Agressive Banggai Cardinal

[desx2501]

My ex had 2 clownfishes and 2 banggai cardinals and she wanted to get rid of her tank. I was in the process of setting up my tank and it was nearly ready : The tank was done cycling and some snails and hermits were there since about a week.

She called me one evening because one of her Banggai attacked the other, and that other was really in bad shape. I took them, brought them in my tank: The agressive/healthy one in my display and the injured one in my sump (with lights too). This was about 2 months ago. Yesterday I reintroduced the injured (who healed well) in the tank, and this evening I saw that it has, once again, been injured.

Should I let the injured one heal once again in the sump, then move it back in the display and remove the agressive one? Should I just let the injured one die? (I hope not)
Should I try to give one of the banggai away?


What should I do?

 

[Aaarrrggg]

Are they a mated pair? If not, it's possible they're both the same sex, in which case they v well might fight until one dies. They might have just been getting along before because they were immature.

Maybe let the injured one heal up again and then trade it (or the other one) into your LFS. You could then try to pair up the remaining one with a new bangaii. I'm no expert, just been researching bangaiis a lot recently. Try googling "pairing bangaii" or "sexing bangaii" for more info.

 

[Mental1]

They will get along just fine when they are young and they are hard to sex. If they are fighting you probably have two of the same sex. It happened to me -- bought two and one started beating up the other so had to give one away. I have a male and he is on his own. Do not put the less dominant one back in as he will be killed.

 

[desx2501]

We bought them about 15months ago so the cause of agressivity is probably that they are of the same sex. Since the dominant one sometimes shows signs of agressivity also torwards the clownfishes (never to the point of biting it though) I think I'll wait to make sure the weaker one recovers, then try to trade in (or find someone if they don't take it) the dominant one.

Thanks for your input folks!

 

[jason2459]

I've found once they get older the male has a much more squared jaw like a big under bite giving a much more grumpy look and tend to be bigger then the female. I've also experienced the female to be a lot pickier on what she eats. I've had two pairs now and both sets acted and ended up looking the same.

picture of my male

female