Bangaii cardinals

[cl2ysta1]

We are setting up a 280 display, 400 gallon system and i wanted to put about 15 bangaiis in. I was under the impression that when kept in large groups they didnt fight, but when in groups of 4 or so they would pair up than kill the rest. can someone give me the correct information, or possibly and experience with many of them in a large tank>?

[reefman8471]

That is generally correct. They do best in large groups and it isn't very hard to keep them as such since they are slow moving relatively inactive fish. I would at least keep six of them. I have introduced smaller groups to other tanks and they gradually whiddle their numbers down to one or zero. Occasionally you might find a male and female together by accident. For more information read Scott W Michael's "Reef Fishes Volume 1".

James

[cl2ysta1]

thank you for responding!

[flameangel88]

I see LA's Diver's Den have group of 4-5 pretty often for around $120. I just saw they have a group of 5 of the Pajama Cardinals for something like $79.99

With a 280g tank you may be able to have 2 groups of 4-5 but you probably need to introduce them at the same time.

[Wolverine]

If you want to save money, just get a male-female pair. You'll be up to 20 or 30 in no time in a tank that size. Even if you don't intentionally raise the fry, some of them will survive on their own.

Dave

[cl2ysta1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11369298#post11369298 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Wolverine
If you want to save money, just get a male-female pair. You'll be up to 20 or 30 in no time in a tank that size. Even if you don't intentionally raise the fry, some of them will survive on their own.

Dave

very true! We are going to see what we can get them for price wise. My fiance works for a LFS so we can get fish for our personal use at cost plus a percentage which is pretty dirt cheap. If they still arent very cheap for us the just one pair route is a good idea!

[King-Kong]

How do Bangaii's do in strong flow?

[bkmorris]

please try to buy a captive-bred pair! they are much hardier, not much more expensive, and the wild caught banggais are now on the CITES redlist due to the way they are collected. i have a CB banggai and he is a fantastic fish! good luck :)

[LockeOak]

If you're looking to buy large numbers of them, the responsible thing would be to buy the tank-raised varieties (ORA, LiveAquaria, etc.) They'll probably be healthier as well.

[JamesJR]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11370113#post11370113 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bkmorris
please try to buy a captive-bred pair! they are much hardier, not much more expensive, and the wild caught banggais are now on the CITES redlist due to the way they are collected. i have a CB banggai and he is a fantastic fish! good luck :)

They aren't red listed because of how they are captured. They are red listed because they only live in such an incredibly small area and have such a limited distribution. The shear numbers these fish are being captured in is sure not helping the.

But yes, do buy captive raised if you can. They pack so many of this fish to a bag to the wholesaler which means they are not always in the best shape when they make it to your aquarium dealer. Captive bred fish make much better stock.

[bkmorris]

i had heard it was due to both collection method and small natural habitat range... anyway, doesn't matter i suppose.

does anyone know where live aquaria gets their CB stock?

[LockeOak]

ORA, I would imagine.

[JamesJR]

You will pay more for tank bred specimens though but you won't regret it. The reason is because they have smaller broods and it is not as cost effective to breed them as clownfish are.

[FMarini]

CITES and IUCN redlist are two very different things. There are no CITES ban on collection of these fish, and yet the redlist identified them as endangered-PITY.
And to a certain extent yes- they are way overcollected to the tune of over 10,000/week (700,000/yr), and BTW the hobby is the reason they are collected at all.

As Dave mentions, the least expensive way is to buy a few pairs and allow the offspring to establish their grounds. it will take about 4-6months. If you start out w/ a bunch, they may do one of 2 things, 1-a bunch will be killed off by a dominant animal, not directly by picking on, but by preventing them to come out for food, or two, they find territories and pair off, only juveniles stay in small schoals.

ORA is selling them, but ask first, last time i spoke w/ them they were only selling females, as they were keeping all males for increase their broodstock. Inlandaquatics, ocean rider, and coral dynamics were other places selling captive bred

[snorvich]

They tend to stay in quiet areas of the reef and do not do well in strong flow unless there are places to get out of it somewhat such as caves or under hangs.

[discotu]

how do they do with other fishes? I have green chromis, tangs, anthias, wrasses, flame angel, flame hawk, pheudochromis, clowns, and gobies...

[JamesJR]

They are really peaceful dither fish. They should be ignored by most other aquarium fish. They are mostly aggressive towards each other.

[The Fish Finder]

I have one big one in my 150G. Is there any way to tell the sex? I would love to have a pair.

[Guage32]

I have cardinals in my tanks. They are great! They get along with all the other fish in the tanks. They tend to stay towards the back of the tank where the current is the weakest. They are one of my favs.

[FMarini]

There is NO way of sexing them (regardless of what I published back in 96)

These fish are extremely peaceful w/ most other fish, but fight terribly amoungst sexually mature males.
Oh BTW they will also chow down on smaller fish that fit into their mouths

[Wolverine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11372064#post11372064 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JamesJR
You will pay more for tank bred specimens though but you won't regret it. The reason is because they have smaller broods and it is not as cost effective to breed them as clownfish are.

If you buy from local reefers, it's usually much, much cheaper. The last TR pair I got was a little cheaper than the wholesale price for WC.

Dave

[mwwhite]

PLEASE go with tank bred!

Before we did our homework we lost one, then found out it was wild caught. We have a captive bred now - been with us for a year or so. Great fish...

There is a member on here (papagimp) that raises them. He's very knowledgeable about Bangaii's also.