I've got babies

[skylar]

I have a pair of Banggai Cardinals that are constantly trying to breed in a 300 reef with lots of other fish. I know they are mouth brooders and that the offspring have a next to nil chance of survival in my tank after leaving mom (or Dads?) mouth.

This morning I happened to look at my Rose anemone, which has spent the last 6 months in a penalty box in the corner of my tank for killing expensive sps, and noticed 2 baby Banggai's living in the box.

My question is are the cardinals okay with the anemone. There is no clown fish to deal with and the box also seems to be a pod farm so I believe they have a good food source.

I realize they still may get eaten by a bigger fish or get sucked into a powerhead, but now that they are about 1.5 cm what are the chances of survival?

Thanks

 

[mark97r6]

They naturally seek out nems to shelter near. they wont go in like clowns but do seem resiliant to the stings.
if you could set up a small tank to put them in they shouldnt be tooooo hard to catch if the nem is 'in a box'. Or does your tank have a refugium?
They may survive in the tank with the cover of a nem i am not sure, if you are going to try them in there i would definetly target feed them with BBS or similar while turning the tanks flow off/down.
Im not a bagghii expert so wait until some of the big boys (and girls!) chime in.

Good luck
Mark

 

[Coraldynamics]

Mark is pretty much on the money. If you do have a sump or fuge, look around in there as well. Many will get washed over the drains into the sump or fuge.

When released from Daddy they can take newly hatched baby brine. Try to get the "Box" out and corral them into a smaller tank and feed them. They are fast growers when fed well.

Got any pics? Where are you located...

 

[skylar]

Thanks fopr the replies.

I caught a 3rd one and put it in the box. I posted 1.5 cm, but it looks like they are a little smaller. Dad's mouth is full right now. could these be from a earlier batch that somehow survived in my tank? I don't have another tank and the sump probably won't work because of all the power heads for skimmers etc...return pumps etc... I won't rule the sump out, but for now I put egg creat over the top of the box (I think it is called a critter cage) to keep the big fish out. I will try to take some pics and learn how to post them tomorrow.

Where do I get baby brine? Will they eat pods? there are lots in the box. Cyclopeze? Thanks..I am in SF bay area

 

[NicoleC]

BBS = baby brine = brine shrimp eggs = sea monkeys. Widely available and cheap in LFS's.

 

[FMarini]

yes baby brine shrimp is the key- actually phyto/selco enriched baby brine shrimp. Yes the banggers will strike at pods, and rotifers asa well. I've not seen them strike w/ regularity at non living foods like cyclopeeze-athou you can try it.
Lastly, there have been many examples of banggais living in the tentecles of anemones w/o being stung. They appear to have a clownfish-like resistance, so goood to see another example

 

[spk]

Great news and good luck.

With regrard to feeding, they do grow quickly if you feed well. I grow BBS (Baby Brine Shrimp) every day and they grow very quickly.

I have also fed Cyclopeze, but the results were not that good. Or rather should I say the results were fatal for the little ones.

I do feed frozen BBS when I can get it and they do take it after about week 2. I normally feed the frozen BBS as I am feeding a smaller amout of BBS. The results are that in an emergency I can feed frozen BBS if the need arises.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Steve

 

[mwp]

FWIW there have been several pictures around of Baby Bangaii's seeking shelter in anemones which means your situation is not unique, just different from the typical. Maybe you should try to create an artificial urchin and throw it in the tank...that might attract more of the babies than the anemone and allow you to capture more...just a thought, especially since you probably don't want to add a live longspine into your reef.

FWIW, way back a long time ago I had bangaii's breed in a tidepool reef when they were first being imported...we found a few babies around the surface of the tank. Perhaps watch the overflows as well and place the fake urchin out in the open, close to the surface...

Pretty cool...you're having better luck than I am with my pair!

MP

 

[skylar]

Thanks for all the advise. One of the little guys is gone, but the other two are eating bbs. I am feeding 2 to 3 times a day. Is this enough? I will update later....

Thanks again.

 

[Phong33]

They wander to anemones all the time. They are immune to the sting. I was scared at first too, but its normal. I think its really cool

 

[Kathy55g]

So do I. Beautiful picture.

 

[spk]

skylar,

I have gotten the feeding regime down to once per day. Even for the very little ones. But then they do all live in the sump where the is more than enough food for them to munch on.

One of the things that I will be trying, is placing a very small pin hole in an old plastic 35mm film canister, black one, fill this with the BBS from the hatch and sink this to the tank floor. Over the day the BBS should make their own way out and the Bangai babies will eat at the will. This was posted here by some-one else, Frank? Give it a try and let us know.

Good luck and an awsome picture.

Steve

 

[David M]

One of the things that I will be trying, is placing a very small pin hole in an old plastic 35mm film canister, black one, fill this with the BBS from the hatch and sink this to the tank floor. Over the day the BBS should make their own way out

Yes (that was me ), it works very well. The current batch that were fed this way are way past the older group in terms of size for age. I will definately be feeding this way if I can ever get some more babies.

I use a clear glass spice bottle, I'm thinking that the dark cannister will empty more quickly because they will be drawn to the light at the hole. Plus you have no way of knowing what's going on inside the bottle. I made sure to remove it as soon as many/ most of the bbs inside had died which I suspect happened due to o2 depleteion?

The smarter little bangers just sat at the bottle sucking bbs out through the hole

 

[spk]

David,

oops sorry I forgot but the minute I saw you name as the last poster on this I knew..........

So you are teaching the fish to suck like mad hey. oh well I suppose that they have to get the exercise some how. :lol:

Steve

 

[David M]

Not like it was my idea 'ya know, I copied it from SDC