Dislocated jaw?

[Steve1500]

I posted earlier about a pair of “mated/bonded” benghai cardinals that were not getting along. Bought them from DD as a bonded pair. They are in QT and I had to separate them because one was attacking the other.
To see if they would rebond I lifted the divider and here’s the result. In the pic you can see Mike Tyson waiting to throw another right hook to the jaw.
Any suggestions? I doubt he will make because he/she is having a tough time eating. Poor guy needs some boxing lessons.

 

[Katrina71]

Poor baby.

 

[Dugless]

Look closer. Cardinals are mouth brooders and hold clutches of eggs in their mouths. It could be a large clutch and cause it to keep its mouth mostly open. Can you see anything in its mouth?

 

[Steve1500]

Look closer. Cardinals are mouth brooders and hold clutches of eggs in their mouths. It could be a large clutch and cause it to keep its mouth mostly open. Can you see anything in its mouth?

 

[Steve1500]

Umm, let me check. But, does the female harass (at least it looks like harassment) the male when mating? The male always looks sick and dark when I remove the divider. He also tries to evade the female.

 

[Dugless]

I’ve never had banghais before, but my other cardinals typically pair up and stick together. They will get a slight bit of coloration enhancement when courting their mate. My Longspines do a twitchy dance where they lean in and flash their sides towards the other fish. It is never aggressive with chasing or nipping. If there are eggs, you’ll be able to see the grayish/white mass in the mouth as they roll it around in their mouth to keep them clean.

 

[Rogued_Reefer]

dang poor guy hopefully he makes it and people are right and it’s holding eggs

 

[Steve1500]

I’ve never had banghais before, but my other cardinals typically pair up and stick together. They will get a slight bit of coloration enhancement when courting their mate. My Longspines do a twitchy dance where they lean in and flash their sides towards the other fish. It is never aggressive with chasing or nipping. If there are eggs, you’ll be able to see the grayish/white mass in the mouth as they roll it around in their mouth to keep them clean.

I removed the divider and saw this on a routine basis. And now the female (I think) has something hanging out of her more. It’s hard to see in the photo.

 

[Steve1500]

I removed the divider and saw this on a routine basis. And now the female (I think) has something hanging out of her more. It’s hard to see in the photo.

Not sure if the video is showing but essentially she whips her side or her tail at him.