Pairing B. Cardinals

[xxxbadfishxxx]

I will be moving in 2 months, after the move i would like to add 2 B. Cardinals to my 50 gallon, in hopes that they would eventually breed. I check out the fish breeding forum every now and then and understand that cardinals are among the easiest to breed assuming that you have a male and female. Is there a good place to order online? I also remember hearing that some members sell breeding pairs, or that there is a registry somewhere. Any info will be helpful.

Jeff

 

[danfrith]

you could try liveaquaria for good healthy livestock. i would recommend starting off with a group.

 

[jake levi]

Tropicorium has TR juveniles, I frankly dont believe anyone who says they sex pairs. I dont until after I see them breed and after recognize the individuals as to who did what. I have seen a couple aged males that did show long dorsal spikes but they wernt recognizable as juveniles, I suggest buying 4, hopefully you'll get some breeders, Bangais dont pair off as such, in fact best mix is two males to one female, as she'll mate with any male, so you can probably get a brood per male per month.

Trickiest part is removing the male before he is ready to release them, so I strongly suggest a dedicated tank for the group with a minimum of places to hide. The best tank I saw for them was filled with eel grass, For the fry tank some real urchins or artificial ones will help when the male releases them, very often they will scarf some up. Have BBS ready when they are released. I also fed rotifers but most dont. A 10 gal tank with a sponge filter is a good start, when they are bigger add a HOB started filter from a working tank. Shut it off when feeding and siphon the bottom daily, BB is best for them.

 

[xxxbadfishxxx]

thank you both. So you think i should buy 3-4 of them. I thought i remember hearing that when a pair is made, they would often kill the other fish, is this true?

 

[jake levi]

Bangais dont form stable pairs, they mate when a female is ready, in a group of 5-6 there will be different mating combinations, they will loosely move together but under a ranking system, and subordinates get chased, I have never heard of a 'pair' killing another , unless it was 3 in a too small tank

theres some really good threads here on them, do a search, its well worth the time.

 

[xxxbadfishxxx]

I will have to do some searching later when i get home. I have followed multiple threads on rearing the fry, and i choose to start breeding Bangais because the ability to use BBS as the first food source, and the fact that its live birth. It seems like a good place to start.

I plan on setting up a 30 Gallon Prop tank within the next couple of month, this would be a BB system with no LR in the actual prop tank, i think this would be a perfect place to have a couple of Bangais, much like RRodrigezs prop tank, if your familiar with it.

If not, i was going to put them in my 50 gallon, currently i have 2 O. Clowns, Firefish, YWG, Pseudechromis, and LMB, how many B. Cardinals do you think i can add to that tank?

Thanks for all your help.

Jeff

 

[jake levi]

one note, its not live birth, they are egg layers, the male broods the egs in his mouth , they hatch there and he releases them days later , by then they are large enough to take BBS, but they are not livebearers.

BB tank is fine, but have a seasoned sponge filter in it, and be prepared to siphon the bottom daily else you'll get lethal nitrite spikes. You could probably add 5-6 Banggais to the numbers you mention in the 50.