Baby Banggai Cards on the way....what to do...

[Psyduck]

Hey all,

Ok it looks like my male Banggai cardinal will actually make it to full term this time with his brood of babies. I had the couple in a 20 gal by themselves, and every few months noticed him not eating and his mouth getting bigger, but it never lasted for more than a week. Well I moved them into my 90 gal reef and his first shot at a brood is going well and he is on about week 2 now and I can see little eyes in his mouth, so I am guessing he may make it all the way this time. Any suggestions what I should do to try and keep these guys alive if/when the come out? I'm guessing it may be difficult to catch them in the 90 reef, but if I can I was planning on picking up a small 5 gal tank and moving them into there for the near term so I can get them eating something (baby brine?), and if all goes well move them into my 20 gal until I can sell them to the LFS. Thanks for any tips you can provide.

[Minnreefer]

Congrats, it is an interesting side hobby. Our first few babies were hatched in our 135 reef and it was not easy to see/ get the babies out. I would say have a turkey baster handy to suck out the babies, a package of brine and the 5 gal or a breeders net ready. Keep asking questions. HTH

Jon

[tdwyatt]

Originally posted by Psyduck
Hey all,

Ok it looks like my male Banggai cardinal will actually make it to full term this time with his brood of babies...

If you haven't already done this, put an artificial long spined urchin in the brooding tank. More info at the Breeder's registry, even better if you can acquire a Diadema spp. urchin. I'd keep in in the brood tank only though, reef safe (yeah, it does graze a little coralline, but that helps it spread and keeps the live rock clean of green algae), but tends to bulldoze the landscape. Right after lights go out the nite that the male ejects the brood, the fry will go down into the urchin's spines and be protected from the parents. The fry will concentrate around a light source at night, so if you corral the urchin (good luck on that...), put a light down at the corral and the fry will go directly to it.

Check the Breeder's Registry for more info and tips. Hope this helps.

[Mrs Smith]

Congratulations on your upcoming brood! We let our male release his first 3 broods in the main reef, and we lost most of them to predators. Still, use a turkey baster or 1/2" siphon hose (that's what we used) to pull the babies out - you won't be able to net them once they figure out what's going on. Since your baby tank won't be cycled, prepare to do lots of water changes.

We ultimately set up a 29 where Dad releases the babies, and then gets fattened up. The babies have plenty of hiding places in the LR, and have a fake urchin to hide in. (it's a full reef, with lots of softies who love the food the babies miss) The last brood he released in the "baby" tank was 40, and there are still 17 in there. (he ate some, but we also haven't bothered to put him back in the main reef - he seems quite happy now, and the babies are too big to eat now.) Watch your powerheads too - we lost a couple to the minijets. Fine mesh will prevent this, or you could just look at it as natural selection. You will have to clean the mesh off daily, though. Just an option, but less important to worry about at this point.

We feed enriched baby brine shrimp from day one, and their little bellies will turn red (so you know they're eating.) We found that you can wait a day or so before feeding, if you mis-calculate and don't have BBS around yet. Enriching it with selcon is good, too.

Something else to consider, is that BBS doesn't have all of the nutrients babies need to develop complete nervous systems. This is why the baby-banggai-heart-attack-thing happens. Try to get them weaned over to better foods, and your results will be much better. (At least , it worked for us.) I feed PE Mysis that has been mangled into miniscule pieces by scraping it off the frozen block - it's small enough for them to eat that way.

TDW is absolutely right about the urchin. We have 2 Diademas (little ones) in the big reef, but they can be unpredictable. Better to get some reef-safe epoxy, form a ball, and stick lots of toothpicks in it. Stick it in the reef, and the babies will go right for it. Then you'll be able to find them to suck them out.

HTH and good luck! (They're so cute!)
Danielle