Pterapogon kauderni (Banggai Cardinalfish)

[Almondkc]

All 15 are doing well and eating on baby brine shrimp and live arctic tigger pods. The brood pen gets a bit of algae on it quickly so I use a tube brush and just clean either end or the middle at a time to not overly stress the fry.

More good news...the male has been eating a lot and I have tried to get him fatter on amphipods from my amphipod grow out tank. He we crazy for them and chased them all over the tank once he ate the ones close to him.

I will try and make a video of the fry eating on the pods and the BBS and post it, but they continue to thrive and I think I have them in just the right spot to not be effected by too much flow.

 

[Almondkc]

I find that I am feeding the fry about 6 times a day and they are always eating....so I am going to keep feeding them that frequently.

 

[pdisner]

Do the other fish in your tank try’s and grab the fry?

 

[Almondkc]

Not as of yet. The seahorse comes to the brood enclosure when I feed them their BBS or Tiger Pods. The parents seem to check on them from time to time but never aggressive. I really only have the seahorse, starry blenny, 2 dragonface pipe fish and the pair of Banggai Cardinals. No one who is really aggressive.

Have you had fish try to grab the fry?

 

[Almondkc]

Here is a short video of the fry on day 5 eating BBS. Forgot to mention that I also added a few very large amphipods to the bood pen to help with clean-up. Seems to be working.

 

[Almondkc]

Well, tried the egg stripping and achieved a dismal one egg but don't want to stress out the male. I thought I would still try the egg tumbler and observe the growth/development of the egg. Here is a quick photograph of the tumbler I purchased off the web. The manufacturer is Ziss (Model ZET-E55) which is the medium tumbler. If you look close you can see the egg in the lower left of the chamber (pink sphere).

 

[pdisner]

Here is a short video ....

That’s good thinking! I depend on my Bugs a lot. Most people don’t think of Amphipods as you “unsend clean-up crew” as I like to call them. Amphipods can keep the bottom clean then use your copepods, not only as the single best food source for your little ones, they also will clean up their domain. Right now I’m having a great time with my Tigger pods as they have exploded. Seems like my baby babgaii is hooked on them now. It will anticipate for me to come bring it some, hovering near the surface toward front and the side when it’s near time. I guess they taste that good! He’s the only one I have left from my last clutch.
Does your female look gravid yet? What’s the latest with them? Also want to know if you’ve tried giving them the TDO that we talked about. Hope they’re all good. I just wanted to show you the baby Bangaii I was taking about. He not so baby anymore. He was born on Dec 24 last year which was cool. You should really think about a copepod culture. Seriously will help with your frys’ health to do on a regular basis.

These are what’s left after selling or trading off my juveniles for more equipment and broodstock. I think raising Bangaiis is a smart thing to do. I don’t know where you’re at, but even Petco doesn’t get the Bangaiis that much. Wonder why?

 

[pdisner]

Hey just wanted to let you know, I couldn’t open the video.

 

[Almondkc]

Hey just wanted to let you know, I couldn’t open the video.

Should be working now. Never loaded to YouTube so is a learning process for me

 

[pdisner]

