Baby Pyjama Cardinals

[Classy Chick]

Has anyone been able to raise Pyjama Cardinal babies successfully? And how easy is it as I seem to have 'acquired' some!!


I first noticed that the male was carrying a mouthful of eggs just after New Year. Then about a week later they had gone. Two days later he was carrying eggs again and then the night before last he spat hundreds of little babies out which the rest of the fish had a feast on! :cool:


This was until last night when I looked in the refrigum in my tank ( Percula 90) and saw about 30 of the little buggers in two different sizes! It looks like some from the first batch have escaped in there 10 days ago and then there are some 1 day old ones there as well. They are obviously managing to survive off all the copepods and stuff in there and are doing very well to survive this long!


Now I know they are there though I feel like I ought to do something to help then along though but I am not what sure what the best course of action is as I have no holding tank or anything like that. Is there anything I can do or is it going to be better just to leave them to do what they seem to be doing best?! :confused:


If the first batch have survived this long, has this increased their survival rates?


Thank you!! :D

[dark_stranger]

cool, I heard PJ cardinals released fry, but you say yours released baby fish? Personally if they are surviving in the sump, and it aint broken, dont try and fix it. Saying that, you may find that as they grow in size/numbers food sources will get depleated & you may have to feed then as you do with your other fish. Do you have any pics?

[Classy Chick]

cool, I heard PJ cardinals released fry, but you say yours released baby fish?

They are fry- it's just me being silly :p :D

No pics as yet- they are still tiny and I have to agree with the aint broke dont fix approach. We will have to see how things go!

Does anyone know how quickly the fry mature?

[dark_stranger]

lol, i thought i was right, but then you made me doute myself :D unfortunately dont know how the development process is for PJ's.

[Classy Chick]

Well- they are still going strong and there was another batch released about 3 days ago of which some seem to have made it into the compartment at the back. That is three different batches that are growing now! The biggest- of which I have seen about 10, are about 4 1/2 weeks old now- I suspect that maybe the latest batch could be food for the eldest though?

Does anyone know how long it takes for them metamorphosis into a juvenile fish from fry?

I am not sure where to go from here. I am torn between leaving them in the back of the tank- there is obviously something good happening down there for them- or setting up another little tank with live rock, add lots of food in there for them, and trying to transfer them to this in a couple of weeks and then trying to raise them from here.

Has anyone got any recommendations or advice? I have tried to find info on the internet but there seems to be very little compared to the Bangaii Cardinal :(

[Marc Foord]

i would've thought the info on the net about bangaiis should be pretty much for the same for these guys too ?

you might want to consider feeding the babies in the sump - with bangaiis i used to try golden pearls and sera micron (the latter is a specific fry food) - when they get a bit bigger try cyclopeze too. obviously ideal food would be live baby brine shrimp if you can culture your own......

keep up the good work btw ! :)

[Classy Chick]

Are bangaiis released as fry or baby fish?

The pyjama cardinals have released fry that dont look very much like fish at the moment- apart from little forked tails!!

Do fry need any different care to baby fish or doesn't it make much difference, and how long will it take for them get to the juvenile fish stage?

Sorry for all the questions! I have been caught completely unawares by the cardinals even breeding- let alone some of the fry surviving!! :o

[Johnt]

My PJ has a mouth full of eggs (first time quite unexpected) so I will watch your progress and hope some of mine reach the safety of my sump.

John.