Timid Banggai Cardinals

Instigate · Jan 4, 2018

I have a pair of banggai cardinals and I've been waiting for them to get settled in before starting copper. But they just wont. The banggais will usually hide when I come up to the tank. One is more bold and will stay put sometimes. They don't want to travel very far from their hide to eat. But one is much more timid and doesn't eat as much. They are both eating enough as far as I can tell. The the that eats more has become larger than the other. They just don't seem settled in and I've had them for about a month now. Is this common of banggais? Should I keep waiting or just start the copper? I was hoping for them to be comfortable and established before I started copper so I could easily know if it's bothering them. They have already been through the two treatments of prazipro. Tank parameters have been steady and free of ammonia.

They are just two random banggais from the lfs but I've been watching them closely and often and have not seen any aggression between the two. In fact they do seem like they like to be together. So I'm hoping I got lucky and ended up with a male and a female. They are still juveniles though. So I'm still not sure of their sexes yet. I realize I need to keep an eye on them and I might have to remove one if they turn out to be the same sex. I haven't observed any mating ritual behavior yet but I think they might still be too young for that. But they do swim together, the smaller one staying behind and under or to the side.

g5flier · Jan 4, 2018

Not an expert here whatsoever, but...I just bought a pair about 10 days ago and put them directly into a new system so no quarantine. One is very shy, stays behind some rocks and rarely is seen, looks fine but just shy. The other is the total opposite, comes to the front of the glass when I appear and feeds quite well. They get along fine as once its dark they are both together. I'm hoping its something that will pass over time. Good luck to you.

Instigate · Jan 5, 2018

g5flier said:
Not an expert here whatsoever, but...I just bought a pair about 10 days ago and put them directly into a new system so no quarantine. One is very shy, stays behind some rocks and rarely is seen, looks fine but just shy. The other is the total opposite, comes to the front of the glass when I appear and feeds quite well. They get along fine as once its dark they are both together. I'm hoping its something that will pass over time. Good luck to you.

I hope so! It makes it hard to get a good look and check for any symptoms on the more timid one since it's either hiding or hides as soon as it notices me creeping up.