breeding program

[jc]

At the last meeting it was mentioned that several people were going to try to breed Bangaii cardinals. I have a breeding pair that is constantly making babies. I was going to try to raise the fry, but I decided I don't have the room for a separate tank. How far along is the project and who is involved? I would like to donate my fish in exchange for 1 or 2 offspring later. I would even pitch in for the food.

[Bill S]

I've had 2 survive in my fuge. One Ace has, and the other has grown to about 3/4 size, so far. It's still in my fuge. These are fry that survived in the tank and then the ride down the overflow (where 90% of the flow goes into the sump vs 10% in the fuge). I do need to move him, as anything else surviving since, would have been likely to get eaten.

If you want to donate some to my fuge, I'll be happy to try and raise them for you. You can have the first few.

[jc]

The problem is that I can't get the fry after he releases them. They are very skittish. I was thinking I would have to setup a new tank just for the cardinals. That way I can watch for when he releases the fry. It would be too hard to try to catch him out of my 180 every time he was carrying. My other fish would never let him relax enough for me to catch him. Plus, they would knock over corals. I thought about putting the pair in a 30 gallon tank. I also starting daydreaming about a 4 foot long seahorse tank that would include the cardinals. Maybe put a dsb with some caluerpa all over and a few pieces of LR. That would make catching them easier. The sump could double as a fuge/nursery. That way I wouldn't have to constantly monitor the fry tank and change the water. It would help to have the nursery/fuge attached to the main tank in order to stabilize the parameters for the fry. Then I started to add up all the equipment for the new tank and it became to much. I just bought a reefkeeper elite and it's too early to ask the wife for a new tank. I was hoping someone would have a dedicated tank just for the cardinals.

[hobogato]

i have several tanks here in the classroom that have not been claimed by students (not as many students this year). i could put them in one of those for now, and when we get the breeding setup going out in our ag department, transfer them into it.

[jc]

Sounds good. I will set up the fish trap soon. Hopefully I can catch them.

[moneytank]

I would like some also if you have enough. I can show you how to make a larval snagger if you want to try and catch them.

[jc]

I haven't been able to catch them. They seem to be active at night. Does anyone know any tricks?

[apedroza]

Try using a flashlight. See if they will go towards the light at night and scoop them up near the top.

[na1paj]

are you trying to catch the male? well, we've always netted ours by turning on the lights early in the morning when it's dark and when he's sleeping, and he doesn't even notice because the lights blinds him, and then he spits out the babies.

too bad you're far away. We've been raising Banggais since 2000. :)
unless you want to ship them over here in Dallas.

I wrote an article in the DFWMAS newsletter on raising Banggais, pics and videos
http://www.dfwmas.org/NewsLetter/dfwmas_newsletter2008_07.pdf