Bangaii Cardinals

csababubbles · Dec 13, 2007

I have a pair of bangaii cardinals in one of my reef tanks. Started with 3 but the third one disappeared while I was away on a 3 week vacation. I should have moved him to another tank when I saw he started hiding in the corner but like a schmuck I didn't before I went away.

Anyways these two are obviously a pair. I was thinking about moving them to a 220 gallon tank in the future. In a tank that large, would there be any chance of them spawning and having the fry survive without any intervention on my behalf? Or is this process a dedicated feat that requires quite a bit more attention. I read that sometimes the male may swallow the eggs that are held in his mouth sometime. Other times they will hatch but the mom and pop will try and eat them, or other fish will eat them. But in a tank as large as a 220 with lots of live rock hiding places, is there any chance some will survive and grow up? And if they do grow up, will the parents fight with them or will they be accepted as part of the family and coexist?

Also I have several long spined black sea urchins. The adults like to hang out between the spines. Will these urchins help the young fry survive from being eaten by fish tankmates?

Herefishyfishy · Dec 13, 2007

Yes yes no no yes

Hope this helps.

Getting a true pair to spawn is awesome but doable. Raising the fry takes a lot of patience and the willingness to raise live food and food for the live food. Very similar to clowns. Ilham is the best sourse of info on this. Vicki has done so too.

Rod Buehler · Dec 13, 2007

Raising banggai is much much easier than raising clowns. Poppa holds on to them long enough so that when he does release them, they are able to eat baby brine shrimp right away. Hatching brine is super easy. Especially when compared to rotifers and phyto.. They wont survive without any intervention. You'll need to get them out into their own tank (5-10 gal). When I bred Banggai (mid to late 90s) on the night that poppa would release, I would shut the pumps down at lights out.. Within 30 minutes, poppa would usually release them all. Most would congregate in a certain area. I would then slurp them up with a turkey baster and squirt them into their own tank and feed them newly hatched brine shrimp.