Banggai Cardinal Fish Pairing

[WaffleWalffle22]

I bought two wild caught Banggai Cardinalfish after I'd watched them in the store for a few months to make sure they were OK. One is about 1"-1.5" and the other is about 1.25"-1.75" (It's hard to tell...)
Anyways, I've had them for a few weeks and they seem to be doing great. They don't fight at all so I'm glad of that and they sometimes hang out together. I really want them to pair up so I can raise the fry because I think it'd be really fun! Also, I've been in the hobby for about a year or more and I know how to keep fish. I have the Banggais in a 34g Red Sea Max with two Black Ocellaris Clowns. It is an anemone tank dedicated to rose anemone... blah blah.
But I have a few questions because I'm new to keeping Banggais!

Questions:
1. How old do they have to be before they reach maturity and start to pair up?
2.How long do they have to be in the tank together before they start to pair up?
3.About how big are they in inches when they are mature?
4. Do they pair up on specific lunar cycles or something like that?

PLEASE GIVE ME ALL THE ADDITIONAL INFO YOU CAN ON HOW TO GET THEM TO PAIR UP!

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

The smaller banggai that I have is always hiding in the same back corner in the dark and only comes out to eat. Sometimes if it gets scared out the other bigger banggai will come over and follow it but the little one always swims away. The big one isn't attacking or anything, but how do I get them to hang out and keep the smaller one out of the corner?

 

[FMarini]

read please-
http://www.marinebreeder.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=166&t=1851
also there is an excellent article i wrote in C- The journal,
("The Banggai Cardinalfish: A 10 Year Update" by Dr. Frank Marini and Dr. Alejandro Vagelli, C The Journal, Volume 2, Issue 1, pages 41 to 54)
which goes into serious detail about the many ways you can pair up banggai's based on behavior, as most folks arent able to visibly determine sexes

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

The are starting to fight a bit. What do I do?

 

[Pohono]

+1 on the marinebreeder.org site. Days worth of reading.
In my limited experience (twice) during our attempts to get a breeding pair while ending up with a couple dudes (thanks local fish store...arg), you will have a dead bangaii in a week or so. This was in a 72 gallon tank, which is about double your size. Everyone seems to have a different story to tell....some seem to have males coexist....multiple females, one male. But basically in your situation, if one isn't doing the happy shimmy shimmy shake next to the other one, bad things will happen in my limited experience. They don't seem to really damage each other, just stress death. We finally got our aquacultured pair, now we are failing at raising the young...dang.
But yeah.....marinebreeder website, maybe there is some hints/tips for you.

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

Well, the bigger only chases when the little one gets near it and it happens maybe twice a day.

 

[Pohono]

Just noticed your original post was 2 days ago....thought this played out over a longer period of time. I assume you watched them in the fish store to make sure they 'liked' each other prior to buying them. I have also done this in the past thinking "hey, if they like each other here, they will like each other in my homemade paradise also". In my first year or so this caused mass death with various species...jawfish bought in groups from same tank, wrasses, gobies, and bangaii. My theory is this: when fish are at a fish store void of rocks, usually just sand and some plastic coral here and there, with limited feeding, constant intrusion by nets and new tankmates, their life consists of "oh god oh god, this bites, oh lord, oh geez, oh no, oh no" and they will get along fine most of the time because there is no 'territory' to claim, and they are too freaked out to worry about that other dude freaking out across the way. Obviously some species will always be crazy mean towards similar species regardless of their surroundings, but most fish aren't a dragon wrasse, etc. But these same 'peaceful' fish change once in the home tank, being fed right, having nooks and crannies to claim, not worrying they are going to be put in a bag and a box and thrown around yet again.....they got a home now, and turf to defend, and it's gonna get defended.
This is all just a theory of mine.
You see them fight 'maybe twice a day', but it probably occurs more than that since I assume you aren't watching your tank 24/7....and bangaiis are nocturnal...sorta.
Well I just ranted far too long. Basically keep watching, you bought a wild caught threatened species, and glad to see you want to breed them to help out the cause, but always sad to kill something endangered while trying to save it (I did it too, I think we bought 5 'peaceful' bangaiis at the same time trying to breed them prior to studying fully....3 died rapidly once home).
Maybe give it a few days before taking one back...maybe it is an aggressive pre-mating ritual I don't know of due to the new surroundings. Good luck.

 

[1DeR9_3Hy]

Not a pair. Split them up and move on

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

OK. Should I trade the smaller one out for another fish to see if I get a match for the bigger one?