Banggai Cardinal Lembah Strait, Hi-Fin natural variant (Pterapogon kauderni).

Care guide Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni).

These are a sociable species so are best kept in pairs or groups. Pairs can be 1 male and 1 female, although 2 males will also get along. They also do well in larger groups of 6+, or preferably 10+. The females can be quite aggressive to other Banggai cardinals, so in small groups or pairs stick to only 1 female if possible.

History of Banggai cardinals & the Lembah Strait variant

These are one of the few commonly kept marine fish species that are CITES listed. They were only officially named in 1993. The only wild population was on the tiny Banggai Islands. This species became an overnight sensation in the hobby, and unfortunately over collecting reduced the wild population by 75% in a decade.

As the Banggai Islands were quite far away from many of the catching stations i Indonesia, many of the collectors released some specimens into the waters close to the catching stations, were they quickly established themselves forming robust populations. These days most specimens are captive bred for the hobby, but, we are sometimes able to get wild specimens from the introduced populations in Indonesia, with the most prized of these being from the Lembah Strait.

The Lembah Strait forms a natural bottleneck for tidal flows, and can at times reach flow rates of over 7km an hour. To give that some perspective that’s faster than an Olympic swimmer, and equivilant to tank flow rates in a 1 metre aquarium of over 7,000 times per hour! Consequently the Banggai’s from this area have evolved extra tall fins to give them more stability in the fast current (like the keel on a boat). Making the Lembah Strait variants particularly sought after!

SIZE

Small, maximum size just over 2”.

COMPATIBILITY

Completely reef safe. Best kept with other small or medium fishes. Larger or more aggressive fish may attack or eat them. May predate on very tiny fish such as Eviota and Trimma gobies etc. Generally safe with larger fish such as Coral Gobies.

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