Bangai with a mouth full of eggs.

[BornHandy]

I have 3 bangai cardinals in my 75, and two of three paired up, and now one is carrying eggs.

I couldn't get a super crisp picture, but I'll share what i got...

Question is, I also have a big diadema urchin, and I know bangai cardinals like to hide among the urchin's spines for protection, so is it possible that I could have some survive? That would be epic!

 

[Reef AquaCult]

You first need to have the male be strong enough to hold the eggs for weeks without eating. Usually the first several attempts are not successful, but it’s possible! Good luck!

 

[PatW]

Mine would get the young to term. But in a high flow tank with hungry fish, they quickly disappeared.

To raise cardinals, you would need to get the male into a tank with moderate enough flow so as to not kill the fry and offer the fry food that is small enough for them to eat.

 

[reef lover]

Getting him to hold them.is the hard part. Id set him up a seperate tank or acclimation box with a fake urchin. I made one outta epoxy and zipties.

And on a side note if you have 3 i would rehome the third before aggression starts.

 

[BornHandy]

Spotted babies in his mouth today...it's been impossible to get a picture, but I will try again later...

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Awesome!! Keep us posted on how they do!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Very exciting story as always when we get any of our specimens to breed within our tank and in captivity.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

He'll mouth brood until the fry get too large and can sorta fend for themselves. I've heard of pairs being over zealous and the male eventually starving to dead from not eating...

 

[Oldsalt]

I get Banggai fry regularly. Use some BBS and 100 Micron fry food (good for corals too). My LFS buys my babies after they're 3 months old minimum. Here's my male about to release fry tomorrow. The 2nd photo is the babies around a week old. It's best to get the male out into another tank or low flow area of a refugium before the other fish eat them. He releases the fry in the wee hours of the morning. He goes 21 days without food. Once he releases the fry, he's hungry!

 

[LadyMac]

CHUBBY CHEEKS! As a huge fan of paternal mouthbrooding bettas, I absolutely love cardinals. I plan to house five in my tank as soon as I can locate them and afford them.
Congrats on the mouthful, I hope he holds to term. Now on my bettas, females sometimes can be impatient and will spawn a male to death. Only real pros can hold and eat at the same time. I’m not sure about cards though. But I would move him a couple days to a week before he’s due to release. Place him in a breeder net or similar. Let him release his fry, and hold him on there for a few days offering him some really good high quality foods just to make up for the time he was holding. Then you can let him go with his girlfriend. Good luck with him, and congrats again!

 

[Oldsalt]

I have found that if you put the grown baby Banggais in the same tank as the parents, they will be attacked and likely killed, even in my tank that is 1500 litres. Watch for aggression closely

 

[naoki]

I get Banggai fry regularly. Use some BBS and 100 Micron fry food (good for corals too). My LFS buys my babies after they're 3 months old minimum. Here's my male about to release fry tomorrow. The 2nd photo is the babies around a week old. It's best to get the male out into another tank or low flow area of a refugium before the other fish eat them. He releases the fry in the wee hours of the morning. He goes 21 days without food. Once he releases the fry, he's hungry!

You mentions that it is best to put him into another tank, but do you let him release the babies in the community tank and catch them after they are released? Do you have any other fish which might quickly snatch them? Or if you transfer him, how do your prevent him eating the eggs/babies? I have transferred the male to a separate tank, but he ate them twice (once early and once late in his "pregnancy"). To catch him with less stress, I woke up in the middle of night when fish were sleeping, and I could catch him relatively quickly.

 

[vetteguy53081]

You mentions that it is best to put him into another tank, but do you let him release the babies in the community tank and catch them after they are released? Do you have any other fish which might quickly snatch them? Or if you transfer him, how do your prevent him eating the eggs/babies? I have transferred the male to a separate tank, but he ate them twice (once early and once late in his "pregnancy"). To catch him with less stress, I woke up in the middle of night when fish were sleeping, and I could catch him relatively quickly.

If you net him- he'll eat them. Trap with a container and release from container into new tank

 

[Tennyson]

In my experience netting them usually causes them to spit up the babies, not eat them. Then again every father is different and some are better than others.

To catch my males before release, I go in the middle of the night long after lights out. A sleeping cardinal is way easier to catch than an awake one

 

[BornHandy]

He's still holding some fry, but I spotted these two tod

 

[Oldsalt]

Is that a live Urchin? I must get one - even a fake one. My male let all the babies go in the wee hours of this morning and they got devoured by my carnivores. He's too hard to catch so I thought I'd be ok like my last batch. I prefer to leave him in the DT to reduce any stress. Now I have to wait another month. This is the first batch I have ever lost.
Anyone know where I can get a fake urchin with long spines?
Edit - I found thin black carbon fibre spines at my local hobby shop. Going to put them into a blackened golf ball to simulate an urchin.

 

[reef lover]

I used epoxy and zipties!!

 

[Oldsalt]

That's a great idea.
My grandkids used these 1mm black carbon fiber rods to make a solar system using foam balls. I'm going to knead a ball of 2 part epoxy (it's like putty that sets hard in a few minutes) and stick a bunch of these through. Obviously I can't get the Styrofoam balls to sink. I'll need to be quick but I'm sure it will work.

 

[BornHandy]

I thought I lost all of them, but look what I found today. I may be down to one, but it's eating, and a little bigger than before.

 

[sabeypets]

I catch the Male 18-20 days after spawning and make him spit them out in a net. They can be raised in a breeder net or moved to another tank. I use TDO B from Reef Nutrition to feed then.