Bengai Cardinal

[JediCruz]

Ok. So I bought a pair of Bengai Cardinals that are a little under 2” long. It’s their first 24 hours in the tank. My observations are that they are sticking to one corner of the tank. No other fish aggression is taking place (I put a mirror on the outside of the glass to distract my tangs which works perfectly and will stay up for a week). The cardinals are not really eating. They did get a tiny bit of frozen but haven’t eaten the hatchery diet pellets that the rest go crazy for. So I have some questions. Should I be concerned that they sticking to 1 corner of the tank? Will they ever eat more than the frozen food (I only feed that in the morning)? Tank has been up more than a year and is a mixed reef. In case anyone’s curious, the parameters are NO3 0 (trying to get that higher by feeding more and I stopped carbon dosing). I can post the others but they’re probably not relative to the question.

 

[JNalley]

It's only been 24 hours, I'd wait a bit before being alarmed. That being said, have you tried any other food besides that pellet? My PJ Cardinals didn't like my pellet food at first but went berserk for some Mysis and Brine Shrimp, they eventually started eating the pellets though.

 

[skip0211]

I’ve had lots of experience with them over the years.. it’s fun and easy to raise their babies once and if they mate.. they tend to stick together forever. They will eventually eat pellets etc, but feed them what they like as they adjust to their new home.. Be patient .. they will love frozen Spirolina brine and Mysis.

 

[JediCruz]

It's only been 24 hours, I'd wait a bit before being alarmed. That being said, have you tried any other food besides that pellet? My PJ Cardinals didn't like my pellet food at first but went berserk for some Mysis and Brine Shrimp, they eventually started eating the pellets though.

The frozen I gave them was Spirulina Brine

 

[JediCruz]

My question is eating the frozen brine and Mysis once a day enough for them?

 

[JNalley]

My question is eating the frozen brine and Mysis once a day enough for them?

Yeh, that's all I fed them for the first week. Now I alternate, pellets one day and my own mix of food the next

Mysis
Brine
Reef Plankton
Shrimp
Salmon
Silversides
Reef Roids

All blended/grated together and frozen into a sheet, I feed about 1/2 cubic inch of that each day.

 

[skip0211]

Agreed..

 

[i cant think]

Ok. So I bought a pair of Bengai Cardinals that are a little under 2” long. It’s their first 24 hours in the tank. My observations are that they are sticking to one corner of the tank. No other fish aggression is taking place (I put a mirror on the outside of the glass to distract my tangs which works perfectly and will stay up for a week). The cardinals are not really eating. They did get a tiny bit of frozen but haven’t eaten the hatchery diet pellets that the rest go crazy for. So I have some questions. Should I be concerned that they sticking to 1 corner of the tank? Will they ever eat more than the frozen food (I only feed that in the morning)? Tank has been up more than a year and is a mixed reef. In case anyone’s curious, the parameters are NO3 0 (trying to get that higher by feeding more and I stopped carbon dosing). I can post the others but they’re probably not relative to the question.

That’s normal behaviour, 1. Bangaii cardinals are nocturnal so they won’t be active in the day and 2. Usually they will just stay in one spot of the tank for their whole day.