Breeding the Banggai cardinalfish

[dgiglio3087]

Okay so I have a pair of Banggai cardinalfish, and Im pretty sure my male is holding eggs. He is showing all the signs, first off I witnessed what I think was breeding, now the male hasnt eaten, for about 2 weeks or more, and HAD an enlarged mouth, but only for a few days (which I witnessed once before). So I wanna know is there any other reason why he wouldn't be eating? He otherwise is in good health. Also I've noticed my female is more aggressive , not so much protective ( she doesn't seem to be trying to keep other fish away from him), just move aggressive to the tank mates. I've read the article on that site breedersregistry.org , but feel like it's worth noting that this is my first time having fish spawn. Any tips are appreciated , thanks

 

[foxhuntr]

sounds like he has a mouthful to me .....my banggi's are always mating but he spits the babies in the rock work and they bet eaten by the tangs.....every once in awhile i find 1 or 2 babies swimming around and make it after they find a good hiding place.......good luck

 

[dgiglio3087]

Hey thanks for sharing. Let me ask you though, after he would spit them out, he would start eating right away (within a day or two) right? And maybe someone who has raised the fry to market size can answer this but , if i put the male in a breeder net, will he be more Likey to hold them to term? And If so when's a good time to try to transfer him to either a breeders net or seperate aquarium? Its been sometime since he stopped eating. Thanks again to everyone for helping

 

[Z-man]

I purchased a long spine urchin when mine started to breed for the babies to hide in, but if you can make one using kabob skewers, I think that would be better.

 

[Just Clownin Around]

start feeding right after he spits the babies. i seperated mine for a few days because the female is going to put more in his mouth asap.

 

[dgiglio3087]

start feeding right after he spits the babies. i seperated mine for a few days because the female is going to put more in his mouth asap.

So as long as he isn't eating chances are he's holding them still, right? The reason I ask is because he let me see in his mouth. Any time I get close to the tank he runs and hides. Thanks

 

[dgiglio3087]

I purchased a long spine urchin when mine started to breed for the babies to hide in, but if you can make one using kabob skewers, I think that would be better.

So a urchin will help prevent the babies from being eaten? With the kabob method, how should I do this? Maybe glue them to a rock?

 

[Cole_lol]

I made a simial deal with weedeater twine and it didnt seem to work with mine. The male just spit out all the babies and I didnt know and only found 2 little ones swimming around. The first time when I counted days I was able to get 15 of them into my sump and ended up with 5 when it was all said and done and they are still not big enought to give away.

My pair breed like clock work. As soon as he spits them out the female is there for a new batch of eggs. Mine seems to eat the eggs every other time. Thats fine with me because he needs to stay health as he get very very skinny.

Good luck! I am looking at getting a hang on back breeding box to house them in as it will make it easyer to keep an eye on them and spot feed them. I dont know what you plan on feeding them but I have had really good luck with pods and baby brine shrimp and once they are a bit bigger they seem to take to fine crushed flakes!

 

[dgiglio3087]

I made a simial deal with weedeater twine and it didnt seem to work with mine. The male just spit out all the babies and I didnt know and only found 2 little ones swimming around. The first time when I counted days I was able to get 15 of them into my sump and ended up with 5 when it was all said and done and they are still not big enought to give away.

My pair breed like clock work. As soon as he spits them out the female is there for a new batch of eggs. Mine seems to eat the eggs every other time. Thats fine with me because he needs to stay health as he get very very skinny.

Good luck! I am looking at getting a hang on back breeding box to house them in as it will make it easyer to keep an eye on them and spot feed them. I dont know what you plan on feeding them but I have had really good luck with pods and baby brine shrimp and once they are a bit bigger they seem to take to fine crushed flakes!

Hey thanks for your advice ! Mine breed like rabbits as well , since my original post mine have breed again! Let me ask you, the time that you counted the days how many days to it take for him to spit the fry out? I actually witnessed and recorded mine breeding this time, then the next day he had a mouth full, so I know the day count. I bought a little breeder box from my lfs for $20, but if I can keep this pair breeding( and if I'm successful at raising the fry) I'm going to set up a 20 gallon long with dividers to breed them in. Heres a photo of my breeder box and a video of what I think was either them breeding or courting right before they bred.

By the way thanks again for sharing!

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc478/Daniel_Giglio/ebdac52b.mp4

 

[Cole_lol]

Hey, the video / pic did not show.
My pair i think went 30 days almost till they spit out the babies...
I havent really been that good at counting as I have slowed down on watching
since I really dont have any way to raise them all they way they need to be

Im going to get more into it once I setup a new tank here in the future so i can make it
a little easyer...

 

[dgiglio3087]

Sorry guys here you go i have to direct link instead of "img". 2 19 :: ebdac52b.mp4 video by Daniel_Giglio - Photobucket


Okay good it worked that time lol.

anyways hes still holding them. I think i can actually see like silvery fishes in his mouth, but that might be mind eyes playing tricks on me lol
Today makes 21 days now that hes been holding them and i have started my baby brine shrimp hatchery just im ready 1smile1 ive been looking for a long spin urchin at the local fish stores but i cant find any right now ( of course, any other time that's all they'd have lol). Well think ive still got a couple more days so maybe ill come across one, WISH ME LUCK!!!!

 

[Just Jared]

Awesome...I have a question. Is it possible to keep the babys alive in a planted tank with LOTS of pod life? I have a 20gl long all macro tank without anything to eat rapidly producing pod life. I was wondering if the life in the macro tank was enough to sustain the babies without sumplemental feeding of live foods? thanks for any help!!


PS. I dont have a babies on the way.... but hope to soon!!

Jared

 

[Cole_lol]

I know that baby brine works best and is really easy to hatch if you can get some eggs online or from a LFS. But, In my tank I have had 3 diffrent batches of babies and Ill tell you that they cleaned up my pod population really well... But I would say it is possible.