The Bangaii bomb went off!

that is awesome! They are sooo cute!

 

Can not really help you in the food department. I have never had them myself but know a lot of others that do. They are actually pretty darn hardy for baby fish. Dad did a good job protecting them. Many times they will eat fine pieces of food, it does not need to be alive.
I know people that have not feed them in established tanks and they did just fine.

Something you might consider is a fake sea urchin or real one. They naturally hide amoung the spines when fry. A security blanket kind of.

Congradulations on the successful move and it seems you kept your sense of humor even through the rough patches.

 

See if there are any stores near you that raise live baby brine shrimp. By the time they leave the mouth, they are big enough to eat them. If you have a hatcher, get that going right now. The only way you can keep them from killing each other over food is to separate them with critter keepers. I doubt you have enough of those so the most important thing is to get them baby brine as quickly as possible.

 

Cyclopeze is always a good food for anything, if they will eat that, it is very rich in protein. I have never reared them myself, but hope to have a clutch or two once I get my cardinal mated up.

 

Cardinals reproduce all the time in closed systems. Hopefully the babies are not too stressed from coming out. Mine spawn monthly and I manage to keep 90% of them alive all the way to the juvenile stage and then I release them into the tank. As members suggested it is probably time to trade them for corals because I'm starting to get a cardinal swarm. Congrats and look for some more babies a month from now.

 

If you want them to survive don't remove them from the main tank and suction cup a tupperware container with holes to the side of the tank and gently scoop them up with a cup not with a baster or a net I find this to be one of the causes for their early death. Believe it or not they don't need to be fed as long as you put some flakes in the container to attract copepods and other reef bugs, the copepods will swarm in through the holes you made eventually and will not be able to get out fast enought before the babies consume them. I have never fed my baby cardinals or ever gone through the hassle of making brine shrimp. Once they reach 3/4 to one inch you can start them on finely diced frozen foods or zooplankton in a bottle.

*Note don't put more than 3-4 in each container they will simply fight for food and kill each other, they need space and should not all be crammed into one container or breeders net.

 

I just asked my LFS guy about this today. He, or better said, his boss has a hatchery that dirstributes pretty much all the fish for petco, or any other big retailer in TN. They breed this species too and he said to start them om baby brine and cyclopeeze ASAP.
Baby brine are very easy to breed if you have one of the hatcheries for them. Reefmonkey recommended me the disk type ones. I had already bought the bottle, but it works as well.

Good luck, bud!!! Just their way to "get you ready" for the real thing

- Mag.

 

Sorry, double post again Something's up with my net!

 

Glad to hear it. I will add some more after work today.

Good to know. Thanks. What do they look like in the juvenile phase? Bigger than in the 2nd pic of the 1st post?

Interesting. Thanks for the info. Guess I am glad I didn't stick them all in the little hang-on-the-side deal I was thinking of..

YEah no kidding! Thanks. Still need to get the baby brine. I did not get home until late last night. Will do asap.

Thanks all for the support!

matt

 

small copepods are favorites for pretty much any small fish if you can get your hands on baby copepods you should be all set for food requirements