Baby bangaii cardinal fry?

[Long-Island-Mike]

Hi Guys, I put in two sea urchins about a week ago. I realized two days ago there was 2 bangaii cardinal fry swimming around the urchin. I then noticed there were more in the mother/fathers mouth. I kept an eye on them throughout the day and not much changed. When I checked on them in the morning the two fry were at the top of the tank next to the overflow box out of the protection of the urchins. I decided to put them in my sump away from the other fish. I didnt see any other fry in the tank or even in the mouths of the parents. I fed them frozen cyclops and froze baby brine dipped in vita chem in the sump and they seemed to like it. Should I keep them in my sump or put them back with the parents. I am not sure what happened to the other fry, I wonder if they still could be in the mouth of the parents or have been eaten by my other fish. I would like to see them make it, is there anything I should be doing or just keep them out of harms way and keep feeding them?
Thank you for the help
Fry in my sump

Father/mother with the other fry in its mouth

 

[KathyC]

Ming is the guy to answer this - he has raised up at least a spawn or two of these guys.
I do recall he kept them in dedicated tanks.

Your other fish will eat the fry, so the sump (IMO) is the best place for them as long as they cannot get sucked into your skimmer or return pump .

They do not need the parent/s once they are free swimming.

and congrats

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

Hi Kathy, Thank you for your help. Sounds good, I will keep them in the refugium. It slowly drains into my sump. If I have to, I can always move them to my frag tank.
I will try and contact ming. Thank you again

 

[KathyC]

Ming is here..I asked him to take a look at your thread

If you have a frag tank, I would move them there..much safer than the potential for them ending up in your return pump...argh...

 

[ming]

Keeping them in a separate tank (refugium) would be perfect as long as there are no powerheads or anything for them to get sucked into. They might also get into an overflow to another chamber if there is one.
The parents will eventually try to eat them, and so will other fish, so don't keep them together.
If they are eating cyclopeeze already, then thats fantastic!

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

Hi Ming, Thank you very much for your help. I turned down the flow into my refugium so it just trickles out. The cyclopeeze also seems to stay suspended longer and they seem to love it. Do you think the parents could still have the other fry in there mouths? There mouth was open yesterday and the fry were peeking out. Today, the mouth is fully closed.

 

[KathyC]

If you do not see a 'pouch' under the parent/s mouth any longer - and especially if you see the parents eating, then the fry are out of their mouths.
Unfortunately any others were probably eaten by your other fish

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

Yeah, Thats what I thought.
Thank you again Kathy, I we be sure to keep you posted

 

[dynamictank]

Awesome I think that's great u have babies I wish we could do that with other fish as well congrats

 

[KathyC]

Yes, please do keep us posted !

btw - I love the pic of the parent..it looks postively ferocious lol

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

LOL, I think I just woke up my daughters, I laughed so hard. Thats hilarious. He does look a little angry. Makes me think twice about putting my hand in there LOL

 

[dynamictank]

He looks like a pirahhna I kinda gigled.
I just got my tunze pumps fixed know I have two 6101 with a multi controller on a 75g I try to make my tank as natural as possible Feed 3-5 different foods a day from algae flakes to shrimps n I get no babies I'm jealous. Best lights best pumps !! :-((((

 

[KathyC]

He looks like a pirahhna I kinda gigled.
I just got my tunze pumps fixed know I have two 6101 with a multi controller on a 75g I try to make my tank as natural as possible Feed 3-5 different foods a day from algae flakes to shrimps n I get no babies I'm jealous. Best lights best pumps !! :-((((

Unfortunately not all Marine fish tend to breed in home aquaria for a variety of reasons, while others will breed like bunnies (note I did not use that emoticon we have..lol).

What fish do you have that you hope will spawn?

It will never cease to amaze me what fabulous parents fish are from their defensiveness of their territory when they are spawning, to the fanning of the eggs and carefully picking out the dead ones so the others will be safer, to the mouth-brooding where fish spend such a lengthy time not eating at all so they can insure their fry have a chance at survival.
They are truly amazing creatures! :fish:

 

[rookie07]

LI Mike: Congrats, that is amazing! Great pictures...thanks for sharing and good luck

 

[jerl77]

man your a dad again :tongue1:good job mike

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

He looks like a pirahhna I kinda gigled.
I just got my tunze pumps fixed know I have two 6101 with a multi controller on a 75g I try to make my tank as natural as possible Feed 3-5 different foods a day from algae flakes to shrimps n I get no babies I'm jealous. Best lights best pumps !! :-((((

Hi dynamictank, I also try to keep my tank as natural as possible. I recently purchased the profilux 3 with custom wingo leds and profilux led's to mimic the lightning storms and cloud covering. I also added a dedicated PC for the tank, so not only will the tank have the visual effects, it will also have the thunder crashing to go along with it. I think having your tank as natural as possible make everybody happy (coral,fish and ME )
Thank you for the kind words guys. It very much was a surprise, when I seen them in the tank. Its now day three and they still seems to be eating and doing ok (fingers crossed). I will be sure to keep you posted
Thanks again

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

Merry Christmas, I have an update on the baby cardinals. The two in my refugium still are doing well. Eating everyday and doing great. For some reason I decided to shine a light in my overflow boxes again today from inside the cab and there they were, two more. I am going to try and rescue them tomorrow. I am thinking of using a hose and siphoning all of the water out of the box into a bucket, hoping to get the baby fry in the process. It seems to be the only way, wish me luck :smile:

 

[masterswimmer]

Hey Mike, great success thread. Congrats on spawning your Banggai's. Best of luck raising this batch of fry.....as well as future batches.

Happy Holidays,

Russ

 

[InfernoST]

Congrats Mike. She looks really pissed in that first pick.

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

Hi Russ, Yeah it was a big surprise when I seen them. I tried to rescue the other two today out of my overflow box. I did rescue one of them. I will try for the other in another two days. It took me about 30 gallons of water to get this one. I figured I will be ok to try another 30 gallons or so in a couple of days. I will be sure to keep you all posted.
Thank you again for all the nice words guys
Mike