?'s on Cardinal fish

[wavetwisters]

If I get three pajama's and three bangai's will they stick together or pick different sides?

[Laura D]

Three banggais is a tricky number. If you have more than one banggai male they will fight, so I would only have three if you can get a confirmed pair and another female, or three confirmed females. Then if they breed, the breeding female may harrass the other female, depending on tank size. I have never tried to mix cardinals, so I cannot say how that will go.

[Wolverine]

I just wanted to back up what mulberry said about three bangaii cardinals. Most often this gets you ending up with two bangaii cardinals.

Dave

[hcs3]

IMO, start with 3 and remove the one that is getting chased.

generally i would agree with wolverine and mulberry. however, i have kept 2 males successfully with 1 female. both males would carry eggs at the same time! i would consider this to be the exception rather then the rule.

HTH

henry

[Wild Card-inal]

hcs3, were your Banggais tank-bred? Tank-bred fish are supposedly less aggressive.

[hcs3]

honestly i don't know. it is doubtful, however. i had them about 3 years or more ago. captive bred was not as popular back then as it is now.

HTH

henry

[FMarini]

Hi:
I'll third the opinion on the banggais. In general you should only keep 2 banggai per small tank (under 150gal). If you have good physical boundries and have defined hiding areas you might be able to keep 1 female and two males or vice versa as Henry has mentioned. I wrote about this in the 97 reefs.org article. Female banggais are promiscious and will bred w/ any available male, so once her male is full, she'll go to the next one. Again only do this in a tank where the males have defined territories, and are well seperated.

However henry's experience is unique

If you want multiple cardinalfish, think about orbics or pyjamas, these fish are more tolerant of larger groups (i.e., 3,4, 5, or 6). The males will bicker, but they appear not as aggressive as banggais.

I personally have NOT found CB/CR banggais to behave any differently than their wildcaught brothers
frank

[wavetwisters]

Could I keep a pair of bangai's and a couple pyjama's or orbic( I thought they were the ame fish) or will they fight?

[FMarini]

what size is the tank?
Do you have physical barriers like rockwork and such?
In general, the banggai are more aggressive than the pyjamas or orbic, but if your tank is large they will co-exist.
frank