Banggai Cardinal Breeding

[SWBeginer]

I saw my pair of BC hatched in their mouth many times but didn't know what had happened to those eggs/babies because they were in the main tank. Finally, I moved them into a 20g by themselves. Hoping they will hatch again.

Any one had experiences breeding BC can walk me thru the processes plz?

 

[woodnaquanut]

I've never done it but every description I've read it sounds very much like raising FW livebearers. The parents will eat the babies. Either be lucky and net out as soon as they are released or provide them some way to escape or hide from the parents.

In the wild they hide in long spine urchins. If you don't happen to have a real one you can make one out of a hunk of PVC pipe and black wire ties.

It's important to feed the male well so he can handle the long fast while holding the eggs/babies.

There's lots of info about these in the breeding section of RC.

 

[telamont]

If you have the babies seperated just make sure theyre eating and water conditions are nice.

 

[Dapg8gt]

They sell little tufts of fake spiny grass just for breeding that you could probably add to the tank as a refuge for them to hide in.. I remember using them a long time ago for African chiclids in my old 150 as a place for them and they were usually in and out of it after a while until they were big enough to cruise around. I probably still have them lol I have a crap load of old fish hoard .

Are they like Africans in a sense as the parents will raise them for a while then one day eat them or is it right after they hatch the male eats them?

 

[SWBeginer]

Not easy after did some research. I have to hatchy brine shrimp to feed the babies.

 

[Dapg8gt]

FWIW hatching brine is pretty easy and you can make your own hatchery out of a 2 liter and an air pump.. Now if you had to culture phyto I would say that's some dedication lol..

 

[SWBeginer]

hatching is not the issue, but timing is hard. have to have the brine shrimps ready when the babies got release from their dad.

 

[AMAYEU]

I've read that you should overfeed the male prior to him holding the fry. This will prevent him from eating them. Another key is getting the fry out of the mouth, whether natural or manual.

 

[woodnaquanut]

hatching is not the issue, but timing is hard. have to have the brine shrimps ready when the babies got release from their dad.

The wonderful thing about fish is they will make more babies in a few weeks. Just pay attention to when the male is holding, count the days. If temp is consistent, the babies should be ready to free swim on about the same day for every batch.

Raising BBS is a lot like any other aquarium task. Once you do it a few times it becomes rote. You can use tank water and make mini water changes on your DT at the same time! Five minutes max. to start a batch of bbs once you got it down. You can feed hundreds of baby fish with 2 two liter hatcheries.