Fish behavior has so much more than meets the eye - Banggai "shoal"

[Ardeus]

It's a combination of light and camera. The lights are 2 Aqua Medic Angels. They're like Kessils AP700 but with some blue diffuse light.

The camera is a Blackmagic Pocket 4K.

I chose this camera because it has 12 bits of color. This means you can really torture the images until they show you what you want to see.

The tank in reality is a bit different. In a way it's not as pretty, on the other hand it doesn't look as messy in person.

 

[Mark Bradley]

I’ve had a pair for about a year. Bought quite small and hard to sex. However, I either have a sexed pair or two of the same that get on as I’ve had no aggression issues between them. Hopefully I don’t get any fry as only have a small hospital tank in addition to my Reefer.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Funny that a fish that shoals in the wild is so intolerant of their own kind in the confines of captivity...

 

[Ardeus]

I believe that each fish not only is aware that it is confined, but it's also aware that its tankmates are also confined and acts accordingly.

These shoals can work in captivity if the fish are in a public aquarium or in a fish store.

Fish get numb in these places with overstimulous from moving people.

I recently visited the Lisbon oceanarium and they have a 40 meter long nature aquarium by Takashi Amano. I was surprised that the fish were acting like zombies, even in such a densely scaped and planted environment. It can only be the presence of large numbers of people.

 

[Ardeus]

The question is: Why do they get numb in the presence of large numbers of people and not in the ocean in the presence of even larger numbers of other animals?

 

[RalphTech]

Our Cardinal is aggressive during any meal. He also chases the Pajama Cardinal and Max our surviving bullet hole Clown fish that's in my avatar. We moved the rock work to attempt creating areas for them to swim away. A tight stone bridge allows Max to swim through but not the cardinal. I didn't know Banggai's don't sleep.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Our Cardinal is aggressive during any meal. He also chases the Pajama Cardinal and Max our surviving bullet hole Clown fish that's in my avatar. We moved the rock work to attempt creating areas for them to swim away. A tight stone bridge allows Max to swim through but not the cardinal. I didn't know Banggai's don't sleep.

Cardinalfishes in general are nocturnal and are chiefly active at night. I have heard mixed claims whether bangaiis are also...clearly they have no aversion to skipping their bed time.

 

[Ardeus]

Half of my fish population is very active at night.

 

[Ardeus]

Things are a bit calmer now after I used a very old trick to reduce aggression: I cleaned the pumps

The circulation in the tank is in charge of 2 Jebaos CP-150. They're a more powerful version of the gyres, each of them can push around 8500 gallons/hour when overclocked (and clean). This changes just after a few weeks and their performance drops considerably.

Just the same these pumps are perfect for large tanks with anemones and small fish, since they can't hurt neither of them because the grills are very fine.

Most other fish are able to go about their businesses with high flow, the Banggais not so much.

So, now the adult couple spends the day mostly in the less turbulent parts of the tank and aggression has dropped dramatically.

I think I will syncronize the cleaning of the pumps with their breeding cycles. Whenever the male releases the fry, I clean the pumps.

 

[Ardeus]

 

[Ardeus]

Un uptate on the Banggai situation.

The aggression has been reducing very slowly over the last few weeks but the group of 9 banggais still needed to keep out of sight from their parents all day, mostly hiding inside the xenias and bubbletips.

A week ago I saw a young banggai at the front in the top left corner and he had a swollen eye, so I managed to catch him easily and put him in the refugium where a few of his younger brothers live. I think his eye is getting better and he has been eating. I am not certain the swollen eye is the result of aggression.

3 days ago the father got another batch of eggs and I immediately began observing the female to check how she was behaving towards the male. She was acting normal and not watching over him obsessively like last time. He's still holding the eggs and I am betting he will carry this batch till the end.

This means that the banggai gang has been now out in the open all day long.

Last time, the female really knew that he was not willing to go through with the incubation, she didn't let him move away from her more than an inch or 2 and she was right. How did she know? I have no idea.

 

[Ardeus]

It's been 1 month since the last update and it's been a very peaceful month.

The male carried the batch full term this time and he released the babies about a week ago. I only managed to catch 1 and put it in the refugium with a couple of his older brothers.

I expected that the aggression level would explode just like it had happened last time. The male has regained his strength, the aggression increased but at about 50% of what happened last time.

The young ones are now a bit larger and are already displaying courtship behaviors.

They used to hide mostly in the xenias pillar but the 2 filefish have been keeping the xenias in check and the young ones are now too large to hide in them, so they are all out in the open.

There's some chasing here and there but nothing serious. The older of the siblings now also chases his brothers every now and then.



I hope the male gets another batch within the next week so that if a really violent period comes, it doesn't last long.

I noticed that the parents never chase the others at the same time. If one of them chases another fish, the partner just watches.

I try to keep them well fed with a meal of mussels/frozen copepodes in the morning and mysis in the evening.

I think keeping strong circulation in the tank has been key in keeping a lower level of aggression, because these fish are not proficient swimmers.