Congratulations Barbs. The Bangaii Cardinal, Pterapogon kauderrni, is a fun fish to breed because of the ease of effort, the male mouth broods the eggs and fry, and they are a beautiful reef safe fish. My experience has been mixed. The fry are very large as most fry go, consequently, they eat live BB right off the bat. Problems arise getting them to eat dead food. At about one month begin offering frozen BB mixed in with the live and be very observant watching for them to eat the frozen. If they do eat the frozen, add it every feeding. It will be a long time before they take flake foods or any other dead food. Patience and perseverance are in order here.
One problem with breeding the cardinals is, most people put the male back into the DT with the female right away. WRONG thing to do. The female has fed heavily for thirty days or so and is ready to breed again. The male is nearly starved to death because he does not eat during the incubation period. Yet, throw him in with her and she will trigger the spawning desire in him almost immediately. If this happens, and most likely it will, he has to go another 30 days or longer without food. He won’t make it. He’ll most likely abandon the clutch or eat the eggs. Put him back with the female again and that scenario is likely to repeat itself again. Separate the male from the female for at least 2 weeks, feeding him heavily.
Here’s an article on them - Breeding Bangaiis
Good luck.
Dick
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