Bangaii cardinal RIP

[morganatlanta]

I got a new bangaii cardinal last Wednesday along with a couple other fish from Warehouse Aquarium for my 125. I acclimated them for several hours before putting them in the tank.

The other fish (kole tang and midas blenny) have done very well, but the bangaii never ate and this evening kicked the bucket. He was never very active, but then again, he's a cardinal fish. I've been feeding pellets several times a day via an autofeeder, and one cube of Prime Reef in the evening. The other fish are all over the food.

I've never lost a fish like this before. Is there anything I should do as a post mortem? I looked in his mouth and at his gills, and didn't see anything odd.

My parameters seem fine-- no nitrite or nitrate. Ph, Calcium and alkalinity are fine. Salinity is 1.025. The other fish seem active and happy.

 

[jef4y]

Post mortem = Pluck & flush...

I guess this is one where quarantining may have helped you identify an eating problem or other problem straight away. Not sure what else to suggest.

 

[jdabs]

I love that fish but have absolutely zero luck with them. I could never get them to eat. I had to do live brine with them (which they still were not very interested in) to keep them for any time at all and couldn't get them to take frozen. Sorry for the loss.

 

[cr500_af]

I had the same trouble with several fish, all from the same place (not Warehouse; but they all came from the same store). This was about 2 years ago or a little more.

They all ate in the store, then tapered off and stopped. Nothing I did made a difference. I was told by another store (a knowledgeable one) that the best guess was organ damage due to cyanide collection, but I don't know if it would ever be possible to ascertain that.

Even if that were the case, I would not blame Warehouse, because the stores have to rely on the word of their suppliers on how fish are collected... and I doubt if any supplier who was doing that would admit to it anyway.
If it became a recurring issue, then that would be different.

 

[morganatlanta]

Not blaming Warehouse at all. I'm a bit surprised to hear that others have had a problem getting them to eat. If that really is a common issue with bangaiis, I would have appreciated a heads up from Warehouse though.

Is it acceptable to bring a fish back to the store after a week if I can't get it to eat frozen? I don't see myself providing live food to a fish indefinitely as an option.

 

[cr500_af]

I guess that depends on their policy. I don't think it's common with Bangaii... I thought most of them were tank raised anyway (in which case it would have to eat prepared foods).

 

[cbj25]

not too common for bangaii's, you could try to bring the fish up there but I wouldnt be too pushy with it bc most sw fish guarantees are 24-72 hours, if any. Most likely they will tell you that it was eating with them and shrug their shoulders, unless you are up there a lot. Also, make sure you bring a water sample for them to test in a seperate container.

 

[jamescook]

Unfortunately, most are not tank-raised as the wc fish are extremely cheap to buy. Most do not eat and die shortly after purchase, but apparently that doesn't seem to stop folks ordering wc fish. IME you'll need some live food and eventually one can get them eating frozen bs and mysis. It's very rare to have one eat processed food. I'm even having trouble with some of my TR fish.

 

[merkywater]

jamescook;614678 wrote: Unfortunately, most are not tank-raised as the wc fish are extremely cheap to buy. Most do not eat and die shortly after purchase, but apparently that doesn't seem to stop folks ordering wc fish. IME you'll need some live food and eventually one can get them eating frozen bs and mysis. It's very rare to have one eat processed food. I'm even having trouble with some of my TR fish.

+1 on wild caught...they are hard to get to eat.

Hey James don't you raise these guys? Also can you sex them I lost my female in an aquarium transfer and have to large males that live on opposite sides of the tank...so may need to get a few females in the near future, any ideas?

Don't mean to steal the thread!

Nate

 

[jamescook]

I need males, I have females, so we could trade if you could catch him.

 

[cr500_af]

jamescook;614678 wrote: Unfortunately, most are not tank-raised as the wc fish are extremely cheap to buy. Most do not eat and die shortly after purchase, but apparently that doesn't seem to stop folks ordering wc fish. IME you'll need some live food and eventually one can get them eating frozen bs and mysis. It's very rare to have one eat processed food. I'm even having trouble with some of my TR fish.

I stand corrected and learned something today.

 

[merkywater]

May end up just buying like 4 females to make it a group....I unfortunately have promised one of the males to a friend that purchased the other tank or I would be all over trading.

 

[morganatlanta]

jamescook;614678 wrote: Unfortunately, most are not tank-raised as the wc fish are extremely cheap to buy. Most do not eat and die shortly after purchase, but apparently that doesn't seem to stop folks ordering wc fish. IME you'll need some live food and eventually one can get them eating frozen bs and mysis. It's very rare to have one eat processed food. I'm even having trouble with some of my TR fish.

Well, in that case I would definitely like a heads up before someone sells me one...

Bummer, and lesson learned. Next time I'll specifically ask about eating habits and maybe negotiate a return policy.

It sucks to kill a fish because you aren't prepared to meet its needs and no one warned you beforehand. I'm aware of other finicky feeders, but just hadn't heard that about bangaiis.

Edit: Well, if anyone does have one that eats frozen and that they are looking to sell, I'm in the market.

Edit: Cool. Like the new edit feature.

 

[morganatlanta]

I stopped by Petland Dunwoody yesterday (not really looking for anything in particular) and noticed that they had several banggais in one of their tanks. Fishfarm put in some mysid shrimp and the fish went nuts. So I came home with these three and some frozen mysid. They are already feeding and seem content. Supposedly it is two females and a male, so we'll see if anything happens.
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[jamescook]

Yeah Mysis seems to be their favorite. I hope you have 2 males instead of 2 females. The females will overwork the males, but sometimes a female will spawn 2 males