Banggai cardinals disappearing?

[colesjensen]

I have had 3 cardinals disappear in my reef tank. I don't have any predator fish. The tank has a joke tang, 2 clownfish, a goby, peppermint shrimp and 2 emerald crabs. What could have killed and ate it?


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[colesjensen]

Sorry I meant kole tang. Not joke tang


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[Nick_Northern]

How big are the emerald crabs? I haven't kept them but understand once they reach a certain size they can be pretty opportunistic.

It would be worth getting a red light and having a look around the tank once the lights go out, especially where the banggais hang out, you could try putting in a bit if shrimp too to try and entice any nasties out. I had a small eunice worm in my tank that I found using this method.

 

[colesjensen]

How big are the emerald crabs? I haven't kept them but understand once they reach a certain size they can be pretty opportunistic.

It would be worth getting a red light and having a look around the tank once the lights go out, especially where the banggais hang out, you could try putting in a bit if shrimp too to try and entice any nasties out. I had a small eunice worm in my tank that I found using this method.

The crabs are about a inch


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[ThRoewer]

How many Banggais did you have to begin with?
Usually, only one male and one female get along. All others get killed off.

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[colesjensen]

I had 4 they separated into 2 pairs and then they would disappear 1 by 1. Now there is just one left, and I couldn't find the bodies


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[slief]

I've found that the mortality rate for bangaii's is pretty high these days. Not sure if it's the collection methods or what but several years back, bangaii's had much higher long term success rates than those I am seeing today. If I were to buy more bangaii's they would be tank raised ones. My suspicion is that if it isn't a lack of food or an issue related to the tank maturity or tank health than it's an issue with the fish themselves.

 

[hann1bal]

FYI, when I bought 3 Bangais two died within a week and the last one lived about a year but near the end fins were vanishing.

I did have a crab eating a fish one time as well - not sure that is what happened in your case but it is possible.