Breeding Banggai Cardinals

[shandy_say]

Hi! My banggai pair again have mated and now the male is carrying eggs in his mouth. This is the 2nd time he has carried eggs however the 1st clutch of eggs were aborted due to unknown reasons. He might have been stressed because i added 2 new fishes during that time. Now during this 2nd clutch i would not be making the same mistake again.

My questions are these:

1. Since now the male is carrying eggs while still in my display tank, should I move him to my breeding tank which is a 20gal with just an aerator type skimmer running?

2. How do i move the Male banggai without stressing him?

3. Should I put fake plants in or would it be better to make a fake Urchin?

4. Should I divide the tank into 2 using an eggcrate so that when he releases the fry they can move to the other side of the tank where the male cannot eat them?

Hope that somebody can give some advice. I really do want to breed them.

Thanks in advance!

 

[shandy_say]

The Breeding Tank

My Male Banggai carrying a clutch of eggs

 

[ctenophors rule]

I wouldn;t leave him in the display tank, however i would wait as long as possible to move him, remember if he becomes stressed he may eat the clutch.

it will be impossible to move him without stressing him, but the least stressful way would be to use a collection cup. try to avoid taking him out of the water.

hmmm, i would put in a few fake urchins, one realy wide for your bangai male, and two with realy dense spines for the babies. you could try the egg crate, but the babies are not phototrophic so i dont see how you could convince them over to that side, un less maybe you put all of the urchins over their... hmmm.

good luck,

 

[gmneil]

the egg crate idea sounds good i was thinking about doing that next time as well, honestly i would catch him and put him int the breeding tank, i noticed mine spit the eggs because he was so hungry the food made him spit. when i seperated him, i didnt have to feed so there was no temptation to eat and i had no problems.

 

[shandy_say]

I wouldn;t leave him in the display tank, however i would wait as long as possible to move him, remember if he becomes stressed he may eat the clutch.

it will be impossible to move him without stressing him, but the least stressful way would be to use a collection cup. try to avoid taking him out of the water.

hmmm, i would put in a few fake urchins, one realy wide for your bangai male, and two with realy dense spines for the babies. you could try the egg crate, but the babies are not phototrophic so i dont see how you could convince them over to that side, un less maybe you put all of the urchins over their... hmmm.

good luck,

I was thinking of moving him maybe a week before his supposed release date. They release the fry after the 21st day right? I saw when they mated so I can approximate when i should move him.

As for the egg crate, im planning to put a fake urchin on the other side of the egg crate so the babies will be enticed to transfer to the other side.

 

[shandy_say]

the egg crate idea sounds good i was thinking about doing that next time as well, honestly i would catch him and put him int the breeding tank, i noticed mine spit the eggs because he was so hungry the food made him spit. when i seperated him, i didnt have to feed so there was no temptation to eat and i had no problems.

Thanks gmneil! Maybe i should move him earlier since i feed my fish daily and he might abort the eggs since he will be tempted to eat again. What do you think?

 

[macchicks]

My male will spit if you try moving him so I do not. i have heard others that have no problem with it.

21 days is what I understood when I read all the sites. however my male likes to spit closer to day 28 if I leave him be. I am always home so I can keep a close eye on him and catch him when i think it is close.

This time I caught him and he spit 18 out on day 28 cause I saw them popping out of his mouth and he would grab them back. But 3 days later he spit 12 more. I keep my male alone for 2-4 weeks after spitting a batch. I want him to remain fat and happy.

My male mopes around for a couple days after spitting. Just sitting low and sometimes not eating really well.

 

[shandy_say]

My male will spit if you try moving him so I do not. i have heard others that have no problem with it.

21 days is what I understood when I read all the sites. however my male likes to spit closer to day 28 if I leave him be. I am always home so I can keep a close eye on him and catch him when i think it is close.

This time I caught him and he spit 18 out on day 28 cause I saw them popping out of his mouth and he would grab them back. But 3 days later he spit 12 more. I keep my male alone for 2-4 weeks after spitting a batch. I want him to remain fat and happy.

My male mopes around for a couple days after spitting. Just sitting low and sometimes not eating really well.

Yeah ive read some threads that had problems with the male aborting the eggs when he is moved. However i don't think it is advisable to just leave him in the main tank because when he spits the fry in the main tank, my other fishes (including the banggais) might eat them. And I also heard that moving the fry is actually harder than moving the male. So im torn between stressing the male or stressing the fry. And of course, its pretty difficult to get banggais here so i don't want to lose my male also.

 

[macchicks]

I guess it depends on if you can catch him before he spits. I do not allow mine to spit in the main tank. But I do leave him in the main tank until the day I want him to spit.
The first time I thought it had to be time at 21 days. The second time 24. This time I was patient and waited till 28 days. I was dumbfounded when he spit more at 31 days. As soon as I bring him to the surface he spits it does not matter if he is in a bowl or a net.

my main is a 40 breeder so it is easy to move the rocks off to one side and corner him. I would not be doing so if the main was any bigger.

 

[shandy_say]

i see. Thanks for the heads up. Have to keep an eye on him.