The extremely ambitious Banggai Rescue Project that was started last year by several key players each representing a different facet of the aquarium industry has finally culminated in the publishing of the book Banggai Cardinalfish: A Guide to Captive Care, Breeding, & Natural History. The book documents all aspects of the Banggai Cardinalfish, including information about their location, biology, care in the aquarium, how their numbers have been severely impacted over the years, and how aquarists are working to breed these fish in captivity. We picked one up at the Two Little Fishies booth, who happen to be the exclusive distributors of the book.
Ret Talbot, Matt Pedersen, Matthew L. Wittenrich, Ph.D., Martin A. Moe, Jr. and aquatic veterianarians Roy Yanong, V.M.D. and Thomas Waltzek, D.V.M., Ph.D. all helped write the book, and we can’t wait to sit down with it over a cup of coffee and really get into the meat of its contents. The goal of the book isn’t just to explore how to breed these amazing fish in the home aquarium. Instead, it’s designed to give hobbyists a realistic look at what dangers the cardinalfish are facing and how the industry has affected them.
Again, we will dive into this book over the coming days and weeks, but we highly recommend picking one of these books up, even if you have no interest in Banggai Cardinalfish. The reason we say this is that the Banggai Cardinal isn’t the only fish the aquarium trade goes after regularly. It could be a valuable lesson for other species as well.
