Apogon Parvulus caught 'em in the act!

[landlord]

Well to my amazement my recent acquisitions have started spawning in my SPS display. I picked up 10 Red Spot Cardinal fish a couple weeks ago

Fun fish to watch, so glad I took the chance and picked them up. In any case on Tuesday I watch one of the females produces a mass of eggs which slowly extruded from her abdomen. At first I thought she has a gnarly case of lymphocystis. The egg mass hung on her for the rest of that evening into the next day!

Thinking she was ill I could only hope that she would continue to eat and fight it off. Well I was quite surprised to find out Wednesday evening that the mass was gone. I had a suspicion that it might have been eggs but from the size of it and a quick observation of her 9 tankmates I couldn't imagine any of them fitting it into their mouths.

I was wrong! :lol:

Saw this guy last night, proud as punch, with a big pink blob in his gob.

Poor guy couldn't feed with the rest of his mates. Just gonna have to keep an eye on him some time early next week and hope I can capture him out of the DT. Not sure if I let him release the fry in the tank if I will have any luck with a capture. I have little info on the species' larval behavior, like if they are attracted to light, the time of night when a release would occur, etc...

Anybody with experience, PLEASE chime in with your thoughts. I am guessing he'll hold them for 7 days??? maybe a couple more. Any ideas of how a release works? Time of day / night it might happen? Whether the fry are phototropic (light attracted)?

Thanks in advance for any assistance or advice

Kurt

Few more shots of the holder, and his pals.

 

[iziko]

Very nice!!
U R going trying to rais the youngs?

Good luck!

 

[landlord]

Very nice!!
U R going trying to rais the youngs?

Good luck!

Thank you very much and Yes I am going to try to raise the offspring.

 

[mrk88]

If you cant catch him i would let him stay in there and see what happens. You might be surprised how many little fry survive in your tank. I work at a place that has a 1500 gallon bin with LR and coral in it. We through a couple adult bangais in there in within a couple months we started noticing a bunch of babies showing up. We dont give them much special care and they seem to survive just fine.

 

[landlord]

If you cant catch him i would let him stay in there and see what happens. You might be surprised how many little fry survive in your tank. I work at a place that has a 1500 gallon bin with LR and coral in it. We through a couple adult bangais in there in within a couple months we started noticing a bunch of babies showing up. We dont give them much special care and they seem to survive just fine.

Thanks! My plan if he cannot be caught is to try and attract the larvae to a light source. I have a feeling these fry will be rather planktonic vs fully developed banggai's

 

[Luis A M]

Thanks! My plan if he cannot be caught is to try and attract the larvae to a light source. I have a feeling these fry will be rather planktonic vs fully developed banggai's

You´re right.Banggais are the exception,all other cardinals produce tiny pelagic larvae.Good luck with them!

 

[iziko]

What U R going to eat the babies?
rotifer? artemi? else?

 

[landlord]

What U R going to eat the babies?
rotifer? artemi? else?

I am going to introduce them (if I can catch the larvae) to rotifers. I believe I have the L strain variety which are a bit large so who knows if they will be able to fit them into their mouths.

Kurt

 

[elegance coral]

Did the secret of what the first food used to raise pygmy angels ever get out? I know they were successful because they found a new first food. A critter smaller than rotifers. Maybe with a little research, you can figure out what they used, and where to get them???????? Good luck.

 

[landlord]

I believe there are other smaller feeds but without knowing larval size I have yet to make a move in any one particular direction other than rotifers.