Cardinalfish breeding

[mrfrogspawn]

Looked briefly through the breeding forum and didn't see any mention of this. I've been trying to find out about how many eggs is normal for a breeding pair of Kauderns Cardinalfish. I've been breeding them for a little over a year now and with each clutch, I get more and more babies. First two clutches had no more than 6 babies, the third had about a dozen, and the most recent one was 36. I don't know if the first few rounds were just practice and learning how to do things, and now they've just gotten the hang of it or what. Just curious if i should be expecting 48+ the next time around. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

pics of the babies that hatched about 2 weeks ago

 

[wfournier]

I think 36 is about normal, they generally don't have huge broods.

 

[Kataro]

Nice hatch out, what are you feeding them to keep them alive? I'm thinking about trying some this summer

 

[Anthony Calfo]

They can start with as many as 60 or so...but the longer they brood them, the less they have (they whittle out the weak ones) until they get down to a barely manageable clutch or 10-20.

I prefer to strip the males immediately after the eggs are laid, that way he can get back to feeding like the female (or you risk burning out the male from too many starvation bouts during brooding)...plus you obviously can produce more viable babies (via an egg tumbler ala African cichlids).

I produced a huge article in my C...Journal by Marini on these fishes (it's the biggest coverage I've seen to date on them). If I can get permission to reprint it I will here, on my website, etc.

In the meantime, here are some images I posted fairly recently on development:

Marine Ornamental Fish & Invert Breeders Association • View topic - Pterapogon kauderni (Banggai cardinal) development photos

 

[jiffy]

wow that is kool, i think this is so interesting.

 

[fishtal9]

They can start with as many as 60 or so...but the longer they brood them, the less they have (they whittle out the weak ones) until they get down to a barely manageable clutch or 10-20.

I prefer to strip the males immediately after the eggs are laid, that way he can get back to feeding like the female (or you risk burning out the male from too many starvation bouts during brooding)...plus you obviously can produce more viable babies (via an egg tumbler ala African cichlids).

I produced a huge article in my C...Journal by Marini on these fishes (it's the biggest coverage I've seen to date on them). If I can get permission to reprint it I will here, on my website, etc.

In the meantime, here are some images I posted fairly recently on development:

Marine Ornamental Fish & Invert Breeders Association • View topic - Pterapogon kauderni (Banggai cardinal) development photos

Very interesting Anthony! I never got that many in a clutch, as far as I know. I think my largest clutch was ~24, but they have been declining ever since. My male only holds for a few days now before eating them. I've always let the male deal with them and have never tried pulling the eggs right away. May have to try that.

My pair is probably about 3yrs old now. They always took their time between spawns so I didn't have to worry about the male wasting away from holding again right away.

You can see my journal here: Breeding Journal, Species: P. kauderni (Banggai Cardinalfish)

 

[blesk]

Hi every one congrats tu new hatch i wona ask any off you here beter than gou tu lfs here . Me female past away last year in novembr and i loking fore new female or new pair off cardinals if any off you guys here have one pair or female fore sale i buy one or the pair if is posible i tring tu geth back tu bread them i love cardinals and i hate tu se me male lonely please any one msg me thanks.

 

[kingfisherfleshy]

Im looking for a small group right now to get some paired off...you can PM me an offer on some little guys if you want.

 

[fragman2]

great info guys

I have been raising them too for a couple of years now and have had many of the same experiences. I am intrigued be the idea of striping them before they hatch. I lose over 50% of the clutches due to the male just not carrying them to term. Hey after seeing your dangerous looking spiky looking "Sea Urchin" I thought that I would share what has worked well for me. I started making fake urchins with black cocktail straws and then shifted to plain old black zip ties. The straws held too much air and wanted to float and were also harder to glue to the plug that I used. Zip ties and super glue gel work great!

 

[knyreefguy]

i have a member that has bangai's the male dropped the eggs and she now has them in a small tank with a diy tumbler she saw on youtube... anybody have any luck with this method?...

 

[JasonC]

Nice pics Fragman, Those are wayyy cute.

 

[gmneil]

i tried a # of ways to strip the eggs and keep them in suspension, im curious how you make your egg tumblers, anthiny did you have any more info on them, or does anyone?

 

[nixer]

heres a link with one and its got a video of it in action
The best Egg Tumbler Look if your cichlid is pregnant - Cichlid Forums