B Cardinals and artficial Urchins

[M E S]

My pair of B. Cardinals have finally mated and the male is mouth
brooding at this time. I have seen reference to the use of artficial
sea urchins, as a place for the male to deposit the fry. Apparently,
this provides a safe haven for the fry and makes it easier to remove
them from the tank. Has anyone had any success with this and if so
how did they construct their urchin for the best results?

Matthew E. Schaefer

[Richard Reynolds]

>Has anyone had any success with this and if so

it works but IME its not worth it, depending on your setup either pull the male, or pull
the female if its in a reef pull the male, if its in a broad stock tank pull the female.
another option if they are in a broadstock tank you can setup a fry safe overflow.

> how did they construct their urchin for the best results?

ive assembled a few, the easiest was to get some of that putty used aquascaping LR, roll
it into a ball carefully flaten one side and poke straws into the round part of the ball,
let harden plus a little longer and use. the flat part gets put against something.


> Matthew E. Schaefer
--
Richard Reynolds

[Matthew E. Schaefer]

My original plan was to pull the male, but I have a 75 gallon reef and
felt that it might be a problem gettng him out without upsetting him too
much. For fish that float around much of the day, they are fast when the
want to be.

In your experience, what where the drawbacks of the artficial urchin
plan? Did the male and/or fry ignore it at times? Did it not provide
enough protection to the fry?
I was intending to pull the fry from the tank after the male released
them, figuring that if they congregated at the artificial urchin I could
scoop them and the urchin up easier then pulling the male. My other option
was to corrale the male into a breeding net a few days before the
anticipated release.

Interestingly the Cardinals that I have now were bred in my freinds tank
(Yes- inbreeding is going on, i may end up with a fish with three eyes, and
I would assume that the fish he has came from the same stock as well) When
his male released them, a number were swept into the overflow and into the
sump were they survived without any type of supplmental feeding. I was
considering placing the urchin up on the overflow, anticipating that they
might very easily be swept into the overflow box and into the sump for
easier retreival.

Any thoughts would be appreciated

Matthew E. Schaefer

"Richard Reynolds" > wrote in message
news:OW_Vb.19220$gl2.15245@lakeread05...
> >Has anyone had any success with this and if so
>
> it works but IME its not worth it, depending on your setup either pull the
male, or pull
> the female if its in a reef pull the male, if its in a broad stock tank
pull the female.
> another option if they are in a broadstock tank you can setup a fry safe
overflow.
>
> > how did they construct their urchin for the best results?
>
> ive assembled a few, the easiest was to get some of that putty used
aquascaping LR, roll
> it into a ball carefully flaten one side and poke straws into the round
part of the ball,
> let harden plus a little longer and use. the flat part gets put against
something.
>
>
> > Matthew E. Schaefer
> --
> Richard Reynolds
>
>
>