Looking for advice Banggaii Cardinals

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shananagans

New member
So, I am looking to breed Banggaiis. I will be puting them in my 16g nuvo reef tank, as of now the only other occupant will be a mandarin. I am asking for others opinion based on cost, experience and logic.

I am debating between a known pair of tank breed banggaiis from liveaquaria's divers den which will cost $79.99, or I have on hold 5 tank breed cardinals from them as well that will run me $99.99. I am torn as which would be better for me to go with. With the pair, I know they are paired and would not have to figure it out, but the cost is alot more as I can resell any of the banggaiis from the group of 5 that do not pair up. Another concern is if I just go with the pair if one of them dies, I am stuck with one and they would only refund me half of the $79.99 within the 14day guarentee. But it's not even about the cost with that, it sucks that I would than be stuck with half of a pair and probly not even know if it was a male or female, so I would than have to buy another pair, pay for shipping etc... A down side to the group of 5 is that they are shipped around 1"-1& 1/4", and they might still be in the last stages of being a juvi so I may have to wait awhile for them to develope more and show their male and female tendancies inorder for me to see a pair. I also have never pair banggaiis before...lol.

So, what do you think and why? Thanks.
 
it is difficult to find a good breeding pair of banggai cardinals, some pairs will breed but the male will not hold the eggs, some will not breed at all. It takes time, patience and a good stable tank w/o stress. Your tank is very small, not that it wont work but it is more apt to have temp & salinity swings that will effect the fish.

My advice would be try getting 5 and hope for the best. It may take 6 months or longer so be patient. Worked for me I bought 5 a year ago and I now have a great breeding pair, going on my 4th clutch. Be aware the males will fight each other for the female, so you may have some carpet jumpers before you can sell them off.

Oh yes, and dont forget to be patient
 
Ya, I dont think 16g is too small, but yes on the smaller end. I am baseing this off someone that had great success in banggaii breeding and did so out of 10g tanks.

So you think going with 5 will give a better chance because the pair might not even breed? I do kinda want to go witht he group of 5, I'm just afraid I wont be able to sex them and identify the pair. And yes, I do fear casualties as I have seen banggaii in action together.

Why did you opt to buy a group of 5 rather than a pair?
 
I got a pair from LA for that price and they are still pretty small and not yet breeding but are a M/F pair.

Does it specifically say they are breeding or just a pair? My guess is they will be small and not yet laying eggs unless they specifically state that on divers den
 
For me, the 79.99 is a good price since you will spend over that trying to make a pair in almost all cases unless ou are super lucky. At least for me that worked best now it's just a waiting game till they start to spawn
 
I have been trying to breed bangaiis for almost a year now. I bought a captive bred known pair, which was a huge mistake. From everything I've read, as well as what I experienced, captive bred bangaii males are horrible fathers. My male won't hold the eggs more than 3 days, even after I separated the pair and powerfed the male for 2 months. The female, however, is great, and that seems to be the trend with CB females. My advice to you is to get a captive bred female if possible, and a wild male. Even with the risks wild fish come with, that will be your best bet for getting babies.

Read the link posted above. I can tell you from experience that the sexing method shown is 100% accurate, and is really easy with a little experience.
 
I have not, but I just had a convo with someone about that the other days. I will remain skepical until I see it for myself, but if that is in fact true it will make things much easier.

Well, I already placed the order for the captive pair... We'll see what happens. Hopefully he is a good father...
 
I gave banggais a try..8 cardinals later I gave up. All were wild caught. Pairing was very easy. I bought three from my lfs and they died very quickly for no apparent reason,then I ordered 3 from live Aquaria all were males,they would flare their jaws at each other and they all died off within 10 days. I got 3 replacements from LA and I actually got 1f and 2m , it didn't take long before the little male was beaten up(I moved him to the 16g fuge,he died a few days later)and the female dropped dead for no apparent reason ,same for the male ... So I decided I would let someone else do it instead of me.
 
Just to update everone. I recieved the pair last thrus, so I have had them a week. Smaller than I thought, but that's fine. They are a little picker than I would like with eating, but so far managable. Both are eating frozen mysis, one eats frozen blood worms, and neither will touch pellets. They greatly enjoyed the bag of micro feeder shrimp I acclimated and added to the tank. they went crazy when I added them. I am hoping the shrimp will multiply in the tank, i did see a few a couple days after, but have seen know since. They are clear and crazy small tho. My mandarin might consider them a food source as well.
 
I bought two at a LFS on June 1. Both were small but were the first fish in my 240. Just yesterday I noticed the larger one's mouth looked distended. This afternoon I confirmed that the larger cardinal has eggs inside his mouth. I only have 5 fish total now so it was a very stable environment for them to pair. I'm not prepared to raised them but I may pick up a long spine urchin which I'm told can be helpful in protecting the fry.
 
Awesome, and encouraging to hear. Please keep me updated on their process.

They do use the urchin for protection, if it is large enough adults will too. If you are able to seperate the fry once released you can seperate them and I have seen many people just take a plastic ball, foam or something, and just stick some thin plastic rods in there to simulate and urchin. Worked great for them.
 
Sorry nrbelk,

Feeder shrimp were from liveaquaria. I go them onsale as it was part of their weekly special, but they do always stock them. I belive they ship from florida. They are very tiny, about the size of large mysis. They also sell live mysid shrimp too.
 
Looks like my male expelled or ate the eggs. He has not ate food yet so may still have a few eggs but the mouth doesn't look nearly as bloated as before. Most my fish are captive bred so I might be experiencing what altolamprolagus mentioned about CB males.
 
I bought 3 and 2 out of that 3 was a pair and they killed my 3rd one but I have me some beauties in my tank now

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2
 
So within the past day or two I have seen some aggression coming from one of the banggaiis towards the other (tare in a fine makes it easy to see it's the same one). Not sure if it's the male or female tho, too younge to tell. Not sure what is causing it and if I can help it. But it's not all the time.
 
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