Silly question re: "nocturnal" fish

[Palting]

I have 2 pajama cardinals on hold at the LFS. Serene and colorful, but also described as "nocturnal". What does that actually mean? Does it mean they will hide in my crevices and caves all day long, never to be seen?

Thanks!

[disc1]

I've seen that before too, and I've noticed that mine are a little active after lights out, but they are still mostly active during the day.

I wonder if they are nocturnal in the natural environment and move to daytime when they get into an environment like a tank with no predators.

I too am interested to hear from someone who knows.

[sporto0]

I have read that in the wild during the day they tend to hover in groups & remain fairly stationary, hiding under rock ledges, then at night they become solitary & hunt for food. I would expect their behavior would vary in an aquarium where predators are absent.

[xCry0x]

Well do you wear your pajamas during the day?

[Palting]

Originally Posted by xCry0x

Well do you wear your pajamas during the day?

LOL! As a matter of fact, I do! On the weekends, I get up late, have coffee, putter around the house, stare at the tank, watch some news on TV, read the paper, all in my jamies!

Ok, if no one here has cardinals or no one is willing to share their experience aside from Disc1, or opinions aside from sporto0 and xCryOx, I am going to get those cardinals, and post the experience here. It might take a while to post the experience, because they are going to go into QT and hyposalinity.

[snorvich]

Ok. They will eat during the day, but tend to hover. If you have a group, they tend to pair off during the day but may shoal at night. They are definitely more active in the evening. Since I have moonlight for four hours, they provide some interest after "sunset".

[angelofrapture]

Depending on how acclimated they are, I've read that you may need to initially feed in the evening (after lights out) but that they will eventually adjust to eating during 'daylight' with the rest of the tank.

[Palting]

Thanks, guys. Looking forward to picking up the pair tomorrow. Hopefully, as a pair, they can hover and hold their ground in the open during the daytime, cuz that's when I feed fish. If not, may have to play with the light timing and make "sunset" come earlier to give myself some moonlight viewing time like Steve.

[SushiGirl]

I've had various cardinals over the years (pajama, black, and now orbic). They tend to hang in the "shade" a lot when the full lights are on, then swim around more during moonlights/actinics and lights off. I've seen mine picking pods off the rocks in the dark. They still all were fairly active during lights on, and that's when they got/get fed, as well.

[Palting]

Thanks, Sushi! Makes me feel better. I was hesitant with the cardinals, but it was the wifes choice. Getting them gives me license to get coral in the near future, my choice!

[SushiGirl]

From the ones I've had the least active were the black, then the pajamas, and the most active have been the orbic. We'd love to get some pajamas, but the current orbic bullied the smaller orbic to its demise between a rock and the overflow (found it too late for it to survive) and we don't want to get huge ones that can't be bullied, so...we'll have to wait till we get the other tank up & move him over LOL. I've always enjoyed the pajamas, personally I think she made a great choice considering everything else she could have chosen that could have ended badly!

[trb]

I got a pajama from a local reefer that was taking down his tank, along with his other fish. He is almost always out in the open when the lights are out, whether it be under the moon lights or totally dark. Nice to have some movement in the tank after "daylight" hours, if you can call his hovering movement!

[Palting]

Thanks for the input, trb, and thanks again, Sushigirl. I have the pair sitting in QT right now. They do seem to stay out both in light and "moonlight". I've just tried feeding them in the "daylight", and they did seem to eat, too! YAY!

Here's a pic with them in QT:

[72xmulch]

i never thought about them being nocturnal, but i guess that make sense.. i just thought they were shy and ive head them for 2 years? ha,, i love mine, they pretty much hang out in dark alleys all day but are cool dudes eitherway..

[ForSaleByAndy]

That's odd -- mine are out all day in the light. In fact, they come right to the edge of the glass and torment my cat who paws at them endlessly.

[gone fishin]

I have 3 and three and they tend to hang out under my overflow during the day, except at feeding time. With just the actinics or moon lights on the tend to move around a little more freely in the tank. I did notice when I put a green chromis in the tank they tended to follow him around a little more during the day.

[Mike Ordner]

I have two in a 75 gallon. They are very active in the day. But, see how big their eyes are compared to their body? Means they see very well with little light (ie nocturnal). I have trouble with them when I feed my lps corals with lights out. They love to steal any food they can get. Mine never seem to sleep.

[Palting]

Thanks, again, all.

In the QT, the female goes in and out of the PVC, but stays out all the time when the moonlights are on. The male, OTOH, seems to prefer being outside of the PVC's almost all the time. The two of them "school" together when out, if you can call 2 fish a school! LOL!!

We'll see what happens when they go to the community tank in about 6 weeks.