeks while the eggs mature and the babies are released.

 

[Blake509]

They tend to ignore small sized foods (copepods) and go for larger, meatier foods (frozen is best).

They primarily feed on copepods in wild

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

mine only eats brine, live or frozen, its a very annoying issue.

 

[DaJMasta]

They primarily feed on copepods in wild

I've raised close to a hundred from fry, and while they love em early on, as they get to be fully grown they don't seem to go for them as readily. Maybe it's just a size thing and they'd go for larger species than I farm, but the ~1.5mm max length of what I can offer they don't even seem to bother with, and as I mentioned, they don't go for the PE calanus unless it's dark and they're in the flow, and they eat and spit out the frozen capelin roe which is a similar size.


They absolutely go nuts for freshly spawned shrimp larvae (somewhere between amphipod and copepod size) and freshly spawned fish eggs when they're in the current, and they'll go for amphipods when available.

 

[JasonVH]

People have said it mostly already, but my advice:

They eat from mid-water, so something that stays suspended for a little bit is good. They tend to ignore small sized foods (copepods) and go for larger, meatier foods (frozen is best). They will take some pellets, but generally not large ones, I've had some luck with TDO B2 for adults, but most things larger they will "eat" and then immediately spit out. They will go for live foods of most types, even some smaller ones. Mine like frozen mysis, bloodworms, brine, and chopped blends (LRS nano reef frenzy has been my choice). They've snubbed PE calanus and SF Bay fish eggs. They also get more interested in a food if it gets into the flow of the tank - I think the movement makes it more enticing.

Also, if it looks like its mouth is full (and especially if it has a mate), it could just have eggs in its mouth, in which case it probably won't eat for three weeks while the eggs mature and the babies are released.

Great point about them being largerly midwater feeders. Movement does catch their attention- often dump the food in front of the powerhead, they absolutely love charging at the feed swirling around. Mine will take flakes off the surface. I've seen one try to get food on the sand only once.

I'll have to say reading through this thread has been very interesting. So many extreme picky eaters. Are banggais all captive bred at this point or are wild caughts still coming in? Think my two were captive bred.. trying to recall anything they rejected besides their first try at pellets. All it took was a day of skipping feed for them to start accepting pellets. It's obvious pellets are not their favorites though. The other issue with pellets is once they sink to the bottom, it goes to the hermits. So I don't bother with pellets much anymore. They will have a go at any size food particles- I see them snapping at invisible things(assuming copecods?), the oyster feast(for corals) all the way to grabbing hold of diced salmon bits.

 

[DaJMasta]

They are endangered in the wild - they are prolific but had a very limited range (they have been spotted elsewhere since, though) - so they have to be captive bred for home aquarists.

I've seen mine going for frozen on the substrate now - my pair has learned that some of what they like falls out of the water but still tastes good - but it took months if not a full year for me to see the change in behavior. They'll also go for stuff floating on the surface (some of the bloodworms commonly do), so it seems reasonable that they'd go for flake (slow to fall and then easy to spot above).