Murderous fish.

[Jojo92]

So I added this Banggai cardinal into my tank over the weekend. He’s so awesome looking but he killed my smallest clownfish the same night!

y’all think it was more the stress from moving? Or is he just a mean fish? I heard they were supposed to be community fish that were friendly with the other tank mates. What gives?

photo included because he looks cool though lol

 

[vetteguy53081]

Are you sure? They will attack another Banghai, but generally not its' other tankmates.

 

[Jojo92]

Are you sure? They will attack another Banghai, but generally not its' other tankmates.

My only other fish is another small baby clownfish, and a royal gamma. The royal pretty much hides out and doesn’t do too much, but the next morning I woke up to the Banggai in one of the Little Rock caves over the body of my smaller clown ... I was sad lol

 

[cshouston]

I’d point the finger at the gramma before assuming the bangai did anything. Anything is possible with fish personalities, I guess. Did you see any physical trauma on the clownfish? It may have died from something else unrelated to the introduction of the bangai. Where did the clownfish come from and how long have you had it? Are your water parameters spot on?

 

[KingTideCorals]

Id say the same as above I feel like its maybe the Royal Gramma instead.... of course there is a possibility for everything...

Also are you sure it was the cardinal in the first place?

 

[Jojo92]

My ammonia and nitrates are just about always at 0 ppm when I test, the highest I’ve seen my nitrates are about 2.5 ppm, my ph is a little low sometimes but I’ve picked up a booster for that recently to dose occasionally. I’d had the fish for going on about 3/4 weeks?

I’d had an issue with him not liking the flakes I’d been giving, but when I switched to mysis it basically stopped that.
His bottom fin looked kinda messed up, almost smashed or something (you know those little cute ones the clowns have directly under their bodies?)

do the royals attack a lot? He always looks like calmest one hiding in the back of my tank whenever I’m around.

 

[Jojo92]

Id say the same as above I feel like its maybe the Royal Gramma instead.... of course there is a possibility for everything...

Also are you sure it was the cardinal in the first place?

I guess it can be wrong place wrong time? I’d woken up and saw him in the same cave as the body lol

 

[KingTideCorals]

I guess it can be wrong place wrong time? I’d woken up and saw him in the same cave as the body lol

Classic blame game by the gramma!!!

 

[Conchman]

Seems odd like everyone else said. Definitely check ammonia the rest when you can. Stern talking and time out to the Cardinal...

 

[cshouston]

My ammonia and nitrates are just about always at 0 ppm when I test, the highest I’ve seen my nitrates are about 2.5 ppm, my ph is a little low sometimes but I’ve picked up a booster for that recently to dose occasionally. I’d had the fish for going on about 3/4 weeks?

I’d had an issue with him not liking the flakes I’d been giving, but when I switched to mysis it basically stopped that.
His bottom fin looked kinda messed up, almost smashed or something (you know those little cute ones the clowns have directly under their bodies?)

do the royals attack a lot? He always looks like calmest one hiding in the back of my tank whenever I’m around.

be careful with ph booster products. Chasing ph is worse than just letting things adapt, especially if you don’t have coral.

Gramma can definitely become territorial, as can clownfish. Maybe the clown tried to get into the grammas nook or cave and paid the price. Some people do have gramma horror stories.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Gramma can be a monster for its' little size.
Did the clown have any unusual haze or mucus on its skin ?

 

[Jojo92]

be careful with ph booster products. Chasing ph is worse than just letting things adapt, especially if you don’t have coral.

Gramma can definitely become territorial, as can clownfish. Maybe the clown tried to get into the grammas nook or cave and paid the price. Some people do have gramma horror stories.

I’ll keep that in mind about the ph booster! Thanks, I’ve only been using the last 2 weeks or so I do one cap when I water change and another throughout the week.

I guess since the gamma just looks so friendly I didn’t even consider him lol the Banggai is so alien looking it’s easy to blame him really lol!

 

[HockeyRooster]

The royal gramma would be the main suspect if it were me BUT my banggai has been bullying my file fish. Saw him bite and bump the file fish on many occasions.
that said, I removed the filefish because I saw him biting snails and now the Cardinal seems cool again.

 

[Jojo92]

Gramma can be a monster for its' little size.
Did the clown have any unusual haze or mucus on its skin ?

Everyone is saying this lol, I never would of thought it’s so slender lol. I didn’t notice anything wrong with his coloring or any spotting or anything. I’d had him paired with another and that one seems fine. The one I have left was the first fish into the tank and he’s as normal as always.

I did have a small issue with the one who died not eating a little while back. I thought he just didn’t like the flakes I was giving so I switched to mysis, and he started eating normally. I’m assuming that was issue. The main reason I thought it was the Banggai was because I saw him in the same little cave where I found the body of my clown, he was swimming above it like a little murderous Jack the Ripper lol

 

[Jojo92]

The royal gramma would be the main suspect if it were me BUT my banggai has been bullying my file fish. Saw him bite and bump the file fish on many occasions.
that said, I removed the filefish because I saw him biting snails and now the Cardinal seems cool again.

Lol tank police!

 

[stanlalee]

Grammas do more posturing than attacking and they are only aggressive protecting their cave. All the clown would have needed to do was not go in or in front of his layer. I've seen cardinals be aggressive (just the other day in the pet store going after a damsel) but I don't think they are swift, nimble or committed enough to kill a healthy clownfish. My guess is the clownfish died from reasons unknown vs being killed.

 

[Jojo92]

I think you all were right and it was my royal! I discovered a Little Rock hole he’s been hiding in and it was right where my little clown had been found. Hopefully they all know to stay away from that spot now lol

 

[PFortman]

So I added this Banggai cardinal into my tank over the weekend. He’s so awesome looking but he killed my smallest clownfish the same night!

y’all think it was more the stress from moving? Or is he just a mean fish? I heard they were supposed to be community fish that were friendly with the other tank mates. What gives?

photo included because he looks cool though lol

Correlation does not imply causation – This refers to the inability to legitimately deduce a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables solely on the basis of an observed association or correlation between them. i.e. did you witness the murder?

 

[Willow59]

I've seen cardinals be aggressive (just the other day in the pet store going after a damsel) but I don't think they are swift, nimble or committed enough to kill a healthy clownfish. My guess is the clownfish died from reasons unknown vs being killed.

I agree with this post. My cardinals were VERY aggressive toward one another, and one even bullied my 6-line wrasse into hiding/starvation. However, I don’t see a cardinal being that aggressive in only one day.
Clowns are also pretty tough themselves and are in tanks with grammas and cardinals all the time. I don’t see your gramma killing the clown for simply passing his cave one night. Especially if there were no signs of aggression before then.
May have just been a weaker clownfish that just wasn’t going to make it, especially if it was still pretty small.

Sorry to hear about the loss!