Banggai cardinal Premature Egg Release, Help!

Chris’s fish · Jul 27, 2022

Hi all I have a male banggai cardinal which has been holding for 23 days. Today he spit about 5 fry but they still have an egg sack. Should I start feeding the baby brine shrimp? And will they survive?

Tired · Jul 27, 2022

They won't eat until they use up the yolk, it's providing all their nutrients. They might have a chance, if you keep them safe and offer them live BBS once the yolk is gone. You may want to go and gently stir them around a little now and then, since he isn't holding them and they're probably used to being stirred.

Mschmidt · Jul 27, 2022

@Projects with Sam can you help?

Projects with Sam · Jul 27, 2022

with cichlid, they wouldn't eat till the yolk was used. I had to tumble them till their air bladders developed. the ones that I didn't, ended up malformed and I let them fend for themselves in the tank. you may want to turn a blind eye to them all... its a lot of dealing. My hobby would be a lot simpler if I didn't strip them...

DaJMasta · Jul 27, 2022

Just keep them on their own and let them do their thing. They won't eat until after the yolk is used up and they have developed their swim bladder, then early foods should be live zooplankton (copepods), as they have a much better feeding response to the moving stuff and relatively little endurance to swim in the current that would make prepared foods move.

I've had some survive that were 4-5 days early from the rest of the batch, where they were still more egg than fish. You basically just need to keep them away from predators and out of any problematic crevices or anything - just on the sandbed or in a mesh breeder box has been fine for me in multiple cases.