Banggai Cardinal Question

Mickeyt1reef · Apr 17, 2021

I have two banggai cardinals that have been my pets for two years. They are tank raised and I originally purchased 4 pretty small fish, really small actually. Two were decimated after a few months. I assume the existing two are a male female pair. Recently one of them is having a color shift. The fish seems fat and healthy as ever. Over a week or two the back half of the fish has turned almost solid black. I’ve been keeping saltwater tanks since high school, I’m currently 56. I have never kept banggais before. Is this normal?

vetteguy53081 · Apr 18, 2021

Banggai cardinalfish are easily identified by their three distinct vertical black bars on pearly silver bodies. This color pattern is thought to be a form of camouflage that helps them hide among urchin beds. The unique patterns allow biologists to identify individuals in large schools for research purposes, similar to how shark biologists use dorsal fin notches to identify individual sharks.
The three strips are noticeable in your pic with a darker patch before the tail which may be stress or pigment associated with breeding. Assure you dont have elevated ammonia and that the salinity and tank temp is in normal range

Mickeyt1reef · Apr 18, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Banggai cardinalfish are easily identified by their three distinct vertical black bars on pearly silver bodies. This color pattern is thought to be a form of camouflage that helps them hide among urchin beds. The unique patterns allow biologists to identify individuals in large schools for research purposes, similar to how shark biologists use dorsal fin notches to identify individual sharks.
The three strips are noticeable in your pic with a darker patch before the tail which may be stress or pigment associated with breeding. Assure you dont have elevated ammonia and that the salinity and tank temp is in normal range

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Parameters are good. Hopefully just a mating response.

BeardedDragon21 · Apr 22, 2021

They are mouth brooders so if one stops eating you might have a clutch of eggs. If this happens be careful not to startle or stress the one not eating as it will abandon the eggs in response

Mickeyt1reef · Apr 22, 2021

I’m stressing! Fish not looking great. All parameters fine. Swimming with head low, close to bottom. A little bit of a wobble side to side. I cannot see egg clutch. Will try to eat but spits out. I hope it’s eggs.