Kinda cool

[RonD]

got home today from a visit up island to look into the mouth of one of me prego cardinals to see a little face looking back at me... I then proceeded to chase daddy around the tank with a net for a few minutes.. got him in a ice cream bucket and boom out comes a cloud of mini-me's. looks like about 22 +- new bangers into the world. this was a 100% easier way to catch them. I usually wait until night and let them pop out under the moon lights one ata time and just net them. this was a wham bam thank you mister kinda show and was over as fast as it began. its amazing how many baby's the males can hold in there mouths at one time. I have had up to 30+ in one go before with a full size adult.. these are 2/3 grown.

[TKD]

Cool!
Do you isolate the male now, to give him a chance to rest?

TKD

[RonD]

nope back into the mix. He will steer clear of the gals for about a week and then ..... swish swish of her tail and he is on a diet for another 21-23 days. Its taken me about two years to figure the body language out as to what she is doing and how far along he is. The males tend to start juggling the baby's around in their mouths when they are getting close. Its funny to watch the whole process when the male is starting to release them.. he will spit them out and then suck them back in many times.. very frustrating at 1AM and you want to go to bed as they will only do this late at night when the rest of the tank is hopefully a sleep.

[christyf5]

Thats awesome. I'd love to try breeding them in my tank but I have too much flow and no space to set up another tank. They're so cute when they're little :)

[Benny]

What kind of fish is this? Not a cardinal tetra?

[Malawiblue]

Ya what kind of mouthbrooders are they? My Malawi's and other cichlids do it all the time!

[Aquariumgirl]

Bangai Cardinals are saltwater mouthbrooders ;)

[TKD]

What kind of fish is this? Not a cardinal tetra?

They are salt water.

TKD

[Benny]

Hahaha... I forgot what section I was in. :D