Babies on the way

BengalReefer

BengalReefer

New member
My Banggai Cardinal is holding eggs!

I bought three Banggais a few months ago and luckily after a while two of them started hanging out and paired up. The third one who was being relegated to hiding in one corner of the tank was returned to the lfs. They have been fun additions to the tank, especially watching them dart around to feed :)

The other week I noticed one of the voracious feeders skipping his meal... Sure enough, the next day he held out too! After a few days his jaw showed a noticeable bulging and he has taken to hugging the rocks and staying in his cave a lot.

So, today is now day 12 of incubation! I'm starting to be hopeful that he may actually carry his very first batch to term (having read that they often don't the first couple times). I'm going to wait a few more days before I actually order some brine shrimp eggs and selcon for enrichment.

The father is being uncooperative with my photo attemps, so of course he's out of focus here, but you can sorta see his bulging jaw : /
75A001A8-20A0-4671-919C-B4EE10D00D3A-1268-0000010C617BD4EF.jpg
 
I have some 2L bottles and an air pump to hatch bbs in, so I can have them on alternating days to get babies every day. I plan on using selcon to enrich the day old shrimp once the babies are bigger. I have a 10 gallon tank I will move the babies to after hopefully catching them in a breeder box. I figure around day 19 I will start trying to catch the father... That way I have a few days so I can go slowly and not spook him getting him into the breeder box.
 
I noticed half of a dozen fry hiding in a corner of my 300g a couple of weeks back. I started feeding BBS once they were captured but had to go on vacation so I released them back in the DT. I still have one who's probably pea-sized and eats whatever floats by. He hangs out by the gigantea carpet like the parents do. Still waiting on the next batch... I do have some Otohime from the hobbyist breeder pack. I want to try the golden pearls stuff Anthony was using. I had a hard time getting the fry to eat anything non-live. I am hoping the golden pearls are easier.
 
I'm planning on feeding just bbs for the first two weeks, then slowly adding in some frozen bbs or shaved mysis, see if I can get them on frozen and then maybe something else as well...
Going to make up an anemone out of zip ties for the babies to hide in and feel comfortable. I debated just letting this first batch hatch in the DT to see what happens, but decided that I would better like to give them the best chance, thus removing them from the potential threat of my maroon clowns.
 
I didn't get them with intentions of breeding, but after reading up on them more and more it seemed like a fun possibility. Then when I saw him holding, I started researching in earnest :) Depending on how it goes, I may want to start up a little breeding program. If I have any offspring that make it to, I believe around 4 months, a marketable size I will certainly come here first to see if anyone is interested.

Thanks for the recommendation Saltwaternooby, I'll look her up!

Of course, if this takes off it will just mean yet another tank setup I need to get going... These pile up fast :p

Oh, and big daddy finally posed nicely for me
34404968-BA99-4B1C-8704-28556EAB6097-1567-0000015A6E10D2FB.jpg

(Also a nice view of my wonderful hair algae :/ )
 
Doubtful, lol :)

In order to break even I believe you'd have to get a decent scale setup... From reading, you can have a pretty good birth rate. I think the main issue is finding buyers for a large number of fish. Best prices would be gained from individual sales however the only way to get enough volume to sell all the young would be to ship them, which in turn would eat up more money. Selling to retailers can deal with your volume, but they won't pay close to retail prices, this requiring increased volume to render profit.

So in reality, I'm not likely to do anything profitable with it. But then again, recouping any amount of money would be vastly better than most things in this hobby :) It is really more something of personal interest to do, along with some amount of ethics... If my Banggai are breeding, then why not disseminate the young and help in some small way to reduce the number of wild caught Banggai being bought.

But mostly, just because its fun and baby fishies are adorable! :D
 
BengalReefer said:
If my Banggai are breeding, then why not disseminate the young and help in some small way to reduce the number of wild caught Banggai being bought.
Click to expand...
This is important as they're on the endangered species list due to limited geographical distribution. I actually think very few (if any) are imported these days.

I'd try raising them regularly but they're in my 300g DT and catching them is easier said than done... My hope is to use a larval trap of some sort.
 
My wife's mollies and platies keep breeding. If they survive being eaten by their parents, they go in the big tank and if they can avoid being eaten by the knife fish and lobsters, they get donated to the fish tank at Sutter ER.
 
It is day 20 and my Banggai is still holding :) Dunno how many babies there will be on his first time, but I think he will actually complete the gestation on his first try :) Last night I flipped the lights on and corralled him into a breeder box. I'm getting a 10 gallon set up for the fry currently. My brine shrimp eggs just arrived today and I'm putting together a zip tie "urchin".
 
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