Pajama Cardinalfish picking at coral????

Kayotic5011 · Mar 30, 2018

I just caught one of my Pajama Cardinal's picking at the polyps on my Micromussa Amakusensis. I was viewing my 120 as I always do and my micromussa as usual is full extension polyps having a good ol time and here is one of my four Pajama cardinals staring them down with this very deranged look like he was up to no ............."HEY! what the heck! DUDE NOOOO!!!!!"......... I watch it take a nip of a polyp. "Surely it didnt just do that to the poylop, there was something on it..yea thats it"......but mean while the cardinal hasn't moved I was waiting to see if he would "MOTHER....BEEP BEEP, WHY!" It did it again. So I chased it away thinking it was a fluke and the fish needed something else to think about....nope, that thing circled the reef column and came back for some more. Micromussa had opened back up and BAM "OMG FISH I"M GOING TO KILL YOU!" It did it again...chased him away again, came right back. Now im mad, this thing is going to stress this coral. Ive never had an cardinals in my time of keeping ever pick at a coral or polyp of any sort. My small hermit crabs maybe but they eat crustaceans at night so that is to be expected....but my coral polyps???? I mean this thing was fixated on doing this too, when the other 3 don't show any want to do so. Needless to say its been caught and banished to my refugium.

I don't think this has been happening long and it could have been a just that moment thing because the micromussa shows no signs of being picked at or stress, but what I do know is if my work didn't close for today then I wouldn't have caught that fish screwing with my coral and could have come back to my forever beautiful and always happy and open micromussa being a sad and nipped up micromussa and would have blamed it on something other than that fish.

Has anyone else ever seen or witnessed anything like this from cardinals or known anyone who has? I need to know if this is becoming a known but not documented behavior of these fish or has it been a documented behavior and im just behind on my learning of this fish....or is this what im hoping it is a fluke and the fish was just picking around and not specifically at my coral....Though it kept coming back to those polyps and kept nipping.

mckinney0171 · Mar 30, 2018

i have four cardinals (one bangaii and three pajamas) and all are adult size. I have never heard of or seen any of them show any interest in coral. All I have ever seen them eat is fish food. And they are ravenous for it. They chomp up pellets like pac man. Never seen fish with such appetites. That said, every fish is different and you might have an oddball?

Kayotic5011 · Mar 30, 2018

mckinney0171 said:
i have four cardinals (one bangaii and three pajamas) and all are adult size. I have never heard of or seen any of them show any interest in coral. All I have ever seen them eat is fish food. And they are ravenous for it. They chomp up pellets like pac man. Never seen fish with such appetites. That said, every fish is different and you might have an oddball?

Thats how I am feeling as well, Ive kept both bangaii and pajamas and never saw this out of any of them so its a bit confusing. I'm going to keep him in the refugium for a couple days then see if I cant put him back in the display, but I don't want it stressing my micromussa. I'll attempt to give it the benefit of the doubt since there is no damage to that coral indicating its been an prolonged issue.....unless others come forward with accounts lol....guess we will see.

Thank you for your response, its much appreciated.

mckinney0171 · Mar 30, 2018

they are the most peaceful fish i have ever found in the reef hobby. i think it was probably just a fluke and something was bothering him about that particular coral at that moment. i think you will find that all is well when you return him to your display. however, i have had a clownfish banned to my sump for a year and have tried to set him free three different times. each time he has come out and resumed his murderous ways on my other clowns. some fish just don't learn

Kayotic5011 · Mar 30, 2018

mckinney0171 said:
they are the most peaceful fish i have ever found in the reef hobby. i think it was probably just a fluke and something was bothering him about that particular coral at that moment. i think you will find that all is well when you return him to your display. however, i have had a clownfish banned to my sump for a year and have tried to set him free three different times. each time he has come out and resumed his murderous ways on my other clowns. some fish just don't learn

LOL@ your clown..it seems we all have deranged and disgruntled fish. Is this clown a maroon by chance? I have kept two different maroons and both times my females were mean..like bite your hand constantly while you in the tank mean lol.

I believe your right about the cardinal, i'm just hoping he learns his lesson......but I have discovered something about whats going on. After I took this one out another one took its place minus the picking at the coral part, and I think I know why. I just added a new wave maker to my aquarium and its changed the current pattern in my tank. I have made adjustments to accommodate my corals likings and have it set up good. Now because of this where my micromussa is sitting in the reef column seems to been dubbed a chill spot as the current is low there and the fish can just sit with minimum effort....so Im guessing as he was chilling he saw something and got fixated on it and started picking. Now my issue is I'm not moving my wave maker or changing pattern just because of this, my corals love where its at. Ill try an let him go in a couple days and it will end up back in that spot without a doubt it just better not pick at my coral, ill have to ninji kick and judy chop that thing back to the banish room if it does lol.

