Bangaii Cardinal - Male v Female aggression

[eraml]

I bought 2 Bangaii cardinals about a month ago
At the local fish store, guy told me they had had the Bangaiis for a little while, and that one of the large ones and one of the smaller ones would be Male v Female
I am not 100% sure that is accurate, but made sense to me given they all started same size

Over the past 2-3 days, the larger Bang has began bullying/chasing the smaller one around.
The smaller one mainly hides out in a few places, and does not come out much

The Bangaii does not seem to be bothering my 2 O.Clowns at all, just the other Bangaii

Do I need to remove one of the Bangaiis? Will the larger one eventually kill the smaller one?
Was hoping that they would pair up

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Evening,

Love cardinals. Sounds like you got a pair. One way I tell is the male looks like a bull dog in the mouth area for carrying eggs. I have a pair for at least 9 or 10 years. When they are not breeding they are chasing each other in what looks like fighting. Then one day I will notice the male gone for a period of time. That is when he goes into his hiding spot to hold the eggs. They should be fine together.

 

[eraml]

Great to hear! Thanks for the info - will continue to monitor

 

[ichthyogeek]

What in tarnation...

Sorry, but that LFS is....pretty wrong with the sexing information. The "small v large" argument really only works for hermaphroditic fish, and banggai cardinals are very much gonochorists (not hermaphrodites). Your best bet for future endeavors is to buy a group of six and let them sort themselves out, like cichlids. Or look for a pair of fish that are very obviously paired together in a communal tank.

As for pairing, I would still isolate the bullied fish. They can get very vicious very quickly, and it's not uncommon for either of a pair to beat the other to death. The only 100% guaranteed method I know of is to check how many vents the fish has (one in males and two in females or vice versa), but sometimes the bulldog trick works as well.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Males can be monsters .

 

[eraml]

Thanks for the info

So in the event I do have two males, the larger one is likely to kill the smaller one?
Researching online it doesn't appear to be very simple/easy to identify the vents to tell Male v Female, but will try and take a look today

I haven't noticed any marks/beating up of the smaller fish yet, just that it is hiding all the time and gets chased by the large one when it leaves hiding.

 

[eraml]

Having a very hard time trying to see the vents - took some pictures to see if anyone else can see/tell.

Here is the smaller of the two:

 

[eraml]

Here is the larger one, assuming this is male based on the bullying

 

[NurseYoyo203]

What in tarnation...

Sorry, but that LFS is....pretty wrong with the sexing information. The "small v large" argument really only works for hermaphroditic fish, and banggai cardinals are very much gonochorists (not hermaphrodites). Your best bet for future endeavors is to buy a group of six and let them sort themselves out, like cichlids. Or look for a pair of fish that are very obviously paired together in a communal tank.

As for pairing, I would still isolate the bullied fish. They can get very vicious very quickly, and it's not uncommon for either of a pair to beat the other to death. The only 100% guaranteed method I know of is to check how many vents the fish has (one in males and two in females or vice versa), but sometimes the bulldog trick works as well.

2 vents in the male, 1 vent in the female

 

[NurseYoyo203]

Here is the larger one, assuming this is male based on the bullying

The bully or aggressor is actually USUALLY the female. And you have to look on the under side. I'll try to upload a picture of my male

 

[NurseYoyo203]

 

[thephantom]

Evening,

Love cardinals. Sounds like you got a pair. One way I tell is the male looks like a bull dog in the mouth area for carrying eggs. I have a pair for at least 9 or 10 years. When they are not breeding they are chasing each other in what looks like fighting. Then one day I will notice the male gone for a period of time. That is when he goes into his hiding spot to hold the eggs. They should be fine together.

Great to here that i have 4 in a 55 gallon hex an they split into pairs now one from one pair is very aggressive to the smaller one from the other pair