Should be working now. Never loaded to YouTube so is a learning process for me

I know. That’s what I thought. I wrestled with that for awhile the first time I tried to post a video. It may be more trouble than it’s worth for this forum. Im looking elsewhere, mostly because they’re not really for the hobbyist here at heart. It’s all a money making venture, setup up for paying vendors to advertise cheaply. I’ve learned that over the few years I’ve been a member. The Reefing hobby makes me ill lately, with all the fancy equipment, expensive LEDs in the hundred and even thousands. Very materialistic oriented and all about the cash and unrealistically priced vip memberships. Then they enforce that by watching and making sure that no one says anything they don’t like or seems to interfere with that. How ever they want to bend the rules. Can you tell I just had a really negative experience recently here? Lol. Sorry. But if I tell you what’s happened to me lately, you would be sympathetic. Just watch what you say, because it can be twisted into something used against you here. I have a thread on the fish breeding forum that I’ve been building, along with one on copepods, Rotifers and phytoplankton, which is all used in the breeding process with most larval fish. People really dug the good info and all the research files. Well, I guess someone took something I said from one of those places, and turned it over to a moderator who in turn reprimanded me for bein a vendor and trying to sell my fish I breed. Now my forum access is very very limited. They took away my acces to any of the buying and selling forum. They would not listen to any logic, despite me sending them multiple PMs. I was accused of being a vendor and directing business from the forum to my “website”. This is only a FB group page that I post all my pics and hd videos to, share research regarding first foods like pods, exchange files am chat real time with people much faster communication than here. That’s it. The only commerce I do is trading with LOCAL people. I’m not a business.
Anyhow be careful... there’s some evil trolls around that look to start trouble randomly obviously. I have a suspicion on The Who and the what, because of way too many coincidences. But I’ll deal with that in time if true.
And after all that, it’s A real pain in the but to have to do that with the videos. Pictures don’t load right either a lot of the times, and there’s no way to post files unless u set up some third party thing like you tube.

 

[pdisner]

I just hatched a BIG batch of the striped blennies that I was working on. I’m trying to get a larger number so I can trade for supplies at LFS. Have you seen my thread, Breeding the Striped Blenny?

 

[pdisner]

Well, tried the egg stripping and achieved a dismal one egg but don't want to stress out the male. I thought I would still try the egg tumbler and observe the growth/development of the egg. Here is a quick photograph of the tumbler I purchased off the web. The manufacturer is Ziss (Model ZET-E55) which is the medium tumbler. If you look close you can see the egg in the lower left of the chamber (pink sphere).

I was going to ask, what is this all about? I’m no familiar with this process.

 

[pdisner]

So what’s the status on your next clutch? Is your female gravid yet?

 

[Almondkc]

I just hatched a BIG batch of the striped blennies that I was working on. I’m trying to get a larger number so I can trade for supplies at LFS. Have you seen my thread, Breeding the Striped Blenny?

I will have to go over a read it....I really like the personality of a blenny, I have a starry blenny. Was it hard to come up with a pair of striped blennies? Are they easier to sex than the BC's?

 

[pdisner]

I also wanted to tell u that if you want you can start your own food cultures, besides just brine shrimp. Those Copepods you’re feeding I’m sure your having to buy right? With just a bucket, air, small light and possibly a heater, you can keep growing this pods for more feeding. Copepods are very valuable because of the massive amount nutrients. They are proven to shorten the larval period and improve mortality rate. When raising fish with a larval period, this is very helpful. One reason Rotifers are used a lot for feeding is because the reproduce faster. Hours vs weeks or over a month some cases. It doesn’t really take much effort, especially now that you don’t necessarily need to battle with growing your own phyto.

 

[Almondkc]

Sorry you had a bad experience. I feel fortunate to have found this site and have gotten great support from the members and the moderators. On another site for another hobby, I posted something in the wrong section and got a penalty for it. That I don't understand.

So Paul, are you done with breeding Banggai Cardinals and just focused on the striped blenny's?

I am trying to culture the Tiger Pods -really appreciate your info! Has been very helpful.

 

[Almondkc]

Twelve days in an no losses yet. They continue to all eat, as you can tell it’s time to clean the brood pen again. Could really do with a cleaning about every three days.

 

[Dsnakes]

That’s awesome! I love seeing fish reproducing in aquaria.

 

[Almondkc]

Egg update. While it was only one egg....it disappeared. I didn't think that was possible, so I don't have the tumbler set up anymore and when I cleaned it before storing - did not see any signs of the egg.

 

[Almondkc]

I finally figured out the Tigger Pod culture. I purchased a heater for the container and since I got the heat up to 76 I have lots of activity. They really are simple to culture. Wish there was a simple way to harvest them.

Any thoughts you can share Paul on how you harvest your cultures? I do have one of the small micron screens to filter them from the water.