Banggai Cardinal Vomitting?

rwp101 · Aug 6, 2023

One of the Banggai cardinals in my quarantine tank started regurgitating the food he ate tonight. He now is actively moving towards a corner. He will swim away if I move my hand near it but he keeps coming back.

HankstankXXL750 · Aug 7, 2023

I would keep an eye on it. Is there anything like pvc pipe in your QT for them to hide in? I e never gotten to witness it, but they are mouth brooders. The male holds the fry in its mouth and sometimes will spit it out but then get them back. Mine bred and we didn’t even know it. But we have a little baby that survived on its own in the reef.

TangerineSpeedo · Aug 7, 2023

Not to say this is your situation, but mine will constantly eat something too big or just doesn’t like and then spits it back out. Remember they are picky eaters and it is not even across the board what they will eat. I have three that will eat different foods.
As far as the corner thing... Thats what they do... they hang in the corner..

HankstankXXL750 · Aug 7, 2023

I was going to say that mine hang in the corners a lot, but that is also where I feed.

StatelineReefer · Aug 7, 2023

Banggai cardinals are literally the orange cats of the reef tank, in that they have one brain cell, and often choose to switch it off.

They will eat until their stomachs cannot hold any more, then expel, then eat it again, until it stays food.

Mouth brooding is more noticable, the male will look like a bulldog as he opens and closes his mouth to keep circulation for the eggs and fry. The male will also stop eating for the entire time.

rwp101 · Aug 7, 2023

That may have been what I witnessed. I haven't seen the others do that and it was right after feeding. Very interesting.

It is in qt and does have PVC pipe to hide in although none of them ever seem to go in there. They just float around mostly. Except this one.

HankstankXXL750 · Aug 7, 2023

rwp101 said:
That may have been what I witnessed. I haven't seen the others do that and it was right after feeding. Very interesting.

It is in qt and does have PVC pipe to hide in although none of them ever seem to go in there. They just float around mostly. Except this one.

How many do you have?