Redspot Cardinalfish - Apogon parvulus

I had a group of 10 I bought off DD. The one thing I found out is they need to be fed frequently. I lost a group of 5 within a month. They would all eat brine and mysis very well. With the remaining 5 I began feeding frozen cyclopeze for one feeding and before the lights would go off I would feed mysis or brine. Unfortunately I began getting busy at work and could not feed them twice a day. Little by little I began losing one at time. So in my opinion these fish need frequent feedings a day.
 
rholguin said:
I had a group of 10 I bought off DD. The one thing I found out is they need to be fed frequently. I lost a group of 5 within a month. They would all eat brine and mysis very well. With the remaining 5 I began feeding frozen cyclopeze for one feeding and before the lights would go off I would feed mysis or brine. Unfortunately I began getting busy at work and could not feed them twice a day. Little by little I began losing one at time. So in my opinion these fish need frequent feedings a day.
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So you lost 10 over the course of 1-2 months?
 
Here's my experience. A few months back I found about 2 dozen of these in an LFS. They had been there for a week. Asked them to feed the fish and though the staff swore they eat, when I watched them feed frozen brine, they didn't take to it. So I waited another week and went back. this time they were eating, so I bought just three, on a trial basis.

The three are doing fantastic. I feed them only once a day. They are in a 60 gallon low flow tank with only 2 sunburst anthias who seems to not even notice their existence. even though it's only 3, they would swim together in open areas of the tank which I find most pleasing. The largest one seems to express dominance by chasing the medium sized one now and then but no aggression beyond that. The smallest one never gets chased.

It's probably 3 months now is my guess. I just added another 6 for a school of 9. One fish might chase another but I haven't seen much dominance behaviour at all since adding the six.

They are not people shy, and would come up to the water surface everytime I look into the tank. They are a bit faster and typically gets more food then the larger sunburst anthias thus they are not outcompeted for food.

Small fishes do have a short lifespan typically so I would be quite happy if they lived 9-12 months. They are max 1.5"? I'll have to read who kept them the longest in an aquarium.

I believe the key here is that they got a chance to recover in the lfs, adjust to the artificial salt water, and began eating frozen food. They had a duller coloration in the first week after arrival from shipping but begins to have that sparkle in coloration once they have recovered from shipping in my observation. I believe those are the two keys to the success I've had thus far with the batch I got - that they eat frozen, and that they'd been acclimatized in aquarium water for 1-2 weeks after arrival from overseas. Which is what LA had said about their experience with this fish as well.
 
I lost one of my five yesterday. Swimming and eating for feeding #2, went down two hours later for feeding #3 and he was on the sand down and out, mouth locked open. Not sure what officially got him that it happened that fast.

other four are happy eating, etc, no signs of stress etc.
 
I would really like to try them again, but after 2 attempts from Diver's Den (2010), both times none of them lasted more than 2 months, I just can't justify it. I had similar experiences as described by most people on this thread, eating great (I feed multiple times every day) and then one by one they disappear or are found dead on the sandbed. A real shame, they look great in my tank!
 
rhdoug said:
I would really like to try them again, but after 2 attempts from Diver's Den (2010), both times none of them lasted more than 2 months, I just can't justify it. I had similar experiences as described by most people on this thread, eating great (I feed multiple times every day) and then one by one they disappear or are found dead on the sandbed. A real shame, they look great in my tank!
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What were you feeding? Did you observe them all eating? Any aggression between them?

I'm feeding LRS Fish Frenzy after I've thawed it and broken it up with tank water. I use a pipette to add it to the tank. The remaining four are swimming together and eating with gusto (though not eating a large amount each feeding, so I'll continue to feed 4 times a day). I am tempted to order 5 more but I would like to see these do well for 3-4 weeks in QT first.
 
As I said, they were all eating great. I feed a mixture of various frozen foods, mysis, brine, chopped clams, cyclopeeze (you could get it then), rotifers, "plankton", chopped krill, various other frozen foods, and a little flake mixed in. There is also some finer powdered foods for the corals. I feed it multiple times daily. I do not think it was a feeding issue, but I have been known to be wrong. I wish you luck with yours.
 
rhdoug said:
As I said, they were all eating great. I feed a mixture of various frozen foods, mysis, brine, chopped clams, cyclopeeze (you could get it then), rotifers, "plankton", chopped krill, various other frozen foods, and a little flake mixed in. There is also some finer powdered foods for the corals. I feed it multiple times daily. I do not think it was a feeding issue, but I have been known to be wrong. I wish you luck with yours.
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Not suggesting lack of eating was the issue, just trying to collect data on what works and doesn't what people were / are feeding and how long they last. 2 months seems to be the running average of these fish at the moment.
 
Sorry I forgot to answer one of your questions, no they were not aggressive toward one another, except for maybe an occasional quick "dart" at each other. It did not seem to be an issue or keep any of them from eating.

Yes I agree, most everyone's experience at least here on this thread seems to be pretty similar. It is such a shame that they don't last any longer. Some have suggested that they may have a lifespan of only a year or two anyway, which makes sense for a small minnow-type fish. But I do think there is still something lacking or incorrect in their captive environment, diet, or who knows what.
 
mine's going on for 3 months so far. Here's the trio a month in:

ZISHh63.jpg
 
Down to a trio this morning. Wish I could say I'm surprised but despite them all eating it seems like the normal course for these fish. We'll see if the trio holds up.
 
iDestroya said:
When did you get them?
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Four days ago. One dead on day two. I was wrong about my trio, one is in the back chambers of the biocube, but I haven't a clue how I'll get him out until they're ready to go into the DT and I can drain/pull equipment but I still have 4/5.
 
iced98lx said:
Four days ago. One dead on day two. I was wrong about my trio, one is in the back chambers of the biocube, but I haven't a clue how I'll get him out until they're ready to go into the DT and I can drain/pull equipment but I still have 4/5.
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4 days! yea that's still early. This fish doesn't travel well is what they say. In the first week I'd imagine you're likely to lose the ones that were weakened by the travel. That's why I prefer to get fish from LFS after they've settled down and are eating after about a week.

If they are eating it should be good. I'd be worried about high flow and the bigger fishes they will be living with in the DT. Mine seems to avoid the higher flow areas and this is a low flow tank with 2 old koralia pumps only. They are 3 months in, so they seem to like this environment thus far.
 
i had a group of ten and they seemed to fight which was fatal. at the end of the day there was 7 left then i got another group of 10 and they fought and 15ish survivors were counted

they survived for quite a long time but they were jumpers and slow swimmers. my anemone got one or two and the rest found peace on my floor

won't have em until i get my tank a cover or hood
 
M Woodhill said:
i had a group of ten and they seemed to fight which was fatal. at the end of the day there was 7 left then i got another group of 10 and they fought and 15ish survivors were counted

they survived for quite a long time but they were jumpers and slow swimmers. my anemone got one or two and the rest found peace on my floor

won't have em until i get my tank a cover or hood
Click to expand...

That's interesting. I have only one fish exhibiting dominance behaviour. none of mine are showing any desire to jump at all. And they hover over a huge colony of anemones I have all day. I think you can see it in the pic I posted.
 
This is a short but cool video of redspot cardinals exhibiting schooling behaviour.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1_47hCpsVSA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I have also watched some of the copyrighted stock videos of these little fishes in indo which seems to indicate they inhabit the low flow areas of the ocean which jives with my own observation of their behaviour in my own tank.
 
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