Lots of Baby Bangaii Cardinals!!!

[azfishgal]

On Thursday my husband and I were doing our best to catch our male Bangaii who had babies in his mouth. We had sectioned off our 125 gallon tank with all the other fish on one side and the male Bangaii on the other. We took out lots of live rock and were doing our best to get him to swim around to me so I could scoop him up. Well, to my horror when he got to the corner of the tank he spit out all the babies!!!!! In a panick we forgot about the father and just started netting all the babies, doing our best not to hurt them. Well the end result was 40+ babies in my breeders net!!! Now comes the hard part, keeping them alive. I wasn't really planning on doing anything, but when I saw the little wiggly things in the father's mouth two days ago, I decided I was going to do my best to save them. All the babies were free swimming when he spit them out so I feel for a first time father my male did a fantastic job! They were in the breeders net for two days and then I moved them into the Nano tank, the official "Nursery". I think I have lost 8 babies so far, which I feel is pretty darn good considering. I am feeding them live baby brine shrimp (vitamin fortified) and also trying some cyclopeez (some eat it, some dont). To be honest, I know the mortality rate on these little fish can be pretty high so I will be thrilled if I just have 5 healthy fish after it's all said and done. This is not to say I won't try and save all of them, just being realistic is all. But for now I'm enjoying the little wigglers.

This is the male holding the eggs before Thanksgiving.


Happy Birthday!!!


Just after I put them in the Nano Tank. I had to readjust the flow because when I put them in I was reminded of the EAC in Finding Nemo.


This was taken yesterday. The little tikes are getting more brave and venturing out more.


Zoomed in so you can see them up close.

[azfishgal]

Here is where the magic happened.

[Helena21]

Awwwww they are so cute . Looks like your feeding them well too.

Very nice tank btw

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by Helena21

Awwwww they are so cute . Looks like your feeding them well too.

Very nice tank btw

Five times a day, at least that is what the experts say you should do. So I try and feed them every 3 hours or so. Of course they go about 10 hours without food at night. You should see them for the morning feeding, they are like little sharks. With all this feeding though I have to do a small water change daily to keep my parameters in check.

[KahluaZzZ]

niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice So cuuuuuuuuuute

[Lorna]

Try to get some rotifers that along with the enriched brine are great. I managed to save about 5 out of the original 15 that I found in my fuge one day last January. Since then I havent managed to intercept any spawning though my pair do it about every 6 weeks. Good luck on the feeding it is very rewarding when they make it...... I still have a quarter sized pair living in my sump I can't catch....

[Lotus]

Congrats on the babies

I hear that at around day 10 there can be a big die off.

Make sure you're feeding papa plenty of fortified food for the next few days. Sometimes they mate within five days of dropping fry, and they don't eat while holding. My banggais really seem to like bloodworms as a treat (or live blackworms).

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by Lotus

Congrats on the babies

I hear that at around day 10 there can be a big die off.

Make sure you're feeding papa plenty of fortified food for the next few days. Sometimes they mate within five days of dropping fry, and they don't eat while holding. My banggais really seem to like bloodworms as a treat (or live blackworms).

Ya, I've read about the dreaded 10 day period, so I'm sort of bracing myself. I tried to catch the papa so I could fatten him up but with him spitting the babies out I had to change my focus. I've been feeding Mysis shrimp for every meal in the DT, as that is all papa will eat. (I usually rotate.). I do soak my pellet food in Vita-Chem for my Hippo Tang to ward off disease, but the Cardinal won't eat it. I'll soak the Mysis shrimp in Vita-Chem tomorrow morning and see if he'll still eat it.

There were no casualties in the Nursery tank today, so I'm happy about that. But like you said, day 10 is just around the corner, so we'll see what happens.

[shift_9k]

Good luck they look awesome.

[seastaar88]

wow! very cool!