B. Cardinal Holding Babies!!

[BfishLpond78]

Just sat down to look at the tank...checking out all the fish and I noticed one of my cardinals appeared to have a full mouth of something...immediately thought he was holding babies, but had to confirm. Fed the tank and he did not eat! Then I noticed him shift his mouth around and low and behold his mouth is full of eggs! I know the babies probably will not survive but it's cool none the less!!!

-Mike

 

[pjb9166]

That is wicked cool.
I had the experience with FW Angeles. It's just a splendor to see the imprinted gift of our fish have in parenting.

 

[under10minutes]

From my understanding when the eggs hatch they put them in the spines of an urchin to protect them.

 

[BfishLpond78]

From my understanding when the eggs hatch they put them in the spines of an urchin to protect them.

I read that as well, looks like I'm going to have to rig up something to mimic this.

 

[kb1094]

you could also make fake urchins since some of them are not reef safe. There is an article of breeding cardinals in the magazine called "coral". If you have an iPhone you could go to the newsstand app and look for the given name. There is really good info. Hope this helps. By the way, the magazine is free.

 

[under10minutes]

I have a reef safe urchin. Let me know if you want to borrow him. I was going to give him a hair cut but I'll wait.

 

[Collinrb]

I just moved my spawning pair into a small frag tank, and stuck a long spine urchin in there. time will tell

 

[pjb9166]

you could also make fake urchins since some of them are not reef safe. There is an article of breeding cardinals in the magazine called "coral". If you have an iPhone you could go to the newsstand app and look for the given name. There is really good info. Hope this helps. By the way, the magazine is free.

That magazine has some great articles. The one your referring to was a good read.

 

[argi]

Congratulations!!!

The babies will also "hide" in anemones...I even had babies hid in a long tentacle plate coral once. I have raised a couple without even trying. Once you see he isn't holding anymore check your overflow box, sump, corals to see if any are alive. I then moved them into my refugium and starting feeding baby brine shrimp.

Best of luck!!!

 

[Collinrb]

Congratulations!!!

The babies will also "hide" in anemones...I even had babies hid in a long tentacle plate coral once. I have raised a couple without even trying. Once you see he isn't holding anymore check your overflow box, sump, corals to see if any are alive. I then moved them into my refugium and starting feeding baby brine shrimp.

Best of luck!!!

I moved my pair about halfway through brooding. I don't think he ended up spitting any babies this time around. But for my pair, they breed every 2-3 weeks.

Scares me how often they breed and the fact the male doesn't eat for 18ish days haha. I power feed the little tank now to bulk those guys up! I hope to add mangroves and a few display macros to the tank, to add even more hiding spots for babies. One of us will release CTARS bangaiis one day

 

[BubbaBoBobBrain]

Very cool Mike!

 

[LeslieP]

Does anyone know how to tell the difference between the males and females? I have a pair of cardinals and this would be really cool to see. I never see them eat, but they are certainly fat and healthy.

 

[BfishLpond78]

I'm looking to get a brine shrimp hatchery kit...can anyone recommend a good one? I could probably grow them out in my fuge as it is a low flow area and its filled with macro algae and what not...

I read that the femlae now in breeding mode is going to very sexual active and trying to mate with the male as often as possible that keeping them apart for some time while the male regains strength from the long fast of holding babies is necessary.

I plan on reading a few articles to get some ideas....

very cool none the less!

 

[pjb9166]

Why purchase a hatchery?
2 x 2ltr bottles an airpump tubing and fine airstone.

Ss for growing them out. Salinity may be a little low

 

[RossTheReefer]

Congrats, years ago I had cardinals that were breeding like crazy too. It's really interesting

 

[ca1ore]

Awesome! Though not in my current tank, I used to have both cardinals and clowns breeding regularly. And I had a PERFECT record, not a single fry ever made it to adulthood Better luck to you!

 

[RossTheReefer]

I had the same PERFECT record as you calore. Hahaha... I'm trying green mandarins soon so I'll let you guys know how that goes

 

[BfishLpond78]

Been reading that I can remove the Male and put him in the sump as it would be a nice safe haven for the fry and there would be plenty of pods and critters to eat down there...my only fear is that the purple reef lobster may try to snack on the babies...lol.

I would love a new project to undertake...this seems like it would be fun.

Anyone have experience hatching brine shrimp? What company did you use? Anyone make a nice little hatchery for me to copy?

 

[kb1094]

babies... coral food lol :spin1:
hopefully they survive. good luck.

 

[BfishLpond78]

babies... coral food lol :spin1:
hopefully they survive. good luck.

The babies are actually a decent size and I dont think the corals would benefit from them....Other fish in the tank may take a liking to them though.

Thinking about rigging up a breeder net to hold them. Hopefully put the male in the breeder net, but the containers netting is small enough for the babies to strain out so the male doesnt eat them. It will be my first go so it will be trial and error.