Pajama or Banggai cardinalfish?

[ECU_Pirate]

I haven't seen a PJ cardinal in person, but my lfs has Banggais. The Banggais I saw seemed to have neat personalities. I've read that PJs are peaceful, while Banggais are semi-aggressive. What's been your experience with these cardinalfish? I'm planning a community reef tank, but am wondering if I can get by with Banggai cardinals in it. Are they really only aggressive toward other cardinals?

 

[Yolly416]

Mine is


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[FoxFace Fish]

TBH I had a banggai once he ate my fire shrimp but other than that a pretty chill guy as long as he goes in last or close to last. He was the last I introduced to my tank and I put him in about 1 week after all my other fish were in there. But the PJ is also very very chill from what my friend told me and IMO I prefer there color, but I have no room for a new fish. Just be warned shrimp are not safe!!!!

 

[jayball]

My Banggai has only been aggressive to the other banggai that was in the tank. It ignores everything else. PJ cardinals are cute when young but they get, IMO, ugly when they are older.

 

[cincyjim]

I have 3 PJs and they are very calm chilled fish. No aggression or the like.

 

[ECU_Pirate]

Thanks for the info! I did read that shrimp aren't safe. Which is a bummer because I do want a shrimp goby & pistol shrimp.

 

[cincyjim]

I have 2 skunk, 3 peppermint, 1 sexy anemone, and several pistol shrimp and from what I can see, the PJs have no interest in them whatsoever. I can't say that for all PJs because this is the first I've heard about this but for me it is not the case.

 

[ECU_Pirate]

I have 2 skunk, 3 peppermint, 1 sexy anemone, and several pistol shrimp and from what I can see, the PJs have no interest in them whatsoever. I can't say that for all PJs because this is the first I've heard about this but for me it is not the case.

Foxface_Fish said it was a Banggai that ate his shrimp, not a PJ so maybe it is generally just a Banggai thing.

 

[Blizzard 123]

I have a couple of pj cardinals that have a lot of cool colors and design. As stated over time the colors become more bland. I enjoy them always swimming in the front of the tank can always see them. They don't seem to have much personality thought. Oh and it is cool to see the with the babies in their mouth. And if u want a school do pj, banggi are aggressive to each other if not a pair while pjs are peaceful.


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[Darth_Tater]

PJ cardinals are cute when young but they get, IMO, ugly when they are older.

Agreed. When they get big the bright colors turn kinda chalky and just blah.

I have a pair of Banggais. They don't bother anything and everything else ignores them. Completely ignored my cleaner and peppermint shrimps.

They do seem to prefer a bit calmer flow than I've got in my tank, but I think they've adjusted pretty well.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I have Banggai since I prefer their color pattern over PJ. Had them for over 3 years with Cleaner and Fire shrimp and never had an issue with aggression. Mine have also been non aggressive towards other fish.

 

[Frogmanx82]

I had banggais for many years with fire and cleaner shrimp with no issue. I used to drop some freshwater cherry shrimp in the tank and the banggai would hunt them down. I wouldn't trust them with a small shrimp that they could swallow whole.

 

[kmbyrnes]

I have 6 PJ's in my reef..... BO-RING!
All they do is float at the top third of the tank.
OTH, they fill the top third while the other fish swim in the rock zone.
If I had to do it again, I'd do a trio of Banggai.

 

[Xxero]

There are also the lesser seen Orbic Cardinalfish:

Kind of a PJ/Banggai Hybrid. :bigeyes:

 

[Frogmanx82]

I would way recommend banggai over PJ. More personality and better looking.