Banggai Cardinal Fish - 1 or 2 in a tank?

[Carmen]

I am picking up a tank bred Banggai for my 72G and am wondering if I should have only 1 or is it possible/better to have more than 1 - without knowing the sexes of the fish?
Anyone have any experience with these fish?

[Frenchie]

tagging along

[Delphinus]

This is my take. Others may give you differing advice but this is what I believe.

Two is OK if you have a male and a female. (You can tell the genders apart by the jawline - males have a bulldog appearance - they carry the young). Any more than 2 and the odd man out (or girl) tends to be bullied.

I'm not 100% sure about two of the same gender. Personally I wouldn't chance it.

Now, here is the wrinkle with the "1 male, 1 female" idea. They breed constantly. Cool right? Well, maybe not so much. The male carries the babies, and won't eat while carrying babies. Once the brood is expelled, they "go at it again" and before you know it, the male is carrying again. Males usually die from exhaustion/starvation because of this. You should try separating them so the male can regain strength. Basically, without intervention, a mated pair becomes a single female sooner or later.

One by himself or herself is obviously OK from a territorial or "too much spawning" perspective. However, both times I had a single female, they eventually died and I think they may have been eggbound. Basically, without a spawn to release the eggs, eventually a female explodes. Not 100% certain about this but "2 out of 2 times" is hard to ignore.

Fun stuff eh?

[Carmen]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

This is my take. Others may give you differing advice but this is what I believe.

Two is OK if you have a male and a female. (You can tell the genders apart by the jawline - males have a bulldog appearance - they carry the young). Any more than 2 and the odd man out (or girl) tends to be bullied.

I'm not 100% sure about two of the same gender. Personally I wouldn't chance it.

Now, here is the wrinkle with the "1 male, 1 female" idea. They breed constantly. Cool right? Well, maybe not so much. The male carries the babies, and won't eat while carrying babies. Once the brood is expelled, they "go at it again" and before you know it, the male is carrying again. Males usually die from exhaustion/starvation because of this. You should try separating them so the male can regain strength. Basically, without intervention, a mated pair becomes a single female sooner or later.

One by himself or herself is obviously OK from a territorial or "too much spawning" perspective. However, both times I had a single female, they eventually died and I think they may have been eggbound. Basically, without a spawn to release the eggs, eventually a female explodes. Not 100% certain about this but "2 out of 2 times" is hard to ignore.

Fun stuff eh?

Wow........so not too sure what is best then!!! Male gets exhausted if with female (Assuming I were to correctly choose the sexes). Female gets exhasted if single. I've heard singly they hide and are insecure???

Really like this fish so what to do?

[truperc]

I had three in a 180gal tank. First off one was picked on until it died. So I thought, now the pair will be fine but it did not work out that way. I am now down to one and it has been that way for some time. That being said, unless you are planning on breeding, stick with one. MHO

[Delphinus]

Not been my experience that a single fish by herself was shy and insecure. In fact, both fish I had (both were female) tended to be the more outgoing personalities in the tank at the time, coming to the front when seeing you there (looking for a meal handout, LOL). At least after a while, maybe at first they were more docile but in time they really came around.

I'm not 100% sure these fish died from being eggbound. What I can tell you though is they died in the exact same manner and it was quite sudden and unexpected. They were looking fine, with no reason to expect anything amiss, to within a couple hours of their death. The last few hours were spent bloated, difficulty swimming. The bloat part is clearly indicative of something - but whether it means eggbound, digestive/intestinal, or perhaps some kind of aggressive parasitic or microbial infection, is something I don't have enough knowledge to truly identify. Just very weird to me though, that both fish, and this happened years apart, died in the exact same manner. It could just be spectacular coincidence.

[Carmen]

Looks like one is the best then??? And hopefuly Tony you just had 2 bad spectacular coincidences??
I think it's such a strikingly marked fish that I have wanted since starting in salt so I will take a chance on one.

[karazy]

you could try getting one male.
from looking at these stories it looks like that would be best IMO

[naesco]

Good for you choosing CAPTIVE BRED banggai
Eric Borneman has organized a boycott of wild ones.

Wild ones have survivability problems, come in diseased and are threatened in the wild.

[Slick Fork]

Where in Calgary are you finding Captive Breds?