Bangaii Cardinal "pregnancy"

[Armando]

My Bangaii Cardinal male is carrying babies in his mouth. How long until he spits them out?

 

[ScottM]

he'll do it all the time

 

[Cliff Tishler]

Armando- The male Banggai's will hold the egss for about 20 days. Once the eggs hatch he will continue to hold the free embryos for another 6-10 days. Then during the next 2-3 days he will begin spitting them out. The whole process takes about 30 days. If you see him spitting earlier it's probably because some of the eggs are not healthy. By the way during these 30 days, the male does not eat leaving him very weak. He really needs time to recuperate. Some people remove the male so he can eat and rest but probably not necessary. If he recovers you'll probably see another brood in 25-30 days.

 

[Armando]

Great information Cliff. Last time (and first) he had eggs in his mouth was last month. The babies came out around December 26 but I didn't see any, probably they became fish food. He stopped eating yesterday so he was eating for around 20 days , I hope he's not too weak.