Cardinal Fish

Posted in Cardinal Fish, Reef Inhabitants, Saltwater Fish

Cardinal fish are very hardy marine animals that will thrive in a new aquarium as well as an established tank assuming it will get along with your current bio load. Cardinals eat well and are disease resistant. The more common types of this fish are the Spotted cardinal and the Banggai cardinal.

These fish are definitely reef safe and also sport a peaceful temperament towards your other tank inhabitants. However, these fish are territorial within their own species and may become aggressive toward other cardinals if kept in a large group. While they do not like large groups, they do like to have 1 or 2 other cardinals present with them in the tank depending on the size of the aquarium.

Cardinal fish are a very interesting species to look at and are usually always visible in the aquarium but are lacking in personality. My friend, who got me into the hobby, picked up one of these fish on an impulse because it looked bizarre. When he dropped it in the tank, it stayed in one spot the entire time. It doesn’t swim around the tank or even change its direction. It just stays in one spot. The good thing was that cardinals like to stay right near the top of your rock layout, or even just above it. So the fish filled a nice empty space where no other fish usually hang out.

In my opinion, since bio-loads in tanks are so sensitive, we need to be picky about what animals we put into our tanks. So if you are looking for something that is not going to be very active, but visible most of the time as well as hardy and reef safe, a cardinal may be the choice for you. If you are like me and like to watch active fish swimming in and out of your aqua scape, then you may want to consider a wrasse or tang depending on your tank setup.

Banggai cardinal