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Jase

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Just wondering, as I have just lost 2 separate groups of 3 fish, with each group lasting no longer than two weeks. They eat fine.
Anyone else notice this going on?
 

DaktariEd

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Very odd! I had the same experience lately!

Purchased a pair, looked good for a week then got "the dwindles" and died. First one, then the other. #2 also disappeared just like yours, Johnny...

No other fish are ill, all parameters are fine, just can't figure out what happened.

I thought these were fairly hardy...now I am wondering if we know as much about these fish as we thought.

Ed
 

Jon_Hewett_85

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Actually most bangaii's found in stores ARE wild caught. While it is true that they are easily bred they are very far from being prolific. A clutch of bangaii eggs contains around 15-20. A clutch of clownfish eggs contains several hundred. For the most part it is simply not feasible to profitably breed bangaii's because of the low birth rates. This is one of the reasons (contributing to overfishing) that they are in trouble in the wild.
 

Laurie

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Is that right? I thought I read a year or so ago that there is only one place where they live in the wild and that it is now illegal to collect them. Oh well, chalk that up to misinformation flying around the boards.
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Sorry I just added to it.

Laurie
 

reefcam

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As far as being caught in the wild from one place, I do agree. I read somewhere that the cardinals were caught off Bangaii Island (thus the name Bangaii Cardinal came about). Where is Bangaii Island???

As far as no more wild caught, my LFS just bought about 10 wild caught ones.

Bangaiis will have more than 20 babies in one batch. The number of eggs laid by the female various from batch to batch. I just caught 62 babies last Sunday and already have 29 babies in the grow out tank.

IMHO, I think as this hobby progresses, we will see more captive grown fish and less wild caught. It is still cheaper to get them in the wild, but there's also the negative impact to continue collecting in the wild.
 

SPC

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And, if I might add, the above posts are another testament to why we should support captive bred.
Steve
 

FMarini

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Hi:
Almost all of the banggai you see in thg LFS are WILDCAUGHT.
It has been suggested over the past yr or so that banggais have been wiped out of their original locale (the banggai island, sulawesi). There has been a recent suvey done to account for the species, and we are waiting the results (crossing my fingers of course).

W/ that said. Banggais are fairly easy to breed, but that does NOT make them good fish for aquaculuture, mainly becuz they have very small broods, and high tank demands(like one brood/tank)making these fish expensive to sell.
The banggai fry while larger than many other fish fry seem to be troublesome to many hobbyists, and becuz of this, the fish in underrepresented in breeding programs.
So this is why wildcaught fish are common, if all goes well this fish will be placed into a protected or CITES status w/in the upcoming yr. Forcing us (the hobbist) to pay more for the fish, or forgeting it. Eitherway is positive.
To answer your questions directly, a few times last yr people reported the same problem, they would get groups of banggai in and they all would drop. It might be the poor handling, or shipping of these fish, or harsh weather conditions,or that they orginiated from the same importer who treated them very poorly. I don't believe these fish are cyanide caught.
Sorry.
To read more on raising and breedin banggais: http://www.eparc.com/banggai/banggai.shtml
frank
 

Spikehs

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Hey,

Just thought i would add my 2 cents..I picked up 2 from a store i dont normally by from and they eat tons, look great, and are quite large (2 inches, excluding tail). The store i usually by from got in half a dozen and they all slowly died...one after the other. I think it all comes down to collection practices/collector tanks etc.

well...just my thoughts anyways.
 

Drewman

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I also just want to say that I doubt these fish are cyanide caught. Mine are very easy to catch, since they aren't active swimmers and are a little slow compared to many fish.

Drew
 

Carpentersreef

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Wow, I'm sorry to hear all this about BC deaths. The ones I have in my tank are great fish, get along with everyone else, eat everything I put in, and are breeding constantly. I have some surviving babies (about 6 weeks old now) that are eating everything that the main tank eats, (they are in my refugium). My LFS wants them, but I am reluctant to give them to him, because I have a fear that they will be sold together, and the new owner will breed them together, and I don't want that re genetics and all. I know I have to decide in the near future what to do with them, as the more I learn about these fish, the more I want to do what I can to help the situation.
Before I purchased these fish BTW, I read everything I could find, but I found only limited resourses.

Mitch
 

monkeyboy

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Yep, you'd know if your bangaii was tank raised because i believe in most cases they cost double the price of collected ones.

Whoa, maybe i missed something but did you put 3 bangaiis in your tank at once? 3 bangaiis wouldn't work, they'd start killing eachother! It only works if you have a male female pair and if they're young you cant tell. I'm suprised no one picked up on this.

Hehe, if i was a collector i think i'd rather use cyanide than reach into a huge sharp urchin! I'm kidding of course.
 

Laurie

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I don't believe Banggai Cardinals are wild caught any longer. They are too easy to tank breed and there is a ban on collecting them.
Yours were most likely tank-bred so cyanide poisening wouldn't be a factor.

Laurie
 

MontanaRocknReefer

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I bought 2 banggai cardinal fish last Friday and they were doing really great and then last night I noticed the bigger one was down by a LR on the substrate and it did not look good.
I got up this morning and the bigger one is no where to be seen and I am sure my green brittle star took care of the problem. Expensive feeding!!! Johnny
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Drewman

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Three will be alright until two of them pair up, thats when problems would occur. You should have some time to save the other one though.

Drew
 

Drewman

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Regarding sea urchins, do Banggai just live in them as babies, or all their lives? I've often wondered about their natural habitat.

Drew
 

hectina

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Banbbai become territorial when placed in fish tanks. Two or three might be OK in a larger tank, but in a smaller tank, territorial disputes will occur.
 

hectina

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Banbbai become territorial when placed in fish tanks. Two or three might be OK in a larger tank, but in a smaller tank, territorial disputes will occur.
 

Jase

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Monkeyboy, they didn't even get a chance to begin pairing ( my original plan).
I talked to a couple of LFS round here, and they have been experiencing the same problem, 2 weeks survival max.
 

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