feeding bangai cardinals

[merlin0883]

I've got a 55 gal reef. I've had--gone through--about 10 bangai cardinals over the past few years. They never eat--that I see--so I suspect that they all starved. I quit buying them, because I felt sorry for the little guys, and it was a waste of money. I just got another triplet, and it's been a year and a half since I've had any. I thought that maybe the ones in stock now were potentially captive bred, and that they may be more predisposed to eat--since their parents must have survived in captivity too. I thought this may be possible because I've been reading stuff about many people having success getting these mouth-brooders to breed. It seems like I was potentially correct, because these little dudes are not shy at all--they come straight to the top of the tank when anyone comes near it. They also voraciously suck in anything that resembles food, including algae, copepods, tigger pods, amphipods, flake food, rotifers, etc. But, they always spit out EVERYTHING that they inhale. Are they getting trace bits of food by gill raking the brine shrimp, flakes, etc and then spitting out the rest? Is there something specific that they are "tasting" for before they will eat it? Can they not swallow anything large enough for us to see with the naked eye? Everyone says that they are very hardy, and that they have no problems with them. Evidence of this is many aquarists breeding them in captivity. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Josh

[Freak On A Reef]

Our Bangai favors the PE Mysis shrimp but will eat the smaller mysis as well. It is absolutly a pig. Sorry to hear you've been through so many. It pretty much eats nothing else and ignores any other food I have ever tried.

[allan]

Yeah, took me awhile to get mine off of brine onto mysis, but he doesn't eAt much else. I don't think they're diurnal though.

[merlin0883]

Thanks for the info. Yea, I have read several places that they are nocturnal in the wild. They hide under overhangs by day and come out to feed on copepods, amphipods, and other small arthropods/crustaceans after dark. I have tried feeding them after the halides go out, and they inhale food then too, but spit it back out. However, since I posted this thread, I went to the local pet shop on a search for frozen foods I did not already have--which was harder than I expected. I picked up some of the 1/2 cubes of cyclops, and they are eating it with extreme prejudice. So, problem solved--for now, anyway. Any other comments still appreciated.

Josh

[Kyle46N]

I have tried and failed with 3 bangaii's. I refuse to kill anymore. Just not a fish I will try again. The three I had ate for the first day or so, then quit eating, and died within a week.

[justahobby]

My pajama cardinal only eats live pods off the glass, and believe me I have tried for approx. 8 months to show him there is more to life. Some fish are just stubborn....

Since no one else has done it, I feel its my job:
What on earth would possess some one to try and kill ten.... or eleven of the same fish?? Irresponsible! Why didn't you give up after the 2nd or 3rd and realize this fish ain't for you? Secondly, assuming gets you nowhere real quick. Ask the seller if you are unsure of the fish being captive bred. Ask to see the fish eat and make note of what they are feeding.

[mabel_photo6]

Yep, I refuse to buy any more.
Glad to know I wasn't the only one having problems with them.
I bought 2; one died, then I lost the other about a week after.
The one that lasted longer ate brine shrimp and the other wouldn't eat.

So after those 2 died, I never tried again 'cause I figured I'd just keep having some dead cardinals.

[timmytimtim]

I bought two of them from Gabe's a about 3 months ago and they eat brine like pigs. They are getting bigger and are very healthy, happy fish. I think Gabe trys to feed them a little bit of everything so they'll eat when you get them...just wanted to let you know. If your thinking about getting some more, talk to Gabe and see what he has. Sorry, just realized your in San Marcos. Gabes is here is SA (just in case you didn't know).

[Freak On A Reef]

Since no one else has done it, I feel its my job:
What on earth would possess some one to try and kill ten.... or eleven of the same fish?? Irresponsible! Why didn't you give up after the 2nd or 3rd and realize this fish ain't for you? Secondly, assuming gets you nowhere real quick. Ask the seller if you are unsure of the fish being captive bred. Ask to see the fish eat and make note of what they are feeding.

Gosh I hope you feel better... Last time I checked this is still America and there is no law (yet anyway) saying that one can't waste their money if they want. Spend on Josh! Make this ecomony hum and more importantly, spend your money the way you want.

[Kristy]

We were interested in getting bangais for a while, but would only buy captive bred due to the information I've read about how we as aquarists have pretty well wiped out the populations on the reef. I know they can mouth-brood pretty easily and we were planning to put a pair or trio in our 20g as a dedicated tank for this purpose. I was surprised how difficult it was to find captive bred bangais for sale.

I think I remember Dr. Mark's GC Reef store mentioned plans to do this and maybe hobogato also has plans in his classroom (don't quote me on that one though) so maybe they will be available locally in the future. Other than that, I've seen captive bred bangais for sale a couple of times at Blue Zoo Aquatics online.

Also... it is a pet peave of mine when someone assumes that the only issue with dying fish is the money spent on that fish. To me that promotes the attitude that the life has no value other than monetary, which just doesn't fit well with responsible and ethical reefkeeping. Our rule of thumb in our house is that if we have lost a fish of a certain type, we will allow ourselves to try it again only if we have a strategy about what went wrong and what we could do better to insure its survival. Once we have lost two of the same type, then we have a "no more" policy.