Banghai Cardinal not eating

[brianf01]

I got a Cardinal 3 days ago, and it does not seem to be eating, other than that he looks good, but what is their main diet? He seems to sit in an area where the flake food does not circulate, and does not activly go after pieces. Do they like a lot of live food? I have a decent amount of amphipods running around so its possible hes eating those. Should I get him some Brine shrimp?
-Brian

 

[ddt]

I got two a few weeks back and it took them about 10 days before they started eating normally. I feed a combination of mysis shrimp and flakes.
Give it some time he should be fine.
By the way, what's housed with?

 

[twoods71]

I have always had the best of luck getting fish to eat by using live brine.
After they start eating regularly try other foods and usually the fish will adapt pretty quickly.
It has been my experience with Banggai Cardinals that they tend to be picky eaters. Mine will never touch flake for example. He will however take live or frozen brine and a few other frozen foods.

 

[brianf01]

I have a clown and a yellow tang with this fish.
Do you have live mysis shrimp or frozen? I tried feeding dried blood worms and dried krill but to no avail. I'll get some brine for it, but I might try the frozen for longer term.

 

[fmarini]

Ditto--what the group says, these fish when wild caught require some sort of live foods at first. i have never seen a banggai cardinalfish (spelled correctly-i point this out NOT to correct your spelling but to allow you to do a proper web search)
refuse live brine shrimp, live ghost shrimp, and PE frozen mysis. 2 or 3 days of not eating is no big deal.
I would start off w/ meaty foods and once he's rountinely eating then try some of the flake, pellet products. Of the 300+ banggais i've raisied none of them ate flake or pellet.
here are the banggai articles in case you've not seen them. I highly recommend you read them thru
frank

 

[maxi]

I have a mated pair of banggai. They will not take any flake food. They prefer frozen brine or mysis shrimp. I also find a couple of drops of garlic xtreme encourages picky eaters. There is one more thing no has mentioned. It could be possible you have a male with eggs in his mouth. He will not eat if this is the case. His jaw will be full and square. This process takes 28 days. After the eggs hatch the male will be starving.

 

[bhav_88]

I can't believe this post has not yet been attacked by Bang Guy.

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by BHAV_88
I can't believe this post has not yet been attacked by Bang Guy.
Frank (The Master) said everything I would have mentioned. I have nothing to add.

 

[brianf01]

He died and before I could get him out a crab (which I still have not identified since it only comes out at night) dragged him into a cave under the rocks to eat him, so I guess I will need to do a water change soon.
Do you think his death was lack of food? it had been 4 days without him eating, today I had planned on getting him live food. I'm wondering if I should try a different fish this time, or go for another Cardinal? Are Cardinals sensitive to water conditions? My tang is doing fine, so I dont think my levels are too bad.. . (stages of grief)

 

[twoods71]

Sometimes things like that just happen. He may have been sick or handled wrong before you got him.
It's always best to ask the store to feed the fish to make sure they are eating before taking them home.

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by brianf01
Do you think his death was lack of food? it had been 4 days without him eating, today I had planned on getting him live food
No. Male Banggai go 3+weeks without food every 4 or 5 weeks. I can't imagine a couple week doing one in.
May I suggest you search out a source for Tank Bred Banggai? They WILL eat. They may cost you a few more bucks, but they are MUCH more likely to survive and be disease free.
As an added bonus you won't be contributing to the decline of the wild population.