Banggai cardinalfish With eggs??? No mate.. so confused

[rmorris_14]

So I have another thread about internal parasites and discussing my clownfish with string poop and my cardinal fish that hasn’t eaten for two days. This morning I woke up to check on the cardinal and it has eggs covering it’s underside. He/she has been alone in the tank for probably a year. Do cardinal fish have eggs with the absent of a mate? Would they be attached where these are? Could it be the eggs of something else? See photos. Sorry it’s not white light I tried to get the best ones I could

edit: to add the one egg that became detached and grabbed it out of the tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Eggs usually in bits mouth

 

[rmorris_14]

Eggs usually in bits mouth

That’s what I thought. So what in the heck are these? Snail eggs?? parasite? One came off when it moved quickly and went up to the powerhead so I grabbed it

 

[rmorris_14]

So I found this video about cardinal fish egg transfer. Happens at 1:20 in the video. The eggs in the video look just like the eggs on mine. So I guess the answer is females don’t need a male to produce the eggs and I don’t have a male to transfer to his mouth so they are just staying on the female.....

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So I found this video about cardinal fish egg transfer. Happens at 1:20 in the video. The eggs in the video look just like the eggs on mine. So I guess the answer is females don’t need a male to produce the eggs and I don’t have a male to transfer to his mouth so they are just staying on the female.....

Yes - females need to release their eggs in the absence of a male (the eggs are too large to be reabsorbed like some other fish do). I had a case recently where the female actually held the eggs in mouth for a bit, I thought the males were the mouthbrooders in this species.

The only thing I haven't seen before is the eggs hanging at the vent like that....but I guess that is normal?

jay

 

[rmorris_14]

Yes - females need to release their eggs in the absence of a male (the eggs are too large to be reabsorbed like some other fish do). I had a case recently where the female actually held the eggs in mouth for a bit, I thought the males were the mouthbrooders in this species.

The only thing I haven't seen before is the eggs hanging at the vent like that....but I guess that is normal?

jay

HAHA.. I get concerned when you end a sentence with a question mark... To me, if you haven’t seen heard of it, then it’s probably not normal. I guess this explains why she hasn’t been eating? Is that common for fish to refuse food during an egg releasing stage?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Yes - females need to release their eggs in the absence of a male (the eggs are too large to be reabsorbed like some other fish do). I had a case recently where the female actually held the eggs in mouth for a bit, I thought the males were the mouthbrooders in this species.

The only thing I haven't seen before is the eggs hanging at the vent like that....but I guess that is normal?

jay

Someone else on the forum had a similar experience just a few days ago:

Whats my banggai cardinal fish doing?

Curious what everyone's thoughts are here. I've had this solo banggai cardinal fish for over a year and recently noticed it laying eggs and holding the clutch in its mouth... not really sure what to make of it. It doesnt have a mate. Anyone else ever seen this before...

www.reef2reef.com

The tank only had the one female cardinalfish, and it had been alone for over a year, then it was found carrying eggs in its mouth. A quick search shows a number of similar cases popping up occasionally over the years.

HAHA.. I get concerned when you end a sentence with a question mark... To me, if you haven’t seen heard of it, then it’s probably not normal. I guess this explains why she hasn’t been eating? Is that common for fish to refuse food during an egg releasing stage?

The way she’s carrying the eggs is odd, but I don’t know that it’s necessarily a problem (I’d keep an eye on her for a few days and observe for issues).

For Bangaii Cardinalfish, it is common for the males to stop eating while they’re “incubating” the eggs, so I’d imagine it’s not too terribly abnormal for the females to do so as well in the absence of a male (since they take over the brooding duties in cases like this). I had assumed they stopped eating mostly due to the fact that they are mouth brooders, though (logistics), so this is making me wonder if it’s actually a logistics thing (i.e. it can’t eat anything or it risks eating the kids) or if it’s an instinct thing (i.e. it’s guarding the eggs, so it won’t eat anything).

Basically, my thoughts are to watch the fish for issues, and if it starts eating again and doesn’t have any issues after a few days, then you’re most likely in the clear. (Most females in these cases only carry the eggs for a few days before spitting them out, so it should start eating again after a few days if there’s nothing wrong, as far as I know.) If it goes more than 7-10 days without eating (assuming no other symptoms show up/have shown up by then), then I would be concerned that something is wrong.

Hope this helps!

 

[rmorris_14]

Someone else on the forum had a similar experience just a few days ago:

Whats my banggai cardinal fish doing?

Curious what everyone's thoughts are here. I've had this solo banggai cardinal fish for over a year and recently noticed it laying eggs and holding the clutch in its mouth... not really sure what to make of it. It doesnt have a mate. Anyone else ever seen this before...

www.reef2reef.com

The tank only had the one female cardinalfish, and it had been alone for over a year, then it was found carrying eggs in its mouth. A quick search shows a number of similar cases popping up occasionally over the years.


The way she’s carrying the eggs is odd, but I don’t know that it’s necessarily a problem (I’d keep an eye on her for a few days and observe for issues).

For Bangaii Cardinalfish, it is common for the males to stop eating while they’re “incubating” the eggs, so I’d imagine it’s not too terribly abnormal for the females to do so as well in the absence of a male (since they take over the brooding duties in cases like this). I had assumed they stopped eating mostly due to the fact that they are mouth brooders, though (logistics), so this is making me wonder if it’s actually a logistics thing (i.e. it can’t eat anything or it risks eating the kids) or if it’s an instinct thing (i.e. it’s guarding the eggs, so it won’t eat anything).

Basically, my thoughts are to watch the fish for issues, and if it starts eating again and doesn’t have any issues after a few days, then you’re most likely in the clear. (Most females in these cases only carry the eggs for a few days before spitting them out, so it should start eating again after a few days if there’s nothing wrong, as far as I know.) If it goes more than 7-10 days without eating (assuming no other symptoms show up/have shown up by then), then I would be concerned that something is wrong.

Hope this helps!

Wow, thanks for sharing that other post and your detailed response about my concerns. I’ll just watch and see for now. I am a bit relieved to have an explanation as to why she wasn’t eating. And now I know my fish is a girl! Although, in my awe I announced to my husband “she has eggs!” My son of course heard and got excited because now he expects babies. So I get to have that conversation with a five year old about how in this case, not so much. Lol

 

[vetteguy53081]

Just got off work- Yup eggs , thatll likely not hatch but at least you know its fertile

 

[rmorris_14]