[Dave.I]

My red spot cardinals are breeding already! Didn't take long Check out the male with a gob full of egg's.Well chuffed with them but im sure raising them would be a mare.Does anybody have info on breeding/rearing these fish?

Not the best pic but you can see he's full

Dave

[ben]

nice one dave. i would guess it would be like breeding banghii

[Dave.I]

Well ive done a few of those in the past so if they were the same then i will have a go.I think the fry will be alot smaller though but with any luck i can catch a few and check them out.If i do get any fry i will get some pic's up.I cant find any info on rearing them.People have tried but no luck it seems.

[tommo]

I recon they will be about 2-3 mm and will need mixed rotifers and acartia/ parvocalanus copepod nauplii for stage one feeding. might be worth contacting swansea uni for acartia if they still have some going, they can be awkward to culture though and like it reasonably cool

HTH

Tom

[Dave.I]

Thanks Tom

Just seeing the size of the fry would be a good start.Ive not done much pod culturing but may give it a go,especialy if i get more of the group breeding.

Cheers

Dave

[Dave.I]

Make that two males holding eggs!

[Social D]

Good going Dave

[Rich]

Any updates?

[dylan]

these can be a bit of a problem as the female's hold the eggs in there mouth and thus dont eat then starve , this is what happened in david saxby's tank keep me posted dave

[Dave.I]

Hmm....

Well i can asure you that the females dont hold the eggs 100%! I still have every one of the original group,not lost one fish.I have watched egg transfer countless times.A pair of fish will split off from the main group.The male will swim below the female and quiver his pectoral fins and also rub up against her underside.When she is ready she will release the eggs in a large glob that will hang from her vent.The male then moves alongside her fertilizing the eggs.He them moves below her again and sucks the eggs into his mouth.He rolls the egg mass into a ball by spitting them in and out until they are a compacted ball and thats it.The other males will actualy try and steel the eggs to incubate themselves!
I have tried to capture it on film but not had any luck,yet! If anybody is seriously interested then i will give filming it a proper go.

Dave

Dylan,didnt David have something like 80 of these? Has he lost them all?

[dylan]

yeh i be interested in seeing that mate , i think david had around 120 he is down to about 40 now all fat and healthy i wonder how many females he has left time will tell i will contact him nxt week to see if he's had any more breeding

[tommo]

66% is disgusting losses!

Tom

[dylan]

tommo i can see where your coming from but with this fish being fairly new to the hobby there is very little known about them they are hardy fish , im just passing on my experience with this fish to lighten others if there looking into getting a big shoal

[Dave.I]

I have to say that i seem to have been lucky with mine.The Americans seem to loose huge numbers also and i know that people that had fish from the same batch as me lost theirs too.I actualy had 15 fish and went back to taunton to find that an odd fish had been returned.The guy had lost all of the others and this lucky one had found its way to the sump so he returned it.I didnt want to leave him on his own so brought him home and he has been fine.
I have a feeling that they are incompatable with some species of fish but im not sure what.I have had mine with anthias,fairy and flasher wrasse,regal angel,flymo blenny,pipefish,candy bass and copperbands with no problems.Maybe tangs are an issue?
Out of the batch that Mark imported i think the total loss from a group of 80 was 4 fish.They were DOA due to being directly next to the heat packs.
I tried to get some video today but they arent quite "ripe"! I had three pairs splitting from the shoal and have many females that look fit to burst but not today.
I also think handling is a major issue.Because they are a very small fish they are probably just scooped up together in a net and dumped from tank to tank thinking they will be fine.They get very stressed out and need to be handled with kid gloves in my experience.All of my fish were caught inividualy,and moved in a small cup to avoid net damage.I think if they were treated like candy bass they wouldnt suffer the losses they do! If anybody is interested in owning these then im sure Mark would bring in another batch.

Lets keep this thread running with any info we can find.

[tommo]

I had em in before they were fashionable when i worked at one place, they came in direct from bali. I lost one as DOA and five out of 62 after the night of a mini earthquake, but that was probably as a result of shock caused by me overdoing it with the live artemia- using up waste. apart from that one incident, i found them quite tough. I have a feeling that its diet rather than companions that is causing most issues people are having with these fish. they are a nuisance to get onto flake (eventually got them to respond to crushed new era and tetra crisp) and as a result must recieve supplementary vitamins (the responsibility of the aquarist) on the frozen feeds they recieve.

Next time i get chance to do a bali order, they are on the list and i will see what the score is once again with these beautiful fish!

HTH

Tom

[Dave.I]

Just put the camera on charge as i had a pair ready to breed and yes,you guessed it! I missed another egg transfer! Bugger! Im going to get it on film one day!