Bangaii Cardinals mated

After doing some tank maintenance and stirring the tank up a bit, the Bangaii's decided it was a good time to get it on. I thought they were hiding from all of the commotion that was going on, but when it came time to eat and they didn't come out, I thought something was wrong.

I originally had five babies. One didn't make the trip down the overflow, and two I sold to a friend of mine. Those two were being mildly harassed, leaving a likely pair.

I've read about raising the babies in the past, and iirc, it's 28 days until the male releases the babies. I have two tanks in my sump system that the male can be transferred to. Lmk if anyone has any tips on rearing the young!

You can see the bulge in the male's mouth:









They were reluctant to do the shimmy dance in front of the camera, but I caught a bit of it in this video.

 

Congrats Jerry. They must be happy. Wish I could help you out with the rearing but I don't know anyone who is raising them.Heres a link. I hope it helps.

JoM Article: Raising and Breeding the Banggai Cardinalfish, by Frank C Marini Ph.D.

 

That's really cool. I just got my own cardinal pair and hopefully one day they will do as your pair have done. I know Matt Rogers had a pair that mated and he was able to successfully raise at least one of the fry.

 

Thanks for the link, Vinny. I also remembered a video on Blue Zoo TV where Inland Aquatics said that they take the male out of the tank at day 26 and put him in a bucket to force the eggs out of his mouth. I know for sure that the eggs were laid on 8/10, so that should help.

Thanks, Doratus. I saw your Cardinals on your tank thread. Nice tank, btw.

 

Congrats Jerry! I look forward to updates to see how you handle the fry.
As Doratus mentioned I got lucky and still have one after just letting them all go in my tank. It's really rewarding to have a baby growing in there. Good luck!
My thread:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/tropical-fish/return-bangaii-105098.html

 

Nice!!!! It would be nice to find a mate for mine he/she seems lonely in the tank

 

No babies this time around, the new father ate them yesterday. I'll work at fattening him up for the next go around.

 

I would not try to "force" the male to spit the babies out at all.If you remove him from the main tank put things in another tank to make him feel comfortable-shelter for the fry.If he is freaking out he will eat the babies.If you plan to not use live food you will need to make it look like it is live or they will not eat it-ie water movement.What ever you feed make sure to watch them closely-if they don't like it they will just spit it out.If you start loosing some around day 5ish they are most likely starving.Good luck and keep us posted.

 

He ate them, so no luck this time. I understand what you mean about being jumpy, he's a little more skittish than usual right now. They get that jerky motion when they are nervous.

Whenever I do get babies, I'm planning on hatching bbs for them, and trying to switch them to Nutramar Ova as soon as possible. That's how mine were raised, even tough when I first brought them home, they refused to eat for a bit.