Bengais Help

Fishy1

Fishy1

New member
Three days ago, I bought a little cardinal for my 12 gallon desktop.

He is such a cute, fat little guy! He measures a little over a 1/2 inch from nose to where the tail begins. Problem is he's not taking to anything I offer him food wise. I've tried minced krill, minced mysis, minced squid, spirulina brineshimp, and cyclopeeze. He shows some interest in the krill and mysis ........takes them in and then spits them back out. What else can I try? Do you think he needs a buddy?

Thanks,
Janey
 
Regular brine shrimp. They are very hard to sex, that is, to tell male from female and I think a pair is best. Sound like you have a baby and I would buy a few more.
 
Hi Janey -
My pair took 5-7 days to start eating. After that, they couldn't resist garlic soaked mysis shrimp, and now I think they would eat anything. Throwing in a little bit of cyclopeeze seemed to help get them interested in food as well. It's amazing how much those little guys can eat!

Good luck!
Anna :)
 
Janey,

I hate to always have to be the bummer guy, but for your sake and the sake of your future fish please do not buy a bangaii to keep this one company. It will not work to entice him to feed as intended. Odds are this was a wild caught fish and wild bangaii are notoriously infected with internal parasites upon collection. They usually will not eat without treatment and will slowly wither away after 1-2 weeks. I know this sucks to hear, but it is true. If you got lucky and actually got a captive bred bangaii your chances are much better as they can be shy for a few days and will eventually start eating like a horse. Try cyclop-eeze as suggested and brine. Once he starts eating switch to frozen mysis as it is the best food for them besides a prepared food. If he does start eating in the next 5 days though or you notice white stringy feces you are most likley dealing with internal parasites. I wish you luck as these are great fish!!!
 
Thanks for the help, everyone:) I will try the garlic trick and see if that helps. I'm pretty sure the one I have is tank bred, Atticus. There are several where my daughter works and she said a few of the bigger ones (which mine is) ate mysis this morning and kept in down......didn't spit it back out. I'll ask her next time we talk and be sure it's not wild caught. Going to keep my fingers crossed that my little guy will chow down soon. I won't buy another one now, but a pair someday would sure be fun.

Update......just tried cyclops again and he ate a few .......that's encouraging:)

~Janey~
 
It comes in a tube by Eco Systems. I think they call it "Garlic Elixir". It's expensive for what you get. The next time I need some I'm going to check out the health food stores for a better buy.

~J~
 
mine took 2 days to eat, I have now had it over a year...one of the biggest pigs in my tank, even loves spir. flake food!
Very outgoing too, just looks at ya with those big eyes!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11629581#post11629581 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fishy1
Mine still doing well........loves mysis:)
Click to expand...

Good to hear Janey. I hate to see livestock die like that.

Billy
 
Here's a pic, I think.......not sure if I remember how to post them:(

5301Ben.JPG
 
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