Redspot Cardinalfish - Apogon parvulus

Jake confirmed that those Red Spots in the video I posted were not still alive... apparently the borbonius anthias started to eat some and some just didn't live that long.

And fishbase says Japan and the Philippines.
 
The person who started the bonsai inspired reef who has a really long thread, crazy4acros, is the only person that I know of that has kept them for any long period of time. I just checked the thread and it looks like he still has them.
 
I just want to start out and say the liveaqueria is the $#!?. They are the best in my mind only place I'll buy from. I just bought 8 red dot cardinals and only have 4 left but 3 did not make it here and the other one got pushed out of the school and died. The four I have left eat everything and look great thanks DD
 
tcmfish said:
The person who started the bonsai inspired reef who has a really long thread, crazy4acros, is the only person that I know of that has kept them for any long period of time. I just checked the thread and it looks like he still has them.
Click to expand...

Thanks tcmfish for directing me to this thread, my experience with this fish has been the same as most of you. I have added 10 and had 3 survive then added another 10 about a month after and had 3 survive from that batch so for about 10 months i had 6 going strong eating very well. I currently have 2 left and it's been 14 months since i added them to my system. However i did not loose the last 4 to health issues. I found 3 that decided to go carpet surfing and one that went and took a journey down the overflow and got caught in the turbulence of my filter sock. I blame the aggressiveness of my Holanthias borbonius (Blotched Anthia) they would often break up any shoaling with the cardinals, i don't think they are trying to eat them but i cant really say they don't have the intent. The Red Spots love to swim out in the open and near the top of the surface of my tank, which is probably because thats where my current is at it's strongest. I suspect the Anthias would spook these cardinals to the point of jumping out of the water as a quick getaway and cause 3 of them one by one to jump too far off the edge:mad:and also the other to get sucked up into the overflow box.

As far as feeding i would start these guys with Hikari frozen brine to entice them in to eating, then after a week i would throw in some tetra flakes in to the mix and get them to start eating dried foods. Once they start eating they will eat anything you place in the tank that will fit in their mouth. I have had great success with vitamin packed dry foods like Formula 1&2 and Dainichi baby pellets which is the only thing i have been feeding these guys. I credit these foods for the success rate I have with these fishes, that along with water quality of course.

I honestly feel that it is very possible to keep these guys thriving in our system, but i think these guys will be a lot more happier in a species dedicated tank. If i could do it all over again i would have done this for these little guys. I have notice that once you get these guys adjusted to your system and eating well which by the way is the biggest tasks to overcome. Keeping water parameters stable and stress free living environment is the only variable to keeping these guys alive. I am by no means an expert to these spices i am just sharing my experiences.
 
DFS said:
Tim,
I read through the thread on the MOFIB forum and have a great deal of respect for Peter n Belgium, who I converse with from time to time as he is a diehard fish enthusiast and has a true passion for marine fishes. Peter has helped advance the hobby in so many ways in Europe and that iformation eventually makes it way to the states to the benefit of all of us.

Their discussion on this species took place in the fall of 2007 through early 2008, which coincides to the time these fishes first appeared in the marine ornamentals industry in any significant numbers. This was also the time when these fishes were suffering from extreme mortality due to the problems I listed at the beginning of this thread.

I have seen this countless times with new species that enter the trade. Most attempt this fish once or twice, and then immediately write off a particular species. In most cases the problems associated with their demise are beyond our control, and start with poor collection practices, improper handling, very long chains of custody, or poor packaging protocols from overseas suppliers which all negatively impact the fishes' survival rate.

On advantage of working with good, knowledgeable suppliers and exporters is having the ability to communicate effectively so that issues can be identified, addressed and corrected when needed.

From what I have seen recently is a turn in a very positive direction with this species from what I experienced when handling them in 2008. I will set aside a group of A. parvulus as you have suggested and document my findings which hopefully will be beneficial to everyone, because I feel these fish can do well in home aquaria, and would make a great candidate for an intensive captive breeding program.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

Hey Kevin, very interesting post! Great work to both identify the root cause of the problem and communicate the solution through the proper channels.

I have had a similar experience with these fish (in 2009) that is very different from what Jens and Peter reported. We received 16 from QM that are all doing very well with no mortalities after 4 months in a dedicated exhibit. The only other fish in the exhibit is a Redtailed Flasher Wrasse from the DD.

They are fed 3 times daily with cyclop-eeze, live enriched baby Artemia, capelin eggs, Nutramar Ova, and Hikari and PE mysis (chopped). Initially they only accepted live baby Artemia but within a week were eating virtually any food offered. During the first 2 weeks we kept a drip of live baby Artemia in their holding tank at all times.
 
Long Term Test

Long Term Test

Greetings,
A while back I had explained that we would do some long term testing on Apogon parvulus.

Our test aquarium is a well established 30-gallon breeder with approximately 18# of old live rock that we pulled out of one of our raceways, along with a few snails and hermits. The aquarium is moderately lit with a 4 bulb T-5 Fixture, and filtered with a basic Wet/Dry filter system, small skimmer, and GAC. Specific Gravity is maintained at 1.025 and pH- 8.1-8.3.

10- Red Spot Glass Cardinalfish were added to the established aquarium that did not contain any other fishes on 12/18/2009. After one week of conditioning these fishes for ten days with frozen Ova and frozen Cyclopeeze, they were slowly converted onto enriched frozen artemia mixed with Cyclopeeze. After a few weeks they were again converted to a diet consisting of enriched frozen artemia and small Hikari Mysis.

As of today, January 25th 2010, all ten fish are fat, happy and thriving, and
I will continue to update this thread moving forward.

sticker-1.jpg

Red-Spot-Cardinals.jpg


Cheers,
 
uhuru said:
How many times a day are you feeding them?
Click to expand...

The first week we offered the group food 10 times per day, but after they settled in and were all feeding very well, we then cut this back to as small quantity of food 5-6 times per day.

Regards,
 
Kevin, I can't thank you enough for keeping us in the loop on these fish. I have been trying to get some redspots in my tank for several years, and finally scored a group from DD tonight. My normal feeding routine is already very similar to what you have been doing, so hopefully they will adjust quickly.
 
Mr. Kevin Kohen:
Please bring the need of the Hawaiian aquarium friends to LiveAquaria.com. We should be able to get fishes from you. Even if we need to get an individual permit. It's not illegal to import fish to the state from the mainland, only inverts. The time of transport should be fine from your California facility.

Sorry, off topic!
The Cardinals are amazing!!!!

Thanks.
Grandis.
 
Crazy4acros - nice shots. Have you (or anyone else) noticed any aggression between the cardinals when kept in groups?
 
rhdoug said:
Crazy4acros - nice shots. Have you (or anyone else) noticed any aggression between the cardinals when kept in groups?
Click to expand...

Thanks, no aggression towards each other but they do however break off into pairs my guess for mating and keep to their own for awhile.
 
Update 01/28/10

Update 01/28/10

Greetings,

The ten Apogon parvulus are still doing fantastic. The group has now been converted over to marine flake food with just a feeding of enriched frozen artemia and small Hikari mysis in the morning and evening.

The fish have now spawned, and below are some images of one of the females carrying a nice clutch:

Red-Spot-Eggs-in-mouth2.jpg

Red-Spot-Eggs-in-mouth.jpg


Cheers,
 
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