Flame Cardinal fish

Brian1f1 · Apr 30, 2018

Anybody have experience with these and willing to share? I have a “trio” from Divers Den in QT with some other fish, and they seem very aggressive toward one another at times, and I’ve seen some aggression towards smaller fish when they swim in what they must think is their individual territory. I haven’t seen any damaging attacks, but I lost a neon goby to what looked like a bite, and my pearly jawfish has now lost half its tail and half a gill plate somehow, and I suspect these guys.

So are these things peaceful in a larger tank (maybe the aggression is due to smallish QT)? Are they known belligerents? I’m debating not ever moving these guys up to my display tank.

eatbreakfast · May 1, 2018

They don't stay as trios, but rather are pr forming. However they aren't as aggressive toward conspecifics as bangaiis, so as long as there is space the third just moves further away.

Any cardinal aggression toward other fish species usually doesn't involve biting, but instead is a small charge toward the fish but without contact.

Tail damage and gill cover damage sounds more like burrow building injuries for the jawfish.

Brian1f1 · May 1, 2018

eatbreakfast said:
They don't stay as trios, but rather are pr forming. However they aren't as aggressive toward conspecifics as bangaiis, so as long as there is space the third just moves further away.

Any cardinal aggression toward other fish species usually doesn't involve biting, but instead is a small charge toward the fish but without contact.

Tail damage and gill cover damage sounds more like burrow building injuries for the jawfish.

That could be the case for the jawfish. This happened to my goldline goby.

In that case I wish DD wouldn’t market them as trios..... I thought it was a bite, but perhaps not.

Do flame cardinals feed on small fish like cleaner gobies? How about (at least medium sized) cleaner shrimp? I’m trying to make sure that my DT is shrimp and smaller fish friendly. It sounds like the flames might be ok in the DT, and maybe they were falsely accused of attacking the tank mates.