Bangaii Cardinal Aggression

[Randrew215]

I've had 2 bangaiis that I picked up from ARC about 6 months ago in a 125 gallon tank. They were not partnered and showed some signs of aggression towards one another. I decided to keep them both, however, as they had very well-established ends of a 6 foot tank (125 g). This evening I found one of them in a corner of the tank being repeatedly pummeled by the other. The battered bangaii was distressed and shallow breathing with visible shredding to his fins. He's in the sump now and I don't have very high hopes for recovery.
It was foolhardy of me to try to keep them together and the one took down the other in a manner of hours, so I'm just posting this as a cautionary tale in case anyone is trying something similar.
Andy

 

[SushiGirl]

Thanks for posting your experience. I hope lots of people read it!

 

[tmz]

They will fight and at least one will die if they are of the same sex.
It's very diffiuclt to tell the sexes apart.Adding two gives you a 50% chance of getting a male and a female. Getting 3 gives you a 75% chance of getting a pair of the opposite sex. I got my pairs that way with the odd man/lady out moved to separate tanks once it became apparent which one was being isolated.This was realtiely easy during quarantine .

There are a number of threads on bangai behavior, Folks and fish will be well served by researching them and threads on other species before putting them in a tank. Quarantine offers opportunites for disease control , specialized feeding and observations with easier interventions than when fish are in reef tanks.