Female banghai cardinal locked jaw

[Avelino Alicea]

Yes it is the female, not the male.

Back story. She was ready to mate, but apparently he wasn't because he wasn't readjusting his jaw. Well, she eventually pushed the eggs out without him being ready and instead she took the eggs in. She kept going after the male after he started adjusting his jaw, but somewhere in that process she must've tried to adjust her as as to not swallow the eggs and the jaw got stuck. I pulled her out after some chasing around as she was struggling to swim and breath.

I managed to get the eggs out of her mouth, but the jaw is still stuck. Any ideas as to what to do??

As I said I know which is which, and I know this is the female. I've had cardinals exchange eggs before and I know what it all is supposed to look like. I don't want to lose her!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Sorry, not much help: the only thing I’ve ever done was to catch the fish up and try to gently manipulate the jaw back into place. There is a tiny bone at the top center of the jaw...try pressing that down to see if the mouth closes.
Jay

 

[Avelino Alicea]

I would've tried that but was afraid I'd kill her. Regardless, she's actually recovering. Her jaw is almost back to its place and her mouth almost back to normal.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I would've tried that but was afraid I'd kill her. Regardless, she's actually recovering. Her jaw is almost back to its place and her mouth almost back to normal.

Yes, that often happens. Sometimes the mouth doesn’t go quite back all the way, but usually no long term issues.
Jay

 

[Cole.mormon]

Is she ok?

 

[count krunk]

If the fish is in spawning health best thing to do is leave well alone. Continue feeding the foods that got the fish into spawning health and the fish should recover