Bangaii breeding

[kizanne]

So... My male was holding and held until today when I got worried and tired of waiting. We are on like day 25 or 26. I was also worried he'd release them at night and go over the overflow. I trapped him in a net, did not lift the net up. At this point he released 7 babies. I was able to catch 6 without apparent injury but one I injured. I had some baby brine hatched out but they weren't brand new. I had given the brine shrimp some rotigrow. I put some brine, copepods and tetra in with the babies. they seem to be able to hunt the brine, I'll have smaller brine tomorrow (newly hatched).

I moved the male into my refugium. He first did not look good but I think he may still have a few in there.

Here's a picture of the babes.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Congratulations! Which species are you going to work with now or next? The ruby reds, mandarins, or banggais? Or is there yet another species you're working with that we don't know about? Also, where do you get your fish from? If it's anywhere near western TN, please tell me, I've run out of places in lowly AR that carry good fish.

 

[kizanne]

Well I got my Mandarin pair from Blue Zoo Aquatics as a pair shipped. I was happy they arrived fairly healthy, my male is got a crooked back but I love him.

I got my Ruby Reds at Reef-a-pooloza, they were pre-bagged and hard to see in the bag. They were so skinny and concave bellies I thought they might not make it so I would consider that not to be a great place to get fish. I was happy they ate up some copepods, some brine and now are happy and healthy and spawning.

I got my bangaii's from a LFS that carries some aquacultured stuff. I bought 5 and 3 survived. I have two females and a male (the other way around would be ideal).

I just keep trying to pair things up and hope it works or buy pair already made. I am still working with the reds. I am waiting for the mandy's to spawn again. And I'm trying to fatten my male bangaii back up so he can go again.

My hubby just added a 2nd yasha to his first yasha pretty sure they are opposite sexes but unfortunately the small one might be the male so we will see if it works.

I keep holding back from buying the bonded pair of coral crouchers from live aquaria. I had a pair of sharknose gobies but lost them to ich. Now I have one lone sharknose that I know is a girl but since you can't sex them I can't just buy a boy.

I'll be working with anything I can get to spawn LOL. I'm enjoying this hobby. I really have to get better at maintaining my cultures of tetra, iso, parvo, psuedo. I think I've lost my parvo's. I have psuedo's but the larva have put a hurting on them and they won't eat nanno so when the tetra crashed it was hard.

Fortunately, bangaii's eat brine. So I'm hoping I can make this one without losing any. My daughter made them a nice little urchin so she'll be upset if we lose one now.

 

[juniorrocketdad]

Sounds really cool gl

 

[ThRoewer]

Well I got my Mandarin pair from Blue Zoo Aquatics as a pair shipped. I was happy they arrived fairly healthy, my male is got a crooked back but I love him.

I've read that they get caught with little harpoons which sometimes leads to this kind of injury.

I got my bangaii's from a LFS that carries some aquacultured stuff. I bought 5 and 3 survived. I have two females and a male (the other way around would be ideal)....
... And I'm trying to fatten my male bangaii back up so he can go again.

It actually works to steal the eggs and hatch them in a modified separation funnel.
I've done that after my male died with a mouth full of eggs.
A first batch of eggs died before my funnel arrived but I found 7 more laying on the tank bottom. Those hatched and 5 baby banggais made it to the free swimming phase. Unfortunately 2 of them didn't fill their swimbladders and died a few weeks later. But the other 3 are over the hump and have almost doubled in size. They look now like mini version of the adults.

The hard part is to find a fully grown male for my now single female. All you can find are at best half grown.

My hubby just added a 2nd yasha to his first yasha pretty sure they are opposite sexes but unfortunately the small one might be the male so we will see if it works..

They can be sexed by the black spot males have at the base of their pelvic fin. Also with gobies the male can be smaller.

 

[kizanne]

Yeah he had sexed them correctly with the spots so the male is smaller.

 

[ThRoewer]

I'm not entirely sure but if I remember right all my goby males were the smaller ones. I think with them it is the same as with clownfish - the bigger one is the female.

 

[Lrood]

Good luck with the banggai's. They were always one of my favorite fish to breed.

 

[gogo7]

congratulations kiz. they're cool little fish. well done. perhaps another dedicated tank just for the banggais?

 

[kizanne]

Right now they are at least still alive. I'm being a terrible mom.

 

[kizanne]

Well six Bangaii babies still alive. I am feeding brine shrimp hatching every other day. The shrimp are in tetra and nanno so they aren't nutritionless. The Bangaii are in green water tetra but looks like the nanno has already won out. The water got really opaque with algae so I removed half and I am dripping fresh saltwater in. There is always some brine in the tank and the light attracts them to near the artificial urchin. They look pretty good and so far with minimal management the ammonia has stayed low with the green water.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Kiz, just wondering, but have you tried that Instant BBS that ReefNutrition sells? Seems a lot less of a hassle to just use that than to constantly hatch out BBS every day...

 

[ThRoewer]

I have 3 of initially 5 left. The two that died had a swim bladder problem from the start and were unlikely to survive. I have them so far in a 2 liter tank and feed mostly live tigger pods. Though they also take frozen Cyclops.

I suggest you try tigger pods as well - easier and no need for enrichment. All they need is a shallow container, some old saltwater and flake food. Nanachloropsis is good for them too but you should still feed also flake food.
Also they do best at a somewhat elevated salinity.
Neither airstone nor intensive light are required - but they won't hurt either.
I have my cultures out on the balcony.

 

[kizanne]

Well I have some but I'm not hatching everyday. I'm hatching every other day (maybe every 3rd day). With the live brine in the greenwater I don't have to worry about feeding 3-5 times a day. I just put brine in the water usually 2 times per day. I haven't been vacuuming because I don't have dead food laying around the bottom. I only change out water 1-2 times weekly. So hatching seems to be saving me work and keeping them healthy because they can hunt all day and don't need me. I actually have the instant brine and some golden pearls. Also I decapsulated brine eggs a while back so when I hatch I don't have to worry about shells or hydroids. Next batch I may try the dry pellets or instant brine from the beginning but since I'm so lazy on the maintenance the live seems to be working and the greenwater seems to be filtering well. I also added a small amount of nitrifying bacteria.

I know it won't be popular but I think tomorrows batch of baby ruby reds are going in there for a variety of live foods.

They have at least doubled if not tripled in size this last week so they seem to be doing well.

 

[ThRoewer]

I've fed mine maybe once a day or every other day. The benefit of tigger pods is that they continue to multiply, even in the baby fish tank. Also you can overfeed without causing problems or the pods loosing their nutritional value. In fact the pods will clean up and feed on eventually growing bacteria.

 

[kizanne]

Yeah, I like the tigger pods had some mine crashed. I'm concentrating on the psuedo and parvo right now because the ruby babies can't take the tigger pods they are too big. They'd be perfect for the bangaii's.

 

[kizanne]

I'm still trying to figure out how to get good pictures with my Iphone. I apologize for the quality but I thought you might want to see them.

Here is day 2 (look at the urchin for comparison for growth) Day 2 their main body is about the size of the toothpick width. By day 7 their main body is 2x to 3x the size of the toothpick. You can also see the water is getting pretty green on me. That is a day after I trimmed it back. Looks like it is time again.

Day 7

 

[gogo7]

they're bloody cute.
i like the urchin. it works great. we're happy for you kiz.

 

[kizanne]

Well they are still alive. I like that the urchin keeps them mostly in one place. I put it by the light which attracks the baby brine and fish to the same place. I had a small cup of brine that was much bigger than baby brine but not full grown. I dumped them in there and they are now actively hunting them around the tank. Much tougher prey than baby brine that gather at the light. They are now two weeks old and still doing well.l I need to go change their water it is getting too green. I am going to see if I can interest them in any frozen or pellet food.

 

[kizanne]

I forgot to mention I took the male out of the refugium today and within an hour the girl was doing her I want to give you eggs dance.