FS: Banggai cardinal fry - Calgary
 

I have 28 fry for sale for $55. They are 1 week old. This is the 3rd batch from the parents.

Care: feeding 2-3 times per day (small stomachs). Live baby brine shrimp for 3 - 9 weeks. The first batch I was never able to completely ween off live food even after 2 months. Likely need a smaller tank devoted to them for food density, low flow and so they don't get eaten. Due to the high food density the tank will need regular water changes. Before buying consider they extra time they will require.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-R...122_192032.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t...122_191957.jpg

Here is a video of the first batch eating, so cute:
http://youtu.be/_S1ogQx5tEo

Wow so cute! Hope someone is able to raise them to adulthood...

Sucks that I am gone for a week on holidays in March or I would grab them. Good luck with the sale.

Congrats!
 

It's great to see someone tank raising livestock and contributing to the reduction of wild caught livestock!

I had a beautiful breeding pair of Bangaii Cardinals and also raised the fry for about 2.5 years. Unfortunately I got too busy to continue breeding so can completely understand the work involved.

PS... I used to sell my fry to local hobbyists for $15ea or 2 for $25, so 28 for $55 is very generous. Hopefully someone has the time and desire to help most of these fry grow to saleable age (around 6-8 weeks). It's very rewarding to see the fry grow and be able to pass them on to others to live on to adulthood.

Fry
 

Could they survive in the sump and live off frozen brine shrimp?

STILL AVAILABLE??? IM ALREADY BREEDING AND HAVE THE SET UP TO RAISE THEM.

Wow, I didn't realize they went for so much. What percentage of a batch were you able to raise? My first batch I had about 40% survival to 8 weeks before selling - most of the loses were near the end. I was trying the wean them off BBS but most wouldn't eat anything else.

Sold. Thanks.

You probably wouldn't have a great survival rate, my guess < 10%.

I had a lot of trouble weaning them off live baby brine shrimp. It might also be hard to get a high enough density of food in the sump. Having said that, I found 3 fry in the sump a week after the father released them. Not sure if they were eating or surviving on their reserves.

Keep in mind this was over 6 years ago that I raised Bangaii fry, I have no idea what the going rate for them would be today, but back then $15 for a tank raised fish seemed like a good deal (and kept local hobbyists from having to take wild caught)

I actually had pretty good success with them. I had a little acrylic 12 gal all-in-one nano tank that acted as a perfect nursery tank. After I figured out the timing of the first batch or two, I was getting about 75% survival rate. I found I would lose several the first week, then like you would lose a few more just before saleable age (8-10 weeks). I found having an artificial long spined urchin in the tank helped (perhaps lowered their stress?) and did only small weekly water changes. (also less stress?) I also supplemented my bbs hatch water with Selcon, not sure if that helped them be more nutritious? And I dumped live and unhatched eggs into the nursery tank, cause they would eat the unhatched cysts too. Most of mine were weaned to frozen mysis (finely shredded) before selling.

Thanks Brian!

I have no intention of raising them to make money on them. If that kind of good fortune smiled upon me, I would find them homes.

I am hoping to at least have a couple survive. I used to have them everywhere, sump, overflows, etc.

Best of luck with your new fry, hope they all fight (and you give them a fighting chance) to get to adulthood! :-)

If you put in the work to raise them you deserve the rewards.

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps596ff85c.jpg

So after a small containment malfunction, the kids have a home. :lol:

I saw roughly 23 up front tonight for feeding. I have a couple cleaner shrimp, hope they help with the feeding as well.

Hoping I'm past that 10 day old die off thing?

Soooo cute!!!!!!! Are they in your display tank? Won't it be easier to raise them in a tank of their own? I would imagine the strong flow might be a little hard on them and also harder to feed.

O btw I absolutely love that colorful knife urchin u made :p

There is no major flow in the tank at the moment. We are water changing from the sump and the tank is looking better than it has in a while, lol..

I use a syringe with a hose tube on it and feed into the urchin. Seems to work quite well actually.

Hubby made a slight calculation error with regards to the size of the holes in the containment area.....or they wouldn't be in there, trust me.

They will be getting a larger urchin made with straws this weekend to give them more room. That one was for the container.

Brilliant!
 

That's brilliant! I also made an artificial ls urchin when I used to raise them, I think it makes a big difference in their survivability.

Hoping to see them all make it to saleable age, it's good for the hobby and rewarding too!

I also looked fondly at this project but right now am not able to raise fry.

I absolutely LOVE the urchin!!! That is Awesome!!!

I want to put claim towards some of the fry once you are going to trade/sell them!!!! I have 1 now and would like 4 or so more to have a little school.....

Sure Brian! Although, they don't school when mature, they pair up.

Sorry for using this thread for updates, but since I started...

Kids got a bigger urchin today, tried the straw thing I read about, just try getting that sucker to sink.......:lol:

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...pscefb2b8b.jpg

The kids are growing like weeds, and they are starting to act like real fish :lol: They all come running over when I bring out the feeding syringe. They are starting to separate a bit into groups of 5 or so.

For whatever strange reason, my tank is really doing well with the low flow, I turn on a power head here and there for a bit but that's it.

Where did u buy this urchin he's very colorfull think I want to get one lmao
LOVE IT ..

I'm still waiting to get a mate for my existing Banggai from you.....

:-)

let me know when they are ready....

I haven't forgotten about you. :wink: I wonder how old they are before you can tell their sex. Their faces are starting to look different.

I've raised quite a few... and never could tell the sex. When I go to pair them, I just get 2-3 and put them all together. They'll pair quickly and kick the other one out.

Only reason I can tell the sex now, is I've seen which one held the eggs.. and I noted his color and other unique features to him.

Thanks for the update!

I suspect they'll need to be around a 1" - 1.5" before you can take a stab at sexing. Not sure how old that is.

Here is some info. As SpateD mentions, I wasn't really sure until they kicked a 3rd out of their group.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog...i-cardinalfish

I could tell the difference by the shape of the jaw quite easily with the pair I had.

I wondered how old is the one you have, and do you know what sex it is?

I think I am starting to notice the jaw differences now, I'll get some pics so the experts can help me. They are eating good (frozen) and might be able to go soon. I want to recover costs on the pricing, decided not to give away, since people might feed them to their lionfish, etc.... :lol:

PM me a price when they are available as I may be interested in a couple

BTW, I think I have about 15 left at this point. I have to work on my trapping plans now...

They look awesome! Put my name on the waiting list too please! :-)

Done!

its about a year old..... I dont know the sex... if I send you pics can you tell ? what do you need pics of ?

If it is a year old should be easy to tell, just get a good clear shot.

The other thing now is, does a year old bangaii take to a juvie? If yours is a male he might try to eat it!!

Any tips on how to catch them out of a main reef tank, lol?! :lol:

I will be looking at trying the critterkeeper/rockdoorslam/trap. Will let you know how that works out.

If I can just get them to go in there for now to eat, I can try trapping later.

Trap seems to be a hit, I'll probably look at trapping some this weekend. They are eating well.

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps8dcb8257.jpg

Too bad
 

I don't suppose that the kids would travel well by air...
If they did, I'd take a few in Kelowna :)