Missing Banggai Cardinal

mkoop · 11/08/2013, 08:37 AM

Hey everyone, I'm hoping someone who may have kept Banggai Cardinals would have some insight into their behavior.

I introduced 2 Banggai Cardinals from my 40gbQT to my 180DT. In the QT they ate frozen mysis and I introduced them to flake. I added them to my DT about a week and a half ago, these two have never been overly social with one another but I never saw aggression either (They would be near each other quite a bit, but by not social I mean not anywhere near as social as the two clowns, the cardinals usually kept a few inches from one another). When first introduced to the DT they stayed together in the back right corner for about 5 days before venturing at all. The last few days one of them have been in the back left corner and the other in the back right split apart from one another. Both were eating and looking fine. Last night I did notice they were both laying on the bottom of the tank (still in separate corners) but perked right up when feeding time came.

This morning getting ready for work I went down to feed everyone and noticed one of the cardinals (the smaller of the two I believe, but without seeing them side by side its tough to differential so it could be the larger one) was missing!

I fed the tank and still no sign. Checked for jumpers, checked the filter socks and sump, inside the overflows, went over the entire tank multiple times with no sign!

The only other inhabitants of the 180 are 2 O clowns that were introduced at the same time as the cardinals (and also inhabit one of the corners and have shown no aggression to the cardinals), 2 scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp, 3 peppermint shrimp and some snails. All of which came out and were seen for feeding last night, this little Cardinal is just missing.

Any thoughts or ideas? These are fairly juvenile so I don't think they could have mated? They were also captive bred and never shown any signs of ailment... just a tad confused by this mystery.

Edit:
Tests:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10
pH: 8.0

11/08/2013, 08:37 AM	#1
mkoop Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Madison WI Posts: 387	Missing Banggai Cardinal Hey everyone, I'm hoping someone who may have kept Banggai Cardinals would have some insight into their behavior. I introduced 2 Banggai Cardinals from my 40gbQT to my 180DT. In the QT they ate frozen mysis and I introduced them to flake. I added them to my DT about a week and a half ago, these two have never been overly social with one another but I never saw aggression either (They would be near each other quite a bit, but by not social I mean not anywhere near as social as the two clowns, the cardinals usually kept a few inches from one another). When first introduced to the DT they stayed together in the back right corner for about 5 days before venturing at all. The last few days one of them have been in the back left corner and the other in the back right split apart from one another. Both were eating and looking fine. Last night I did notice they were both laying on the bottom of the tank (still in separate corners) but perked right up when feeding time came. This morning getting ready for work I went down to feed everyone and noticed one of the cardinals (the smaller of the two I believe, but without seeing them side by side its tough to differential so it could be the larger one) was missing! I fed the tank and still no sign. Checked for jumpers, checked the filter socks and sump, inside the overflows, went over the entire tank multiple times with no sign! The only other inhabitants of the 180 are 2 O clowns that were introduced at the same time as the cardinals (and also inhabit one of the corners and have shown no aggression to the cardinals), 2 scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp, 3 peppermint shrimp and some snails. All of which came out and were seen for feeding last night, this little Cardinal is just missing. Any thoughts or ideas? These are fairly juvenile so I don't think they could have mated? They were also captive bred and never shown any signs of ailment... just a tad confused by this mystery. Edit: Tests: Ammonia: 0 Nitrites: 0 Nitrates: 10 pH: 8.0 Last edited by mkoop; 11/08/2013 at 08:49 AM.