Possible Breeding Banggai Cardinals

[candeewolf]

From reading a couple articles and a thread or 2, I believe that one of my captive-bred Banggai Cardinals is a male and is holding eggs in his mouth. I first saw him with an engorged mouth 3 days ago and I think I saw white eggs in his mouth. He hasn't eaten for the past 3 days but looks very healthy and the other Banggai is in good health, eating and sometimes shakes right behind/next to what I presume to be the male.

I wasn't able to find out exactly what the gestation period is for these guys or what I should do. I never planned on getting them to have babies...I wasn't even sure if they were of different sex. So, do you guys think my guy is a male and therefore the other is a female? Is there other info I need to hand out? My other worry at first was that he has a disease just because his mouth is really big and hes not eating, but I read those are signs of him having eggs in his mouth. Especially since he's swimming very healthily

 

[candeewolf]

bump....

i saw what looked like an egg come out of his mouth last night...so I am almost certain that he's got eggs in his mouth...just still don't know anything about what to do with pregnant banggais

 

[FMarini]

Candee--
does his mouth look bulldog-ish? if so then hes carryng eggs, which BTW are pink

i see you state you did a search and found some articles. I am copying/pasting this response from noted author Anthony Calfo becuase it fits here

<Hmm.... with all due respect, and we all need a tweak like this now and again Through our actions, archives here at WWM, we aspire to help fellow aquarists to help themselves. learn and enjoy the journey. We are here to answer questions, but not enable. You may have dropped the ball on this one, mate In an effort to help you find this answer (which I did not know/recall myself)... I went to the fab and famous Google search tool that is well-known at large. I typed in "Banggai cardinal gestation" and the first page and first hit/link on that page came up with the answer. A fine article by the experienced aquarist/author Frank Marini:
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/f_marini.html>

here are a few more to read
My Notes and observations on Raising and Breeding the Banggai Cardinalfish (1996)
http://www.breedersregistry.org/Articles/v4_i4_marini/marini.htm

Frank Marini, "Captive care and Breeding of the Banggai cardinal (1997)
http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/f_marini_020799.html

Keith Clarke, "The Joys of Tank Raised Banggai Cardinalfish (1997)
http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/k_clarke_102499.html

 

[Centropyge]

I've been raising Bangaii Cardinals for alittle over a year now. It sounds like you are well on the way to having some to raise as well. I usually let my males carry the eggs for about 21-23 days, at which point I net the male and when I do the male will usually spit out the babies in to the net. I transfer the male and the babies to a nursery tank made up with the water from the brood tank. I leave the male in the tank a couple of hours, then removed him. Typically, I will end up with between 15 and 25 babies. I then move the male to a seperate tank to give him some time to rest and eat before putting him back in with the female. The babies will be fully formed and I fed rotifers for a few days then newly hatched brine shrimp. They grow fairly quickly and are usually about the size of quarter in 5-6 months. Hope that helps!

 

[binder]

Centropyge:
Great description of how you breed your banggai's. It's helped me out and saved me from having to post a question on how to breed them. Thanks!