Banggai Cardinalfish

[dudah]

Does anyone in the Phoenix area raise Banggai Cardinalfish? I would like to get 5 of them for my tank. I would prefer to get juveniles.

Thanks!

[JHardman]

PM MX_TANG he raises them. I do not know if he has any ready to sell or not.

[mx_tang]

Hi dudah,

Currently, I'm not raising them because of time constraints and the like. Is there a reason that you want 5 cardinalfish? Usually, the way I separate the juveniles would be to take out pairs from the growout tanks, which ensures a true pair. That takes a bit more time, but if you are willing to wean them onto prepared foods, I could have some for you in a matter of a few weeks, since the female drops her eggs fairly regularly.

[BLUESMAN]

Well Mike, I never knew you were a foster parent!!! I, myself would like 4 pairs. What do you say, buddy?????? Blue

[dudah]

I wanted 5 because I have talked to several people about getting a pair and they said they were hard to get. They said the best thing next to that would be to get 5 and maybe they would live peacefully together.

But if you can get me pair that you have raised I would be interested. I would not mind working with them to get them used to prepared foods.

Let me know when they would be available and I would get a pair.

Thanks!

[mx_tang]

Originally posted by BLUESMAN
Well Mike, I never knew you were a foster parent!!! I, myself would like 4 pairs. What do you say, buddy?????? Blue

Well, like I said, I'm a few months away from having another batch of BBs, but I'll let you know when they'll be ready. If you want 4 actual pairs, then you'll need to wait until next year, since I've got about 100+ pairs spoken for and it takes a while to pair out the F1's.

Originally posted by dudah
I wanted 5 because I have talked to several people about getting a pair and they said they were hard to get. They said the best thing next to that would be to get 5 and maybe they would live peacefully together.

But if you can get me pair that you have raised I would be interested. I would not mind working with them to get them used to prepared foods.

Let me know when they would be available and I would get a pair.

Thanks!

Getting a pair is not too difficult, in reality. They don't require a courtship ritual other than the female receiving protein rich foods and the male having a mouth as a requirement. Basically, your probability of at least one male in a grouping of X individuals can be shown here:

2 fish = 50%
3 fish = 87.5%
4 fish = 93.75%
5 fish = 96.875%

Now, if you wanted exactly 1 pair out of 5, then the probability would be 15.625% and exactly 2 pair out of 5 = 31.25%. Anyway, my point is that 5 fish will nearly guarantee at least one pair, but your odds of a pair are still good with less than 5 fish. The problem is that once the juveniles pair up, the tendency to only have one pair left in the tank without human intervention is roughly 100% (meaning 100% mortality rate for non paired individuals) unless you have an extremely large tank or partitions.

The catch-22 to raising fry for most fish is this premise: If the fish have paired up, then they will not require weaning. Since it takes such a long time to actually fish out a pair (~6-12 months), it might be better for you to pair up the fish yourself. It takes roughly 1-12 months to get the fish to eat non live foods, so that's why I said that if you wanted 5 fish, I could get them to you sooner. The only problem with really young fry is the fact that they are easily stressed and literally go into shock when moved/transported.

[dudah]

Mike,

I would definitely be interested in getting some of the cardinals from you. I would like to go the simplest way without having to sacrifice several of them just because I want to have a pair.

What would you recommend if I want just one pair?

Thanks,

Jim

[mx_tang]

If you want a guaraneed pair, then it will take me a while to get them...definitely not within the next few months. However, I have a batch that will be available in the next 2 weeks. If you'd be willing to rear that batch, from day 1, then that would be easiest. However, you need to feed them multiple times/day for the first few weeks until they can ingest larger particle sizes (such as cyclop-eeze, copepods, amphipods baby mysids, etc). I feed them enriched BBS for the first few weeks and get them off that diet asap because growing BBS is labor intensive and nutritionally poor compared to other feeds. If you want a pair in a hurry, I know that Aquarium Arts stocks them regularly and they only cost ~$24/pair, but you aren't guaranteed a true pair. Anyway, I hope that helps.

[dudah]

Mike,

I would like to try to raise that batch you are going to get soon. I will need some help with what to do with them for the first couple of weeks, though. I have never done this before.

One question though: Do I need to have a separate tank set up for just these fish? Or is it possible to do it in a reef tank. Right now I have only one fish (a purple pseudochromis). Will that pose any problems with the babies? If so what would your recommend?

Let me know any other information that I may need for raising these fish. I am really excited about it and would love to get some tank raised fish from you.

Thanks for all the help,

Jim

[mx_tang]

Originally posted by dudah
I would like to try to raise that batch you are going to get soon. I will need some help with what to do with them for the first couple of weeks, though. I have never done this before.

Week 1-2 is the most crucial where you need to pay attention to their eating habits. Also, if you have some macroalgae or cover for them, they feel much more comfortable. I use a 2g container and gradually move up to a 10g aquarium as they grow older and begin swimming freely away from one another. This way, their food source is more concentrated and easier to capture/ingest. The downside is that their wastes also accumulate faster in a smaller container, so make sure you are doing daily, or at least weekly, water changes. I use a hydro-sponge outfitted with a small airpump for circulation and filtration.

One question though: Do I need to have a separate tank set up for just these fish? Or is it possible to do it in a reef tank. Right now I have only one fish (a purple pseudochromis). Will that pose any problems with the babies? If so what would your recommend?

The purple pseudochromis is not going to be their friend. It would be best to give them a tank all to themselves and start with a small one, or partition your main tank for them. They are nocturnal hunters, so they don't really like the intense light from a reef tank. I have light coming in from a window for their lighting. Half of the container/aquarium receives indirect sunlight from a window while the other half is left dark. This way, they can swim to the area where they're most comfortable in the aquarium. Also, when you feed live brine shrimp, the bbs will congregate near the light and become a dedicated foraging area where food can always be had. I sometimes rotate the tank (if it's <10g) so that the bbs will swim to the light source again. Somewhere in the middle, the cardinals and bbs will meet and some of the more docile, shy, bashful individuals will get a chance to eat.

Let me know any other information that I may need for raising these fish. I am really excited about it and would love to get some tank raised fish from you.

I could go on and write an epic of an instructional book for you, but I'm not sure exactly what else you might need to get started. You can PM or reply to this thread if you have any more questions ;)