Bully Banngai Cardinal..?

[peterire]

Hi,

So I picked up two Banngai cardinals at my lfs yesterday. One is quite bigger than the other and seems to be chasing the smaller one down..

Was this a bad idea getting a pair not similarilly aged? Will the larger one eventually calm down?

Im not sure of the sex of either.

its a 75gal tank, other fish 2 clowns, 3 green chromis and a midas blenny. Its been a peaceful tank so far so would like to keep it that way!

 

[Lasse]

Banngai Cardinals is known for bulling if they are not paired. It will probably end up with one Cardinal if they do not pair.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[peterire]

Banngai Cardinals is known for bulling if they are not paired. It will probably end up with one Cardinal if they do not pair.

Sincerely Lasse

So it will kill the other one? How long should I wait to see if they pair?

 

[Triple.T]

I started with 2, one killed the other, my LFS said you keep them in larger pairs and around the same size if introducing to tank all at once.

 

[peterire]

Ok thanks, i’ll keep an eye over the next couple of days and trade back in one of them if it keeps up! A single will be fine I take it

 

[Lasse]

It is very difficult to pair these fishes - best is to start with 4-5 individuals. The bullying behavior is often a part of the pairing process. Even if you have one male and one female - is it not sure they will form a pair. Cardinals - in general - works good in smaller and even in large aggregates but it looks look just the bangai either want to be as pair or in very large aggregates there it can be some smaller territories for each pair. if you start with 4-5 individuals - the forming of a pair seems to be easier - and the combined bullying from the male and female in a newly formed pair seems to fix them together more and more

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Triple.T]

It is very difficult to pair these fishes - best is to start with 4-5 individuals. The bullying behavior is often a part of the pairing process. Even if you have one male and one female - is it not sure they will form a pair. Cardinals - in general - works good in smaller and even in large aggregates but it looks look just the bangai either want to be as pair or in very large aggregates there it can be some smaller territories for each pair. if you start with 4-5 individuals - the forming of a pair seems to be easier - and the combined bullying from the male and female in a newly formed pair seems to fix the together more and more

Sincerely Lasse

This. The answer to your other question, I've kept a single bangai for the last 10 months. He's grown a ton and quite happy.

 

[Phil D.]

It wil eventually settle down and accept the other, will take about 1-2 months.

 

[peterire]

It wil eventually settle down and accept the other, will take about 1-2 months.

Thats rough on the little guy is all, he has some frayed fins already, may hav been picked on in lfs too

 

[peterire]

I think I'm going to trade the larger bully back to the LFS and keep the smaller one.

As you can see from this pic below, the larger one wont let the smaller one leave this little cave since I got them

This is the smaller one I plan on keeping. Hard to see in this pic with the lights, but he's kind of brownish in the center. Does this turn silver with age?

 

[peterire]

In the end I traded back the larger bully fish. The smaller guy doing much better now.

 

[smacbride]

I added a pair to my tank, they are both about the same size. I'm going on week 2 and so far so good. One is slightly larger and it picked on the smaller one for the first few days. Now they seem to be best buds. I hope it works out with yours!