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Originally Posted by Astrivian  Wow! that was fast!
I just noticed one of my cardinals is hording baby cardinals in his mouth. But they caught me unprepared. How do i raise these?
Should i move them to a different tank, or will they be okay with clowns and cleaner shrimp? |
Congratulations Astrivian. Raising Banghais is relatively easy. The male holds the eggs and the fry for about 24 to 30 days depending on temperature. Once they reach the free swimming stage, they will venture out and at the first sign of danger zip back to safety. The fry begin to leave the confines of the male's mouth when they get to big for him to house. Broods are relatively small from 20 to 30 being about average. At this stage they will be miniature adult replicas about 1/4" long. Because of their huge mouth Banghais are easy to feed. Newly hatched BS are eagerly taken and should be supplied in quantity several times a day, especially early morning.
At this point it is best to remove them to their own container. A 10 gallon tank is sufficient but must be prepared before hand.
A word of caution... I found the fry susceptible to death simply by moving them. I had a ten gallon tank set up with their tank water, water parameters identical, and when I netted a couple and transfered them to the ten, they drifted to the bottom and several died immediately. I think they died of shock due to capture with a net even though I was careful and they were easy to catch. I was shocked. To prevent this, I tried siphoning them up with a 1/2" hose. I'd get one or two in the hose and stop the siphoning with my fingers and gently release them from the hose into the ten gallon. Several still went into shock but, most recovered and were fine. After a couple of weeks I began introducing them to flake food and frozen BS. They didn't present much of a challenge in raising after the initial challenges of moving.
Good luck. Pictures would be nice.
Dick
