Aquacultured Bangaii Cardinals

[MJT82]

I have a question... If Bangaii are so readily bred in captivity, why is it difficult to find acqucultured bangaii at the LFS or any online retailer? I lost my Bangaii of 2+ years a few months ago to a faulty heater induced tank crash, and I would love to replace it with an aquacultured specimen. Any ideas on where I can find them?

[graveyardworm]

Its hard to find them because not alot of people are breeding them. The reason people arent breeding them is because wild caught are still readily available and run about half the price. This is one species that more hobbyists need to recognize as in danger, and ask for captive bred only. Quit buying the wild caught and pay a little extra money to really make a difference. The few sacrificed at the LFS will go along way to protecting the species. Rant over.

There are online retailers and private breeders who are trying. There is a woman somewhat local to me doing a fabulous job with Bangaii's I'm not sure if she's shipping or if its local pick up only, but I'm sure she'd be more than pleased to talk to you about them. Her names Michele and you can find her at Oceanus (http://oceanusinlandreef.org/Oceanus_the_Inland_Reef/Banggai.html)

[MJT82]

Excellent! I am willing to pay the added cost for the acquacultured specimen... This is a bit of a soapbox of my own as well... I have passed up a few wild-caught fish at the LFS just for that reason... I have even told them "If you find them aquacultured, I'll pay the added cost..." but they tell me they have trouble getting them from suppliers... Anyone else?

[graveyardworm]

Check with the breeders on MOFIB I'm not 100% sure they f/s forums though.

[d3rryc]

I got to chat a few months ago with the guy whom Calfo credits with pioneering Bangaii breeding in the US. He said he personally couldn't make it cost-effective. He got his costs down to about $8/fish to get them to sellable size, but the LFS could buy the wild-caught for only $3-4 each. Until there's a stronger incentive for the CB Bangaiis, they'll probably stay hard to find. :(

[GreshamH]

David one issue is also they don't breed as often, or on cue, like clowns do. ORA has been doing them for years but the #'s just aren't there to make them a true bread and butter breeder.

[Eric the half-bee]

I have 2 pairs of cardinals and both have spawned and released fry. 1 pair probably breeds 1x/6-8 weeks. The problem I have is catching the parents or the fry. 4 or 5 have surprisngly traveled into the overflows into the sump with no harm .

[graveyardworm]

David one issue is also they don't breed as often, or on cue, like clowns do. ORA has been doing them for years but the #'s just aren't there to make them a true bread and butter breeder.

Certainly going to take some team effort to help out the Bangaii's. My chance is coming, a local reefer has a breeding pair and is hoping to split the babies between a couple local club members and see if we can have any success.

[FMarini]

MJT- you ask a very telling and key question. Banggais are by far the easiest salt water fish to bred and yet- its still not a profitable fish to produce. Worse- even thou they are on the "endangered species" list they are still being imported to the tune of 60K/month or ~1 million/yr.

Saddly the main reason why you cant just buy an aquacultured one- hobbyist want cheap fish. If your LFS owner has two side-by-side tanks; one w/ WC banggais @$15/ea and the next tank has aquaculture banggais @$24/ea. In every case the cheaper fish sell out. I see it everyday. Even thou the mortality in WC banggais is >80%, people will still buy a WC fish because it cost less.
I wont go into my long rant about profitability and blah blah -but believe me until hobbyist change their mindset-it wont happen.


Problem is the government will change your mindset for you. Expect regulation (collection limits) on a number of our wanted ornamental fish in the upcoming years- the banggai is just our poster child... steps off soapbox