Banggai Cardinal Question

[brannock_16]

Hello everyone,

I bought a small shoal of banggai cardinals yesterday from the lfs (5 to be exact) after seeing all of them eat in the tank. I acclimated them slowly but unfortunately one did not survive the ride home.

I woke up this morning and the remaining four were no longer a shoal...instead they paired off and moved to opposite sides of the tank (4 foot 120 G).

My question is is if I add 3 more to the tank will they form a shoal of 7 or will they continue to pair off and not school? Would it be better to have 5 or 7 total in the tank? Will I eventually have to remove all the banggais but two in the future if a pair begins to mate?

Thanks in advance,

Robert.

 

[snorvich]

They will NOT shoal; they will pair off. Depending on the tank size you may only end up with a single pair as basically they don't like each other except for their bonded mate.

 

[brannock_16]

So they are similar to clowns and once they reach maturity and bond they will show aggression towards other cardinals?

Right now the two pairs are on complete different ends of the tank. Do you see any issues with this or is it something I will need to monitor? And finally, I should not add anymore banggais correct?

 

[brannock_16]

Sorry, double post.

 

[rekn]

So they are similar to clowns and once they reach maturity and bond they will show aggression towards other cardinals?

Right now the two pairs are on complete different ends of the tank. Do you see any issues with this or is it something I will need to monitor? And finally, I should not add anymore banggais correct?

exactly and yes, youll end up with just 1 pair if you dont seperate them

 

[Wolverine]

They will NOT shoal; they will pair off. Depending on the tank size you may only end up with a single pair as basically they don't like each other except for their bonded mate.

I agree.