I am so excited! My male is brooding. I hope Bob will raise them!:yay: :yay: :yay:

Congrats!

Cardinals seem to do well in the ARC. Maybe there's something in the water?

:D

Yipee!!! Glad to hear you have another batch. Keep me posted.
Bob

Linda, he is raising your right??

Linda, he is raising your right??

Yes, Bob took *Survivor*, the lone cardinal fry that I found in my refugium. Survivor (now about 4 months old), is now a daddy himself. The cardinal babies in the toothpick urchin are the offspring of Survivor.

I highly recommend Bob as surrogate.

:)

Bob said he will get them if I am out of the hospital by then. I hope they dont spawn before then. I already missed one and the fish in the tank ate them like crazy.

Congrats.

But a word of caution. If you have a good mated pair, they will spawn repeatedly. Unlike jawfish where the male will store the egg clutch in his burrow and come out to eat, the male cardinal will simply not eat until he is ready to expell the babies (about two weeks). As soon as he does that, the female will want to spawn again and fill his mouth with another batch of eggs.

I learned the hard way about that. I had that happen and my male simply starved to death because he did not have time to eat and replenish body mass before he was brooding another batch of eggs.

Separate them for a couple of weeks after he expells the eggs.