Bad news for Banggai Cardinalfish

[Quagmire]

Don't know if many people know this,but it seems Banggai are in danger of becoming extinct in the wild.According to the last census,they are now only found in 32 or the previous 66 recorded sites.
Dr Alex Vagelli recommended protection under CITES and hoped for a ban on collection.The Phillipine government challenged this in court and came out the winners.
To me it seems the Governments believe $$ take precedence over the possible extinction of these little fish.ORA sells CB Banggai,they cost about twice what wild caught do.Maybe if we talk to our local LFS we can have them stock CB rather than WC,and help keep these guys alive in the wild.

Copy of the proposal for CITES II

http://www.cites.org/eng/cop/14/prop/E14-P19.pdf

[michika]

That is so sad. I think wild caught should be banned if this is what is happening. I would be much happier with myself if I paid twice for a tank rased cardinal, then half as much for a wild caught one.

[bv_reefer]

-i agree i'd pay more for a tank-raised specimen if the wild-caught were in such a predicament, that seems so odd to me, because i always see them all over lfs's and always thought of them as a really abundant species even in the wild...:sad:

[Quagmire]

OOOPs I screwed up.it was Indonesia not Phillipines.

I agree tank raised are so much better,both for the fish population and for us also.We pay more up front but in return we get a fish that we know is eating are generally heartier,and has a better chance of surviving the first week in our tanks.
Here's a link to a breeders forum with some good information.lots of links to technical stuff in this thread if you enjoy reading that sort of stuff

http://www.marinebreeder.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=268

[michika]

Another awesome link. Thank you again!

[Delphinus]

I honestly thought they were already on CITES, there have been reports of overcollection of this fish for years now. Well, if not already on CITES, then I guess they really ought to be. :(

[kari]

I forget who got my breeding pair in the tank sale but get them busy:lol:

[Captainhemo]

if we talk to our local LFS we can have them stock CB rather than WC,and help keep these guys alive in the wild.




This is a very good suggestion. It all starts with us , the end consumers. It's worth mentioning next time you're in you LFS.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

So....vendors. Albert? How 'bout it? :)

[EmilyB]

And they are so incredibly easy to breed. Such a shame.

[Pan]

I never thought they were in danger either, I hate to say it but I've sort of always considered them kinda ugly marine fish :(. But I do prefer to buy Captive bred any fish of any sort when I can. Same as aqua cultured liverock and corals. Or at least from another reefer. One less person using new liverock is one less person..well using new liverock :) I would love to setup a liverock and select fish breeding company...god would i love it.

[spikehs]

So....vendors. Albert? How 'bout it? :)

agreed! I'd love to get a pair of captive raised banggai's..

[howdy20012002]

One of the big problems with these guys is that there is a huge loss ratio.
I would say about 80 percent of them die after capture.
Apparently, the big supplier just fill the ships with water and fish and move from SE asia and over to florida. Apparently the cardinals are contracting some type of disease on the ship which is pretty much killing them all.
My supplier in florida apparently did a huge report on it when he took his marine course in University. He is trying to start a breeding problem, but no luck so far.
I have had much better luck with my west coast supplier and survivability.
I still lose about 50 percent of them that I bring in.
I am slowing trying to get a breeder stock together and whenever I get the time, I am going to try to raise some.
I must give Chris from Aquarium enthusiants some credit cuz he at one point gave me about 15 of them before I starting bringing in fish on my own.
Unfortunately, I think 1 of those is still alive.
I have 2 pairs that are breeding regularly....just need time to actually figure out how to raise the babies.
I have been trying to find CB sources. However, no luck so far.
Hopefully, one day it will be me.
Neal

[Delphinus]

The one problem I've noticed with breeding pairs - since the male broods the young in his mouth - he goes long periods without eating. I think breeding pairs almost need to be separated so as to let the male regain some strength before broodstocking the next batch. Too often I heard of people breeding Banggai's that end up losing the male of the pair because he basically starves to death.

[Quagmire]

Niel,you seem to have so much on the go already where would you find time to raise Banggai fry :biggrin: Hats off if you can do it though.
Tony brings up a good point about the male becoming malnourished. If they are separated until the male is strong enough, I wonder if they will go through the courtship thing again,or pair back up right away?
I've been looking at breeding marine fish, and came across this topic during my research and felt it was important. I think if I could find a breeding pair or two, I would put together a couple setups. I have about 90% of the equipment sitting around collecting dust as it is.

[i have crabs]

ive managed to raise 2 batches so far even though ive only ended up with a couple left each time,mostly a problem with the setups i was using.all i did to raise them is feed them freshly hatched brine 3-5 times a day then i started mixing in frozen baby brine and when they where big enough misis.
another problem is they have to be between 6 months and a year old before they are big enough to sell.
i have 1 from the last batch in my biocube and hes 17-18 months old and barly bigger than some i see for sale in stores.
good news is my male has eggs right now so in another 3-4 weeks ill be doing it all over again if all goes well.
last time i tried to move him to another tank he spit the half developed eggs out and only 2 ended up living, so im gonna be real carefull this time and not freak him out.