I got two banggai cardinals from the local fish store five days ago. One of them died hours after I got him, so now there is only one left in my 10 gallon tank and he didn't have any sign of active eating. I tried flakes, pellets, freeze dried mysis shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, and the garlic dipped version of all the foods above. Right now he seems to interest in the freeze dried mysis shrimp the most, but will spit it back out. He will also go after the frozen brine shrimp, but will stop in front of the food and won't even try to put them in his mouth. I also have two cleaner shrimp, and one tiny neon goby that were introduce to the tank with him. The cleaner shrimps sometimes will accidentally touch him with their antenna, and the cardinal will swim away, but beside that, there is nothing aggressive in the tank.
I'm really concern that he will eventually starve to death, so my questions are:
1. How long can the banggai cardinal stay alive without eating? Some people said it took them almost a week for their fish to start eating, so I'm not sure is this my case or he is just killing himself by not eating.
2. Is he getting affect by the death of the other fish? They were keep in school back in the store, so maybe he's appetite is getting affect by his mood since he doesn't use to being alone?
3. He is about 2 inch from the head to the tail, so I don't think he is carrying eggs, but I have saw him acting weird by open his mouth really wide in second and doing something like throwing up. He is also slow at detecting food. Unless the food is sinking right in front of him or I use a fork to tape the water to get his attention, he never realized there is food in the water. Also, he never swim really fast when he go after the food like the other fish, so is he injured or sick? I don't really see any obvious things that look wrong.
4. I have a small quarantine tank that is about one gallon, should I separate him out from the 10 gallon tank so its easier for him to detect food? Or I shouldn't change his environment that often in order not to stress him out?
5. Should I keep trying other foods like cyclopeeze or maybe even some boiled egg yolk? I think they feed all of their fish live baby brine shrimp back in the store, but now he seems to have a greater interest in the mysis shrimp. I'm not sure is he spiting them out because they are freeze dried instead of frozen? So is there going to be a different between freeze dried and frozen?
6. One of my cleaner shrimp molted in the tank, and the shell was in a few large piece instead of whole when I found it. Is there a chance that he ate some of the shell, so maybe he is not eating because of he is full from the shell?
I'm sorry that's a lot of questions at once, but I'm really worried that he is going to die. I'd greatly appreciated to any thought, suggestion, and past experience since this is my first time keeping a saltwater tank.
I'm really concern that he will eventually starve to death, so my questions are:
1. How long can the banggai cardinal stay alive without eating? Some people said it took them almost a week for their fish to start eating, so I'm not sure is this my case or he is just killing himself by not eating.
2. Is he getting affect by the death of the other fish? They were keep in school back in the store, so maybe he's appetite is getting affect by his mood since he doesn't use to being alone?
3. He is about 2 inch from the head to the tail, so I don't think he is carrying eggs, but I have saw him acting weird by open his mouth really wide in second and doing something like throwing up. He is also slow at detecting food. Unless the food is sinking right in front of him or I use a fork to tape the water to get his attention, he never realized there is food in the water. Also, he never swim really fast when he go after the food like the other fish, so is he injured or sick? I don't really see any obvious things that look wrong.
4. I have a small quarantine tank that is about one gallon, should I separate him out from the 10 gallon tank so its easier for him to detect food? Or I shouldn't change his environment that often in order not to stress him out?
5. Should I keep trying other foods like cyclopeeze or maybe even some boiled egg yolk? I think they feed all of their fish live baby brine shrimp back in the store, but now he seems to have a greater interest in the mysis shrimp. I'm not sure is he spiting them out because they are freeze dried instead of frozen? So is there going to be a different between freeze dried and frozen?
6. One of my cleaner shrimp molted in the tank, and the shell was in a few large piece instead of whole when I found it. Is there a chance that he ate some of the shell, so maybe he is not eating because of he is full from the shell?
I'm sorry that's a lot of questions at once, but I'm really worried that he is going to die. I'd greatly appreciated to any thought, suggestion, and past experience since this is my first time keeping a saltwater tank.
