[crittercliff]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum. A friend recently gave me a single Yellow striped cardinalfish who was he lone survivor from a shoal of 12. After QT and some good care, its doing really well and right now is one of the inhabitants of my 140Gallon SPS dominated reef tank.
It would be of great help if someone who has had some experience with this fish can shed some light on its behaviour and whether I need to buy some more so it feels at home in a group. My tank is not stocked up with too many fish, a tomato clown, 2 dwarf angels (yes they manage to avoid each other most of the time), a lemonpeel and a coral beauty. thousands of critters...cant list everything for fear of boring you guys. There is also an algae eating blenny and a firefish.
Now my question is, should i add some more cardinals? or will it do well on its own, i dont mind adding more cardinal, but hate loading the reef with too many fish.
Thanks

[zhenya]

Hi crittercliff,

I moved your thread to this Forum so our resident fish guru leebca can see it and perhaps help you out.
Lee is very experienced in fish care and hopefully she'll be able to help you.

[dougc]

I had a group of four of these cardinals, but I am down to only one. Two of the original four paired of and spawned regularly for a few months. The pair hung out together, but the other two took up residence at opposite ends of the tank and the group never shoaled. This is in contrast to the group of six Apogon Lepticanthus that I kept at one time. Even when they paired off to spawn, they remained part of the group. A bacterial infection that wiped out a fair number of fish claimed three of the yellowstripe cardinals, leaving only one. That one has been alone for almost a year now and seems perfectly happy.

Given my experience with these cardinals, I wouldn't bother trying to create a group. Juveniles may school, but the adults don't seem to exhibit that behavior. If the one you have is in the tank now, it may not accept any interlopers that you try to introduce anyway. A group of one species is best introduced together. Success is probably more likely with juvenile fish, too.

[crittercliff]

Thanks a ton Doug. I have seen a few variations in this species, or maybe they were a similar looking sub species. Now some of them r not as colorful, and i've always notices that those are the larger ones. does this fish lose its vibrant colors once it matures?
Mine seems to exhibit really good coloration right now, i've been feeding him mysis and brine exclusively and he readily starts roaming out from under his ledge when its close to feeding time. i'm startin to really enjoy this fish.

[leebca]

Actually, dougc makes some good sense. These fishes, as they age, get a bit more picky about their surroundings. It may be that in an aquarium they feel like the limited resources are just somehing they don't want to share with others when they want to start their own family.

It may be difficult to get this one into another groupiing. If it is doing well, I'd leave things as it is.