Kayotic5011 · Mar 30, 2018

I have kept two different pair of maroons*

I forgot the pair in that sentence lol

mckinney0171 · Mar 30, 2018

haha @ your plan

nah it's an ORA misbar oscellaris clownfish. I bought him when he was a tiny thing (less than an inch long total) and he was my first fish in my 10 gallon and was the only fish for a long time. the amateur psychologist in me believes that these conditions caused him to believe he owns every tank he moves into and has no patience for any other fish.

Kayotic5011 · Mar 30, 2018

lol im willing to bet your right. Lots of different clowns have this complex about them, specially when it changes sex from a little male to a big dom female upon pairing or just becoming the mature dom in the system.

Syed123 · Mar 30, 2018

Yeah never had a Pajama Cardinal pick at coral. They don't really have the diet or mouths to do something like that. Well in your case I guess it can happen. lol at the deranged look. They have goofy eyes big mouths so I can imagine haha

Kayotic5011 · Mar 30, 2018

Syed123 said:
Yeah never had a Pajama Cardinal pick at coral. They don't really have the diet or mouths to do something like that. Well in your case I guess it can happen. lol at the deranged look. They have goofy eyes big mouths so I can imagine haha

I'm tellin ya the look on that things face was like it just got let out its jacket and was after some revenge lol..welp it got that jacket put back in it and thrown in the padded refugium hahaha

These responses are what I was hoping for because if they were different, then either I slacked somewhere or these usually always peaceful fish are going nuts. I like watching them and there suspended animation swimming. They even come stare me if the face while I stare into my tank lol

mckinney0171 · Mar 30, 2018

i am obsessed with hoping mine will breed finally. my largest always seems to have a full mouth and I keep thinking "Oh! he has babies in there!" But, alas it's usually just unchewed food.

Kayotic5011 · Mar 30, 2018

I hope mine breed too. The lights I've got has a seasons mode and a lunar cycle mode and its all automated with ramp up and down on the lights...they actually rise with the sun and sets with the sun...our real sun that is. I'm hoping by letting my tank go through a yr of simulated season and moon cycles that it will cause the fish to spawn.

Robots123456789 · Feb 20, 2020

Kayotic5011 said:
I just caught one of my Pajama Cardinal's picking at the polyps on my Micromussa Amakusensis. I was viewing my 120 as I always do and my micromussa as usual is full extension polyps having a good ol time and here is one of my four Pajama cardinals staring them down with this very deranged look like he was up to no ............."HEY! what the heck! DUDE NOOOO!!!!!"......... I watch it take a nip of a polyp. "Surely it didnt just do that to the poylop, there was something on it..yea thats it"......but mean while the cardinal hasn't moved I was waiting to see if he would "MOTHER....BEEP BEEP, WHY!" It did it again. So I chased it away thinking it was a fluke and the fish needed something else to think about....nope, that thing circled the reef column and came back for some more. Micromussa had opened back up and BAM "OMG FISH I"M GOING TO KILL YOU!" It did it again...chased him away again, came right back. Now im mad, this thing is going to stress this coral. Ive never had an cardinals in my time of keeping ever pick at a coral or polyp of any sort. My small hermit crabs maybe but they eat crustaceans at night so that is to be expected....but my coral polyps???? I mean this thing was fixated on doing this too, when the other 3 don't show any want to do so. Needless to say its been caught and banished to my refugium.

I don't think this has been happening long and it could have been a just that moment thing because the micromussa shows no signs of being picked at or stress, but what I do know is if my work didn't close for today then I wouldn't have caught that fish screwing with my coral and could have come back to my forever beautiful and always happy and open micromussa being a sad and nipped up micromussa and would have blamed it on something other than that fish.

Has anyone else ever seen or witnessed anything like this from cardinals or known anyone who has? I need to know if this is becoming a known but not documented behavior of these fish or has it been a documented behavior and im just behind on my learning of this fish....or is this what im hoping it is a fluke and the fish was just picking around and not specifically at my coral....Though it kept coming back to those polyps and kept nipping.

my pajama has picked at my zoos a few times but now he’s nipping at my bubble tip anemone! Fish is crazy butt thrill seeker !!

Giuseppe Falvo · Dec 4, 2021

I have one currently stealing food and pecking polyps off a Duncan coral thought it was my copperband but nope he was nipping at the aptasia near by caught my Panama cardinal little a**hole is going to be sumped for a week or the pair can go to the girls 30 g long make way for mated pair bangai.