How old should Banggai Cardinal babies before I sell/give away

[Sinistard]

I have 3 Banggai cardinals in my tank that are breeding, one female and 2 males. Due to fighting I have been rotating the 2 males from my main tank to a "baby raising tank" when one male has eggs in his mouth that are ready to hatch or have hatched.

My hatchery is basically a refugium attached to my main tank with very low flow. A few of the babies manage to slip down the drain and ended up in the sump but have fended for themselves well.

But anyways I currently have 2 batches of babies in the tank, one batch that's around 2.5 months old and one that's 3 days old. From the original batch there are around 10 babies left out of 20 and they are starting to get their adult colors. From the new batch there are probably 30 fry. Needless to say its getting a bit crowded and I probably should start to get rid of some of the older ones. Would it be safe to sell them now or should I give them a bit more time.

 

[Lrood]

From what I have read, I believe it's about 4-5 months (but I have never raised any - though planning to try when I get a good pair).

 

[FMarini]

i would guess depending on size anywhere from 3 months on. They essentially have to be big enough to fend for themselves at the LFS or in your friends tanks

 

[ri]

I've sold them as young as 3-4 months but typically would wait until they were about 6 months old.

If you do sell them at a real young age, make sure the new owner knows how to feed and care for them.

ri

 

[bangaii man]

I am in the same situation. my first batch is 4 months old and my third batch or 30 just came out yesterday. my lfs said they like them the size of a nickel. they also said if you raise the temp a bit their metabolism will speed up and if you feed more they will grow faster.

what are you feeding? I am trying to get my older ones off the live baby brine, without much luck. the new batch I'm trying to start on frozen baby brine, it's hard to tell if they're eating yet

 

[papagimp]

I just sold my first juvi's, I waited 6 months just due to the small size of these juvi's. At 6 months they were just big enough not to fit in the mouth of a few tankmates. One 5 month old didn't make it when I moved him to a community tank, got gobbled up by something or other. I feed all mine freeze dried cyclopeeze. I havn't touched brine shrimp in a long time now. Some of the older Juvi's, 4+ months, will start eating the frozen cubes, primarily reef plankton and mysis, but definatly seem to prefer the cyclopeeze and didn't take to the new foods quickly.

 

[BangaiiTX]

I feed all mine freeze dried cyclopeeze. I havn't touched brine shrimp in a long time now

Not to get off the subject, but what did you start off feeding your Bangaii fry?

 

[papagimp]

Cyclopeeze. But let me elaborate a little, my first sucessful spawn and relase I fed the newbies stricly newly hatched brine shrimp, before they were a month and a half, another batch was released. The first guys had been switched onto the cyclopeeze after about a month and when I added new babies, they seem to caught on quickly that the other bangaii's were eating the cyclopeeze and followed suit. This worked out well until I had a few aborted clutches in a row and no longer had the veteran feeders showing the new fellas what to eat, about 1/2 would start eating the cyclopeeze right away, the others didn't catch on as quickly, this did lead to a few losses within a few weeks. I'm still experimenting with the process but I've heard many reports of Bangaii's being started on cyclopeeze only from day one and still having higher success rates than what I'm getting. Trial and Error.