Banggai Cardinalfish

BlackiceClowns · May 10, 2023

Hello everyone
I've got a 20 by 20 by 27-inch tank. The tank is roughly 45 gallons with and 25-gallon sump. I'm planning on keeping a pair of clowns, a pistol and goby pair, a hawkfish, and I want to add some Banggai Cardinals.

How many Banggai Cardinals do you think I can get?

doubleshot00 · May 10, 2023

BlackiceClowns · May 10, 2023

doubleshot00 said:
1

Thats a shame. Thanks for the info

Stephen8169301 · May 10, 2023

BlackiceClowns said:
Thats a shame. Thanks for the info

You may be able to get two if they pair
Edit that would also require to sex them before purchasing

BlackiceClowns · May 10, 2023

I've heard that if they are paired up it can work. Ill go to my LFS and see if any of them have a pair.

doubleshot00 · May 10, 2023

BlackiceClowns said:
I've heard that if they are paired up it can work. Ill go to my LFS and see if any of them have a pair.

They all look paired up at a LFS. Get a pair. You will know after a few weeks if they are paired or not.

i cant think · May 10, 2023

BlackiceClowns said:
Hello everyone
I've got a 20 by 20 by 27-inch tank. The tank is roughly 45 gallons with and 25-gallon sump. I'm planning on keeping a pair of clowns, a pistol and goby pair, a hawkfish, and I want to add some Banggai Cardinals.

How many Banggai Cardinals do you think I can get?

You could only get one. The reason for this is even if you buy 4-5 you’ll end up with a pair that kill everyone else off and maybe even kill eachother off.
In the wild these guys only group as juveniles (safety in numbers), as they mature they split off into pairs and go their own ways. Any that stay behind in groups tend to whittle eachother down with the dominant pair being left behind.

I disagree with pairing these guys in captivity as we can’t sex them easily. You can confuse two males for a pair or even two females for a pair. Sexing them is all to do with the vents. Males have two and females have one, but actually seeing the vents is almost impossible unless the pair are mature and very fat.

BlackiceClowns · May 10, 2023

Yup. Well see

Stephen8169301 · May 10, 2023

doubleshot00 said:
They all look paired up at a LFS. Get a pair. You will know after a few weeks if they are paired or not.

I bought two my first time not knowing and about two weeks later I had one

Here is the champion

doubleshot00 · May 10, 2023

i cant think said:
You could only get one. The reason for this is even if you buy 4-5 you’ll end up with a pair that kill everyone else off and maybe even kill eachother off.
In the wild these guys only group as juveniles (safety in numbers), as they mature they split off into pairs and go their own ways. Any that stay behind in groups tend to whittle eachother down with the dominant pair being left behind.

I disagree with pairing these guys in captivity as we can’t sex them easily. You can confuse two males for a pair or even two females for a pair. Sexing them is all to do with the vents. Males have two and females have one, but actually seeing the vents is almost impossible unless the pair are mature and very fat.

Same why I didn't chance it and only got one. To many people want these so called "schooling fish". You need a BIG tank to be successful from the beginning.

BlackiceClowns · May 10, 2023

i cant think said:
You could only get one. The reason for this is even if you buy 4-5 you’ll end up with a pair that kill everyone else off and maybe even kill eachother off.
In the wild these guys only group as juveniles (safety in numbers), as they mature they split off into pairs and go their own ways. Any that stay behind in groups tend to whittle eachother down with the dominant pair being left behind.

I disagree with pairing these guys in captivity as we can’t sex them easily. You can confuse two males for a pair or even two females for a pair. Sexing them is all to do with the vents. Males have two and females have one, but actually seeing the vents is almost impossible unless the pair are mature and very fat.

Thanks for the info. I'm thinking i might leave the Banggais for now until i can understand a bit more about them or even get a bigger tank.

i cant think · May 10, 2023

doubleshot00 said:
Same why I didn't chance it and only got one. To many people want these so called "schooling fish". You need a BIG tank to be successful from the beginning.

Even then, large tanks don’t always hold the capacity to have these schooling fish. I know some of our native schoolers are found in captivity but only one aquarium actually has the tank size to be successful and that must be in the 5 digit numbers.

fodsod · May 10, 2023

I had 5 of them and have 1 left. He was the alpha and is fat and happy. The rest died one at a time.

What I saw was the group would leave one out. The loner eventually died for one reason or another then the group would expel another one. That happened until there were 2 left then there was just the 1 I've had for 2 years now.

On a side note, none of them ever ate mysis or other frozen shrimp. They all (the one still does) love a mixture of mysis pellets though.

paragrouper · May 10, 2023

I have two and I’ve had both for a few months. I did not buy them at the same time, as I was ignorant of their potential aggression to each other.

I got lucky.