Cardinals
 

What could I keep in a pair? 34G?

I was thinking either blue eye, PJ or Bangaii...which are most likely to get along together?

I don't have experience with the Pj's or Bangaii's but the Blue Eye(Threadfin's) get along very well no matter what gender. From what I've read you have to be sure to have a female/male combo to keep a pair of Bangaii's.

Yeah I am kind of leaning towards maybe 3 of the threadfins. How big do they get though?

About 2" or so. I have 2 left here. I had 5 but 3 died. I was messing around in my tank way too much right before I decided to move 3 of them to a new tank and they stressed out way too much and died on me in the bucket:cry:.

They look kind of delicate!

How many do you think for a 34G...20x20x20? Very open. Just a clown pair and a very tiny six line. Three pushing it?

There is just no life in my tank. All SPS that obviously never move, clowns stay in their anemone all day and the sixline is in the rocks hunting.

Not that cardinals are very active but I hope to see them throughout the day. Are they somewhat out in the open or do they hide a lot?

I have a Banggai in mine and he is always out and about. Usually the first fish to the end of the pipette when the mysis comes out.

Hmmm, three might be fine, especially since the clowns pretty much stay with their nem, I'd be more concerened with that 6 line picking at them. The Threadfins stayed out and about at all times in my 90g but once I moved what was left to my 40g with much stronger flow they stayed hidden behind the rocks in a lower flow area until the pumps wound down to night mode. I never had any problems with them until I moved them. I knew when I bought them that they were more delicate but I had no problems with them from store to home(over an hour later) to tank, it wasn't until I tried to move them after a LOT of fussing in my tank. I think if I had of left them until the following day they would have all transferred over fine.

You should be able keep 3 threadfins/Glass Cards in there although i would be a little concerned with the 6 line harassing them at feeding time , as they are not very aggressive for food. That being said i have 10 in mine and i love the way they school together and add a real cool dimension to a reef in my opinion. Mine seem to be able to find a way get food in amongst 20+ fish so far although it's only been 3 months or so , time will tell i guess.

Is there any way to tell if a Bangaii is male or female?

I've been considering cardinals... but I want these guys...
http://glassbox-design.com/wp-conten...-cardinals.jpg

I haven't seen red dot cardinals in a store before, but they look nice. Bangaiis are nice too (and endangered)... I don't know of any way to tell the sexes apart, unless they pair up on their own.

I thought stores are only selling tank raised Bangaii now? If not, they are not a fish I will buy.

I saw those Red dot cardinals a while ago on another site and would love them but like you, I have never seen them before in stores.

I think you'd be pushing it with three Threadfins, but my vote goes for them. Bangaiis need to be in a m/f pair, and PJs are ugly imo. I would consider removing the 6-line...I've never been a fan of them (they're pricks when they get bigger), and then the Threadfins would be a great addition. They would be very happy in a set up like that because they won't have any other fish bugging them (the clowns are distracted with their nem).

The red spots are really nice too but from what I understand if you can find them they are notoriously hard to keep alive. I've been following a thread on RC and they talk about them starting on pg. 15 http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...&pagenumber=15

Why would it be "pushing it"?

You would be pushing overstocking it, and pushing the aggression. A 34g would be overstocked when all the fish are full grown if you keep the 6-Line in there, plus the 6-Line isn't an ideal tankmate for Threadfins - too aggressive (when mature).

At one time in my 33g I had a breeding pair of Bangaii, a Hector's Goby, and a lone True Perc. It seemed fairly full to me. I despise overstocking for many reasons, but the main two are because I think it's inhumane (for many reasons in itself), and because I loathe to fight nitrate. Also, a smaller tank should be stocked lighter than a bigger one simply because the swimming space isn't there.

Inhumane? Give me a break. Your talking about a fine line here. What about this hobby is all that humane (by that thinking)?

Anyways, completely disagree that 3 would be overstocked. They are very small fish.

I agree the sixline needs to go if I do.

We have much different views on stocking I think.

There are a few articles about looking at the Jawline of a Mature Banggaii to tell the sexes apart.

See PM GSP.

I had 4 threadfins for awhile, they don't move around much. For all the real estate they used they could of been in a 20g tank and not noticed the difference in size. Of course I do have a very active tang that might of made them leery about swimming around :mrgreen:

Thanks for the link, I'll definitely be reading this... I've heard that both the blue streak (same as the blue eyed?) and the red dot cardinals are delicate and ship poorly, or get stressed easily.

Yeah I understand that since Bangaiis are endangered in the wild that most of the stock will be tank raised... there may be some wild stock floating around still, since they were only declared endangered recently.

I've only ever seen Bangaiis in stores as far as Cardinals go, but I haven't been in many LFS since I don't have one here.