Baby Cardinals

[conner]

My bangaii cardinals made babies! last night when i was feeding my fish, one of my pair of bangaiis was very fat, before i had even fed them. he was also swimming around the other one a lot, almost vibrating. When i got home from school today, it's stomach was fine, but it's mates mouth was huge. so im pretty sure they've made babies. all i really know about this is that they are mouth brooders, obviously, and i read somewhere that they deposit the babies into long-spined sea urchins when the fry are to big for their mouths. Any other info or help would be appreciated. also, i do have another tank with just a few rocks and a lobster in it, if they must go there.
Conner

 

[joebob7]

ive heard in the wild the babies take shelter in an urchin for protection but im not sure if the parents deposit them there

 

[ShannHell]

I think the "dad" just releases them from his mouth. It takes (I think) about 20 days or so until he releases them. Some people recommend that a couple days before release you put the dad into a separate tank and then move him back to the original tank after he releases the fry. It is supposed to be easier than trying to scoop up all the babies and moving them. I have seen some people that make a substitute urchin by taking a wad of epoxy, forming it into a half ball and sticking wooden or plastic skewers into it and then just setting it on the bottom of the tank

 

[aquafien]

so how are the cardinals doing? the have any size to them. still waiting to hear about the ricordia's. give me a call

 

[conner]

OK thanks guys. They're getting there, but it's hard to tell just how big they are since they're still in the dad's mouth. But thanks for the info guys

 

[reefey]

hey conner whats been going on. haven't seen you lately. how are the cardinals doing. ready to sell them yet. should get some pics on here. still waiting for the ricordia's still.