I got a pajama cardinal 2 days ago, and I'm getting a little worried.
I floated the bag, with the lights on, because I also was setting up my new skimmer, and needed to see what was going on. I got the skimmer installed, after about an hour, and let him loose in the tank. Right away my Royal Gramma went right at him, nipping at him. I added food to distract the Gramma, and the Cardnial made his escape. He went to the left, back corner of the tank, where there isn't as much rock work as the rest of the tank, and stayed in the middle of the water. I had to really make sure the mysis went RIGHT past his face to get him to eat, but he did eat.
Since that day (saturday), he sleeps in that corner, facing the corner, at the very bottom, and spends all day when the lights are on at the very top, facing the corner, in the same spot. He's right under the filter, about an inch below the water level.
Nitrates are low (less than 20, but not 0), and Nitrites are at 0. ph and Alk is slightly low, I'm working to raise it. Other tankmates include:
2 clowns, a zebra dartfish, the royal gramma, pencil urchin, sally lightfoot crab, nudibranch and various hermits.
He DOES eat, but it takes a lot of effort. I dropped spirulina (sp?) right in front of his face, and he tried to eat it, but the pellet was too big. Dropping both formula 1 and formula 2 pellets near him do nothing. If I can get the mysis to fall RIGHT in front of his face, he eats, but he won't even turn sideways to go for it - he stays right there, staring at his corner. I took the net to try and shoo him out into the tank, and he went out to the middle until the threat of the net was gone, and then returned, same spot.
Is he going to be ok? Is this just a quirky PJ Cardinal thats going to stare all day, but live? Or should I be very concerned he's not venturing out into the tank?
Thanks for any help.
I floated the bag, with the lights on, because I also was setting up my new skimmer, and needed to see what was going on. I got the skimmer installed, after about an hour, and let him loose in the tank. Right away my Royal Gramma went right at him, nipping at him. I added food to distract the Gramma, and the Cardnial made his escape. He went to the left, back corner of the tank, where there isn't as much rock work as the rest of the tank, and stayed in the middle of the water. I had to really make sure the mysis went RIGHT past his face to get him to eat, but he did eat.
Since that day (saturday), he sleeps in that corner, facing the corner, at the very bottom, and spends all day when the lights are on at the very top, facing the corner, in the same spot. He's right under the filter, about an inch below the water level.
Nitrates are low (less than 20, but not 0), and Nitrites are at 0. ph and Alk is slightly low, I'm working to raise it. Other tankmates include:
2 clowns, a zebra dartfish, the royal gramma, pencil urchin, sally lightfoot crab, nudibranch and various hermits.
He DOES eat, but it takes a lot of effort. I dropped spirulina (sp?) right in front of his face, and he tried to eat it, but the pellet was too big. Dropping both formula 1 and formula 2 pellets near him do nothing. If I can get the mysis to fall RIGHT in front of his face, he eats, but he won't even turn sideways to go for it - he stays right there, staring at his corner. I took the net to try and shoo him out into the tank, and he went out to the middle until the threat of the net was gone, and then returned, same spot.
Is he going to be ok? Is this just a quirky PJ Cardinal thats going to stare all day, but live? Or should I be very concerned he's not venturing out into the tank?
Thanks for any help.
A stressed fish has the potential to become a seriously sick fish. If he is a carrier of anything, being stressed will lower it's immunity and you have a sick tank.
