Banggais are now happy family!

[mrhasan]

So my two banggai cardinals decided to tie the knot and the male is now carrying the eggs in his mouth (stopped eating from today; 28th Jan, 2012). Now my biggest concern is the taking out the male and put it in a separate tank since my DT has too much flow the the youngsters along with the crazy cleaner shrimp which wouldn't mind some shashmi!

So I was hoping some of you can share some pre and post experience about raising the cardinals fries. I know I am not going to make a good batch out of this one but still would like to give it a shot :)

I have a 10 gallon tank and was thinking of putting in a big live rock (possibly 5lb) and a HOB filter with maybe some chaeto in it. A heater would be great too. I want to be ready well beforehand so that I don't have to rush on the day. I plan to move the cardinal within 15days from now and so I have like 2 weeks to set up the hatching tank.

Would appreciate some feedbacks/suggestions/etc :)

[Borderjumper]

In my experience when you net the male he will spit the eggs/baby's.

Do some googling and find the apx. Date the baby's are ready.. Also you will see baby eyes peeking out of his mouth when he's close.

I took a container the size of large cottage cheese container ( but clear) and drilled a zillion tiny holes in it and hung it on the side of my sump and grew the babies in there. Make them an urchin out of a blob of putty and some toothpicks and the will very content in there.

When you think he's about ready to spit net him.. He will spit all the baby's and put them in the container.. Then the daily hatching of baby brine starts!

[mrhasan]

Thanks Shelly. Yah I found that they have a high chance of spitting out the eggs. I guess I will just wait till the last minute and catch it to put the fries in a separate tank. Any suggestion on how to catch them? My tank is very tight to move the rocks around.

And about baby brine shrimps; how long can they remain baby after hatching? And how much to feed per batch? Like a table spoon per feeding or something?

[BlueWorldAquatic]

put in a long spine urchin, and lotsa chaeto in the tank so they can hide

[mrhasan]

put in a long spine urchin, and lotsa chaeto in the tank so they can hide

Yah I have planed to put in a ball of chaeto from my tank into the holding tank. But I am not really sure about the urchin though. I don't like urchins and might require more maintenance than just keeping the fries.

[Treebeard]

Good luck! Looking forward to updates.

[Borderjumper]

Thanks Shelly. Yah I found that they have a high chance of spitting out the eggs. I guess I will just wait till the last minute and catch it to put the fries in a separate tank. Any suggestion on how to catch them? My tank is very tight to move the rocks around.

And about baby brine shrimps; how long can they remain baby after hatching? And how much to feed per batch? Like a table spoon per feeding or something?


Easiest way I've found to catch a bangaii is to wait until after lights out.. Actually a couple of hours after lights out so that the tank has been pitch black for a while.. Then get your net and a BRIGHT flashlight. Bangaii are nocturnal so he will be cruising the tanks and shine the light in his eyes and scoop him up really fast... Easy!

[tim the toolman]

If you can get them isolated you've won half he battle. As others have stated the male will try and spit the babies if you go to net him. If you can set up a smaller tank than 10g so it will involve less bbs to saturate the water. A sponge filter works very well for the baby tank, as it does not generate much flow and is easy to clean. A few small plastic decorations are also useful for them to have somewhere to hide. Start practicing raising bbs with a fairly routine schedule. Basically you will require a new batch every other day. Selcon enrichment and some bbs food is also helpful for keeping the shrimp alive. Either phytoplankton ( expensive if you don't brew your own ) or some home recipe food. A good quick food for bbs is taking a cup of water and adding 2 teaspoons of organic baby food. 1 tsp of sweet potatoes and 1 tsp of peas. Mixed very well and you can use it to feed your bbs.

[mrhasan]

If you can get them isolated you've won half he battle. As others have stated the male will try and spit the babies if you go to net him. If you can set up a smaller tank than 10g so it will involve less bbs to saturate the water. A sponge filter works very well for the baby tank, as it does not generate much flow and is easy to clean. A few small plastic decorations are also useful for them to have somewhere to hide. Start practicing raising bbs with a fairly routine schedule. Basically you will require a new batch every other day. Selcon enrichment and some bbs food is also helpful for keeping the shrimp alive. Either phytoplankton ( expensive if you don't brew your own ) or some home recipe food. A good quick food for bbs is taking a cup of water and adding 2 teaspoons of organic baby food. 1 tsp of sweet potatoes and 1 tsp of peas. Mixed very well and you can use it to feed your bbs.

Thanks for the great infos :)

Any approximate tablespoon measurement to feed the fries everyday? Like 1 tablespoon eggs should be hatched per day or something like that? That's where I am confused :P

[tim the toolman]

Not nearly that much actually. If can get a good brand of eggs and keep them refrigerated you sold get about 90 percent hatch rate. You will need about 30% of a teaspoon of eggs to make a decent amount of bbs. They are really only nutrient rich for about the first 18-24 hrs without selcon enrichment which is why it is best to always have a fresh batch ready to go. After they have been enriched they will take about 18 hrs again for them to be nutrient rich and after a couple to 3 days of growth they will start being a little larger than what fresh hatched baby bangaii will go after. Once you get past the difficult 15th day of life with the babies you can safely start making larger batches of bbs and keeping them alive longer as the fish will now be eating larger specimens. At this point it is also best to start trying to introduce so e Cyclopeeze or something like it with e live feelings to try and get them to switch over to eating dead.

[mrhasan]

Ah that makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up :D

Not nearly that much actually. If can get a good brand of eggs and keep them refrigerated you sold get about 90 percent hatch rate. You will need about 30% of a teaspoon of eggs to make a decent amount of bbs. They are really only nutrient rich for about the first 18-24 hrs without selcon enrichment which is why it is best to always have a fresh batch ready to go. After they have been enriched they will take about 18 hrs again for them to be nutrient rich and after a couple to 3 days of growth they will start being a little larger than what fresh hatched baby bangaii will go after. Once you get past the difficult 15th day of life with the babies you can safely start making larger batches of bbs and keeping them alive longer as the fish will now be eating larger specimens. At this point it is also best to start trying to introduce so e Cyclopeeze or something like it with e live feelings to try and get them to switch over to eating dead.

[mrhasan]

Picture of the male carrying the eggs :)

http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/s522/mrhasan1/2013-01-29184432_zps1a8b4a6c.jpg

[tim the toolman]

Mine has a brood right now as well.

[SpikeJones]

:popcorn:

[Xadieu]

:popcorn:

Pass me some popcorns Jones.:mrgreen: