Bangaii Breeding!

[Seahorses]

So after a lot of money spent trying to get a pair of Bangaii's I gave up. I had a bunch of them, only to have all of them die except for two. Now after having those two by themselves for two months, I saw this just 10 minutes ago! He looks like he's holding eggs!

 

[Reefed419]

Congrats!
Hope you have a good male. As it seems some don't like to carry to term. If at first he doesn't succeed, try feeding heavily to fatten him up for the next go round. Get some rotifers, BBS, and a good bit of copepods. You could probably raise them in with seahorses, but not sure. But separate them from the parents. I am sure u have read much more than this but good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Seahorses]

Hopefully he'll hold the eggs! Thanks for the tips! Should I move him into another tank because right now he's with my seahorses? Will the seahorses eat the babies? Thanks!

 

[BengalReefer]

I don't expect the seahorses would eat them... They can swim faster than a horse right off the bat. If anything, its more likely the mother or father may eat them and you may want to move them out of the tank. You could place a fake urchin or something in the tank to give the fry a space to hide and feel safe.

Don't be too concerned if he doesn't carry to term the first time, it's not uncommon for them to miscarry the first few times if they are young. I actually had my very first hatch a week ago

 

[Seahorses]

Congrats! Hopefully I'll get some babies! Now, only time will tell.

 

[Seahorses]

Of course! With my luck, he ate all the eggs. Wow. Of course. And only 4 days since I first saw him holding.

 

[BengalReefer]

That's a shame

It's not surprising for his first time though... Keep am eye out and hopefully in a month or less he will be trying again! Meanwhile, fatten him up on some mysis or something. Hopefully now that they've started they will keep going.

 

[Seahorses]

Hopefully they'll breed again! I will surely fatten them up

 

[Ambition]

To help a male carry to term after he gets practice, consider the diet of the fish. Talking to some breeders, they have suggested the issue seems to show signs of being a dietary issue for the male. The diet should be more than mysis and brine. It should be a good mix of all sorts of things, and can include mysis and brine. Look into mixes like Rod's and make a home version of it (I personally don't like that it includes garlic).

 

[Seahorses]

He's holding again! :lol2: :dance: :celeb3: I didn't want to spook him, so I didn't take pictures. I did vary his diet by giving him live amphipods, live mysis, live enriched adult brine, and frozen brine and frozen mysis. I really want babies! None of my animals are breeding now, even my dwarf seahorses (and their very prolific), and I want some reproduction!

 

[BengalReefer]

Awesome!! Best of luck Mine is about a week into holding a batch currently...

 

[Seahorses]

I'm just not going to do anything that tank except feeding, hopefully he'll feel calmer then, and not eat his eggs.

 

[Seahorses]

When can you be sure he's ready to release?

 

[BengalReefer]

It depends, can easily be anywhere from 20-30 days... My last one held for 32 days! After the eggs hatch, if you look close you will be able to see the young wiggling in his mouth. Once you can see them moving around between his lips he will likely release within a few days. Here you can just make out the babies between his lips:

 

[Seahorses]

Wow! Ok my guy isn't even close! Thanks for the picture! I'll compare once a week to see if he's getting close!

 

[alan.reef]

mine has been holding 4 times, everytime fail. 1st time hold egg for 4days
2nd,3rd,4th holding for 14-16 days then all egg gone!!!!
Good luck to you seahorses

 

[Seng]

Actually how many days the egg will hatch in the mouth ? After hatch, the fry will take food directly ? Mine never success to hold them more than 20days so plan to get them out after hatch ...

 

[Spyderturbo007]

Mine has been holding for 24 days so far. This is the first time so I have no clue what to do. I posted a thread a few weeks ago, but got no response. I would feel bad if they all got eaten or shredded by a power head.

I just bought them a couple months ago, so I guess I picked two good ones out of a tank of 10 or 15 at the LFS.

I read you can feed the babies CyclopEeze. But how do you catch them and get them out of the tank? Do I have to get up every night and check to see if he released them?

 

[D-Nak]

The big key is getting the male very fat on a good, varied diet as mentioned. Since the male can't eat while tending to the eggs/babies, it needs to be fat enough to go a few weeks without food.

When I was raising babies, I fed BBS when they were first released since they reacted better to live food. Then you can wean them off to other food.

 

[Seahorses]

So he didn't hold that time but.... He is holding again! :dance::rollface::fun4: And I'm sure they are still breeding since I removed some eggs from his mouth. I was going to try to artificially incubate them, but I just took some eggs. Hopefully I didn't freak him out too much.
I will post pictures later, it doesn't want to load...