Cardinal fish acting strange

[Pysiek]

Hello
I have the cardinal fish since February. He was acting normal (swimming around the tank,never hide,when I feed using syringe he always tried to suck the food out of it) but about 3 weeks ago he started to acting strange. Hides all the time in the rock caves, when I feed the fishes he just take a piece and hide , he does it so fast that sometimes I don't even realized he did it. It looks like he is afraid of something?
Should I get it another cardinal?
Oh and nothing was added or introduced to the tank since February.

 

[RayL]

What else is in the tank and what size tank is it

 

[Pysiek]

I have two clown fishes. One bicolor blenny , one scooter blenny. One bubble coral , one frogspawn , one toadstool leather , one nepthea , one hammer coral , one snapping shrimp , two sand shifting sea stars , several snails . Tank is 55 gallon

 

[RayL]

Are the clownfish picking on him?
It might help giving him a friend, it should make him feel more secure

 

[Pysiek]

No they don't. I think they might be even more afraid of him :lmao:

 

[RayL]

If its not the clowns, I would think you should try adding another cardinal and hope for the best

Good luck

 

[DragKnee]

Mine does the same thing. However, I added 2 Bangaii cardinals at the same time. First week they were in the DT, everything was fine.

The only aggressive fish I may have is my adult female clown in the tank was quite aggressive in her last tank, though I personally have seen no aggression from her in this tank.

But, about a week after adding the cardinals, one of them sits up by the powerhead, or under my torch coral like it's scared. The other cardinal swims around not giving a crap about anything.

It will eat if I shoot some food by it, it'll grab some, then just go right back to hiding.

 

[Pysiek]

One more thing I forgot to mention. Before that the cardinal looks like he was chasing one of the clown fishes , to be specific he was chasing the one that is hosting my anemone. It first chase it then clown fish swims away and cardinal stayed next to anemone.
It was strange to me and I even thought it might be aggressive toward my clowns and I will have to separate him. But after a while he start to hide.
Maybe they have a fight?

 

[Monkeyfish]

Pysiek - What KIND or SPECIES of cardinal do you have?

 

[Pysiek]

Kauderns. Click the link for more info Kauderns Cardinal

 

[Monkeyfish]

Kaudern's/Banggai tend to do best in mated pairs or alone. It's normal for them to hide under overhangs and in caves when they mature.

 

[Pysiek]

Is it safe to add another one? Or they are better if added as pairs?
Also this morning I realized that when my lunar lights are on and the main off he swims around the tank and only hides when I approach it.

 

[Guygettnby]

Is it safe to add another one? Or they are better if added as pairs?
Also this morning I realized that when my lunar lights are on and the main off he swims around the tank and only hides when I approach it.

best to add them as pairs. if you add another and you end up with 2 males they will fight. there is no real sure fire way of telling them apart either. if you do some research on them, they tend to like lower lighting, like to be in shaded areas and are more active at night.

take this as you will.

 

[Monkeyfish]

Is it safe to add another one? Or they are better if added as pairs?
Also this morning I realized that when my lunar lights are on and the main off he swims around the tank and only hides when I approach it.

His behavior is normal. I wouldn't add another one at this point.

 

[J2T]

yeah, I wouldn't say that is anything out of the ordinary. I have two cardinal pairs (bangaii and spotted) and it seems one of each pair tends to be a little more shy and hides while the other is more in the open.

 

[Teage29]

My 2 cardinals kind of act the same and some cardinals are nocturnal so they prefer the moon lights more. My one cardinal does get picked on a lil bit by my female clown and you will look away and look back and boom a quick chase and nip and then its done. So you might not notice the "bullying." Hope this may help.

 

[Sonicboom]

One way to tell them apart is the lower dorsal fin is long and thin on the male and shorter and wider on the female.