fish is a bully..

[hdevils]

i bought two Banggai Cardinalfish and put them into a 5g q tank. both were doing fine then noticed one was being terrorized by the other. first was hanging up top between the filter and the glass, then was laying on his side on the bottom. i did notice the one bullying him around. my 20 gallon was finally cycled so i put the bully in there.. now the fish that was stressed is doing well. So what should i do now?

can i add the bully back in the 5 after some time since its not his territory anymore?

the display is a 55, will they be fine togeather if i add them at the same time?

[km133688]

well, I tried keeping these fish and I was not successful. After killing 5 of them I decided to quit. Turns out my problem was the same as yours. One of them was a bully and every time I added a fish to the tank the other would seek him out and harras him till he was dead. The only think I can think you might try is to put the two together in the 5 gallon but seperate the bully into some kind of acrylic tank so that he can see the other fella but not get at him. Unfortunately my opinion of these fish is that they are a falsehood perpetrated on reefers. The are hit or miss it would seem on feeding as you either get one that eats flake or not in which case they are doomed, and unless they come in a group of 5 or more, you can't create a good mated pair for breeding. Good luck, sorry I didn't have anything happier to give you.

[ReefRian]

The odds are good that you have two males. If that is the case then you will need to remove one or it will eventually die from stress or be killed. 2 females or a male and female will live peacefully together once they are past about 4 or 5 months old, but after than they start to sexually mature and males will constantly fight. Your best bet is to purchase tank raised banggai cardinals since they will more likely eat frozen foods. They really are easy fish to keep. I have been breeding them for about a year. Unfortunantly wild caught banggai have been having problems for quite a while, most have a parasites, and will eventually die within 2 months of your purchase. Please do not give up on these fish, they really are a wonderful species

[km133688]

You inspire me with your words. Since you breed them does this mean you also sell them? I am afraid my tank if full but I might be willing to give it one more go based on your advice.

[hdevils]

so your pretty much telling me im screwed. i have to males which will always fight, and if their wild caught they will die from a parasite. if i do have two male what am i supposed to do?

[Fenix]

I always heard that bangii cardnals are just suposed to be in a tank by themselfs, I had two in one tank and they fought each other. I think they are just really territoral twords their own kind.

[ReefRian]

I'm glad my words inspired you km.

Hdevils - You aren't necessarily screwed. You will need to remove one male, maybe you can find someone who can buy it off of you or see if the LFS will take it back for a trade. There is a chance they don't have parasites. It has been going around for a couple years, but I'm sure there are some that are parasite free. I just wanted to give you a heads up incase a month or two passes and all the sudden your fish dies or stops eating. But don't give up hope that they are fine.

Fenix - You probably had two males also. The only way to pretty much get a pair is to buy a few, wait to see if two pair up or don't fight and then get rid of the rest. From my experience, they are only territorial to males of their own species, females aren't with other females but males are.

Rian