banggai cardinal not eating

[akma]

I bought a pair of banggai from divers den on la a few weeks ago. They were eating everything I threw in the tank. The larger stopped eating a week ago. I feed Hikari mysis, Hikari brine shrimp with spirulina, cyclopeeze, and lrs, on alternating days. Anyone else have a banggai that stopped eating? Any hints on what else I can try?

Thank you

 

[goodtimes2]

Many times you end up with 2 males, when one then dominates the other and the non dominate one stops eating.When they are with a lot of them or when they have just been moved , it takes some time to determine its territory. I have gone through a few before you end up with a pair. Its differcult to tellsex especially when they are a small pair. If you can separate them see if they both start eating again.

I bought a pair of banggai from divers den on la a few weeks ago. They were eating everything I threw in the tank. The larger stopped eating a week ago. I feed Hikari mysis, Hikari brine shrimp with spirulina, cyclopeeze, and lrs, on alternating days. Anyone else have a banggai that stopped eating? Any hints on what else I can try?

Thank you

 

[Stevenliu9]

Depends on the size of the fish, another possibility is you have a male mouth brooding. My cardinals paired up within two months of being in my tank, the male began mouth brooding, and during that process, they will stop eating for weeks until they release the fry. And there is nothing you can do about it, unless you stress him a lot to force him spit them out, which is not a good idea to stress out a fish either.

 

[snorvich]

Depends on the size of the fish, another possibility is you have a male mouth brooding. My cardinals paired up within two months of being in my tank, the male began mouth brooding, and during that process, they will stop eating for weeks until they release the fry. And there is nothing you can do about it, unless you stress him a lot to force him spit them out, which is not a good idea to stress out a fish either.

Exactly. If this is the case, look closely at the mouth and you will see what is happening as he "mouths" the young.

 

[akma]

I bought them as a bonded pair. The smaller one still feeds aggressively. It's the larger one that stopped completely. They still hang out and sleep together. I've checked the mouth but nothing as well.

 

[Force4000]

Mine devours Mysis shrimp, no interest in anything but the Mysis.

 

[ThreeMoneyJ]

My first thought was that he was holding eggs. Look at the bottom jaw, if it looks swollen then eggs are a strong possibility. During the early stages of holding eggs his mouth will be closed and it will be hard to see inside his mouth. Just look and see if his bottom jaw is bowed out.

To ease your worries my male routinely goes ~28 days without eating when he is holding eggs.

 

[akma]

Alright guys. I worried for no reason!!! Confirmed Eggs!!~~~ Exciting:

 

[ThreeMoneyJ]

Those look ready to come out either tonight or in the next day or two. The baby is facing the same direction as the father and you can see how developed it's eyes are.

Do you have any plans to raise the babies? It is very easy to do if you chose to.

 

[akma]

I would love too. I heard that they are pretty easy to raise. I was thinking maybe I can throw the babies into my refugium/sump.