Sick Cardinal Fish

[sbrooks]

I am getting concerned about my new Cardinal fish. ABout a week ago, I noticed he is developing a 'bulldog' mouth. I have two and they both were healthy upon introduction. The other is fine and still has a normal shaped jaw, but my'sick' one's jaw appears swollen. I have noticed he does not act like the other Cardinal and he does not eat as much or as vigorously. I have done a quick google search and found nothing and the search function on this forum is not working. Can someone give me some advice on if I have a problem and wha I should do to fix it?

Thanks.

 

[Victor1046]

just a try .... I know the males carry the young in their mouths some way ...I saw a male at one of the LFS with a clutch of babies at one time. Could it be that he is developing to carry the clutch?

 

[Victor1046]

And look what I found!!!!! check out this thread.

http://petcare.suite101.com/article.cfm/breeding_banggai_cardinalfish

 

[sbrooks]

OK, well now I feel a little foolish. After reading that article, it definately looks like my Cardinal is preparing or aleady has eggs in his mouth. My problem now is that I do not have another tank to pull them out for the eggs to hatch. I don' think the babies will survive in the main tank.

 

[raen]

Too COOL!!!!! Read reaed read, I think it is really tough to keep their fry, but I hope you have luck!

 

[sbrooks]

Just going to put this out there for discussion, what are the chances the fry can survive in a tank with a Copper banded Butterfly, Maroon Clown, Coral Beauty Dwarf Angel, Mandarin, and Yellow Tang? 90 gallon tank.

 

[Lotus99]

I'd say the chances are pretty much zero of the fry surviving with fish in the tank. I am currently raising five babies that I managed to get out of my main tank into another tank. I had a couple that went into an anemone for protection that I caught, and a couple that were hiding at the top corners of the tank. The only ones I saved were before the tank lights came on. As soon as the lights were on, I saw fish eating babies

The other possibility is to get an urchin in which the fry can hide (their natural protection in the wild).

My male held eggs many times before I got my first babies. Often, the male will swallow the eggs or spit them out before they're ready. They will breed soon after the eggs are gone. Make sure that you feed the father up (enriched foods, etc.) in the few days he gets before the female lays eggs again.