The story of Pairing my Banggai Cardinalfish

[Grumblez]

Meet BillyBob




I've made a YouTube Video about this which is my best video editing work to date. Which isn't saying much but would appreciate any input! Also below is the story typed out with pictures.


I bought him 9 months ago as a Pair from DiversDen. Unfortunately his partner died 2 days into quarantine, seemed like shipping stress, FedEx didn't deliver them to me tell like 4pm which probably didn't help. Now I say him because using the Vent Method I pushed down on the deceased one's stomach and it just had one nipple poke out, meaning it was a girl. If you overfeed the **** out of them like described in the link you can see them sticking out. I've tried that and have still never been able to see it on one in the tank.

For some reason I got really attached to billy bob, hes kind of a boring fish and a extremely picky eater which is also annoying, At first he would only eat live brine shimp, then I weaned him onto frozen brineshimp. Other frozen foods from what I can tell he maybe eats half then spits the rest back out. When my Wifes fish sitting it would be nice if I could just have her feed TDO pellets and not have to fool with frozen food.

So I set out on a mission to find a girlfriend for my boy, instead of trading him in for a new pair. I visited the most chill LFS in my town, and asked him if I picked out a few Bangaiis If I could bring all but 1 back. He agreed as long as they where still healthy. After watching the tank for a while I opted to pick out 2 that looked like a pair, rationing that one of them was likely to be the opposite gender of mine. The 2 I picked out where just slighty smaller than mine. If you do try making a pair from several I would just make sure to not get tiny ones. I would immagine it would take Juveniles awhile to start sparring for dominance.

The new pair (along with a batch off invertebrates I'm quarantining with them) got drip acclimated. Then the 2 fish took a dip in Safety Stop Rapid Quarantine. I added the first one into the tank and..........



Things went swimmingly, it seemed like this one was probably a girl. For Science off course had to add the other one in and see what happened.



Suprisingly they schooled together! For about 10 minutes.... After that the 2 new ones hung out over near the sump and billy bob was easy to distinguish. Aside from being slightly bigger and with some fin damage from his old roommates (clownfish) he hung out in his favorite spot right underneath the feeding hole in the EVO.
Being that mine was slightly bigger and this was his tank I didn't think he would tolerate being the 3rd wheel. I walked out and came back ~10 minutes later, and the truce was broken.



He was bossing them both around but there was one he was singling out. After watching for a couple of minutes the loser was isolated to a breeder box. Intrestingly enough the pair hung out near his net overnight, but no further signs of aggression. All 3 Cardinals got treated to some Freshly Hatched baby brine shrimp. The next day the loser went back in shame to the small school at the LFS.

BillyBob is now seems Happier and more active then I've seen him previously in the 9 months of owning him. Also the new one I picked up is a much less picky eater, even eating some TDO pellets. Which is a first for me out 4 total Bangaiis now (I had another about a year ago that only made it 2 weeks in my Quarantine tank for whatever reason)
Hopefully I can get these guys to breed, with a goal of eventually trying a Harem tank with a couple of longspine Urchins in it. I can't find any documentation of this being attempted before.

 

[Biologic]

Very very cool. Thank you for this post!!. I just set up a Nano tank with some bangaiis, but I may just have to join along with you.

see my DIY long spine urchin lol. He’s very nice. Doesn’t sting me. Can be pet. Spines don’t break.

 

[Biologic]

Very very cool. Thank you for this post!!. I just set up a Nano tank with some bangaiis, but I may just have to join along with you.

see my DIY long spine urchin lol. He’s very nice. Doesn’t sting me. Can be pet. Spines don’t break.

 

[Grumblez]

Very very cool. Thank you for this post!!. I just set up a Nano tank with some bangaiis, but I may just have to join along with you.

see my DIY long spine urchin lol. He’s very nice. Doesn’t sting me. Can be pet. Spines don’t break.

Oh wow what size is that? Everystory I've read off keeping multiple Bangaiis results in 2 eventually going on a murdering spree. But its always a group of 3 - 6, I'm thinking if you do it with 12+ from the same clutch in a 29 gallon or so like what works best with keeping multiple clowns it might work.

 

[Biologic]

Oh wow what size is that? Everystory I've read off keeping multiple Bangaiis results in 2 eventually going on a murdering spree. But its always a group of 3 - 6, I'm thinking if you do it with 12+ from the same clutch in a 29 gallon or so like what works best with keeping multiple clowns it might work.

I’m actually going to move these to a Mr Aqua 22 Gallon Long. Bangaiis don’t seem to need a lot of vertical swimming room as much as they need horizontal space from each other, where they can have areas to separate themselves.

I’d love to do it in a 40 gallon long, but after seeing the rimless 22, it’s hard to accept a black rimmed tank.

 

[Grumblez]

I’m actually going to move these to a Mr Aqua 22 Gallon Long. Bangaiis don’t seem to need a lot of vertical swimming room as much as they need horizontal space from each other, where they can have areas to separate themselves.

I’d love to do it in a 40 gallon long, but after seeing the rimless 22, it’s hard to accept a black rimmed tank.

Never seen that tank before, looks nice.

 

[Biologic]

Never seen that tank before, looks nice.

Yeah its on several major saltwater web stores. I think it would really be perfect if you are tight on space.