Bangaii sexing help..with pictures

[Thumbster]

Anyone want to take a stab at guessing the sex of these Bangaii Cardinals? I just got them today to put into my 75 that houses a couple Ocellaris Clowns.

Anyway there were three in the tank at the store and these two were off by themselves so I'm assuming one is a male and the other a female. I may be completely wrong though.

Another thing, I apologize if this picture is ginormous or not there at all, I have never tried to upload a picture before.

 

[BrooksReef]

This was a very good article on Bangaii's. There is also a great write up on sexing them.

http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/f_marini_020799.html

 

[BrooksReef]

Dang it! Double post... Again.

Sorry! Delete, please!

 

[Thumbster]

Well apparently it is not there at all. You are free to check them out in my user album though. I have no idea how to get it from there to here.

 

[Thumbster]

Wow that was quick. I will check out the link. Any idea how to get the picture to show up here?

 

[BrooksReef]

No Idea


Mine wasn't working earlier, either.

 

[Thumbster]

Ok thanks. That's the thing with these new fangled computer gizmos. Sometimes even if you do it right, it still doesn't work.

 

[burnah]

in you gallery, right-click on the image. it should say something like "copy image address" , if not something like "properties". in properties, copy the image address (should end in .jpg). in the post, theres a small yellow picture above the mask, click it and paste (ctrl-v) the copied link. [ IMG ] should enclose your link

sorry cant help about sexing them

 

[Thumbster]

Hey thanks!

 

[john miller]

Looks to me like female top and male bottom.

 

[burnah]

based on what? id like to know for the future, and others might profit from this too

 

[BrooksReef]

Males typically have the longer second dorsal fin. It looks to me that the male is on top, female on bottom.

 

[Thumbster]

Thanks John. The only difference that I can tell is the one on the top has a little bit longer and tapered top fin.

They've been in the tank for just about 24 hours now and they're still hanging out together and getting along with the Occellaris clowns. I was worried they might not do that good together but no problems thus far.

I have no plans on trying to breed them but if they do I'm sure I'll be cooking up batches of brine shrimp and re-reading through everyones breeding posts.

 

[burnah]

thanks!

 

[cynthiamc]

thanks!

I believe that John is right about the female being the top and the male being the bottom. Looking at mine they look just this way and I am sure about it more because my male has a mouth filled with eggs.

 

[scchase]

Female on top male on th e bottom it is all about the jaw shape. Females are rounder but in general I find it near impossible to tell at a LFS unless one is full of eggs.

 

[john miller]

based on what? id like to know for the future, and others might profit from this too

Based on what I've read and observed with my breeding pair the female typically has the longer second dorsal and has a more elongated body type with the male appearing more rounded, almost circular, with a more pronounced lower jaw. Of coarse this only applies to mature fish.

I'm still pretty new to the game, but that's my best guess.

 

[Thumbster]

Update....

The one with the longer fin (the one on top in the pictures) is turning darker and is getting "twitchy". Is that how the female behaves? Does that mean that it's about to happen?

 

[john miller]

Yes. She's letting the male know it's almost time. Start feeding heavy and make sure they get plenty to eat. Two or three times a day if you can. If it's their first time don't expect much. My male either ate or spit out the first four or five batches before going the distance.

 

[Thumbster]

Well it's confirmed. The one on the top with the longer fin is the female. The male now has a mouth full of eggs.

It happened today around 3pm and it took all of 5 minutes. I had been watching the female vibrate (I guess that's the word I'd use) right next to the male. I walked out of the room for about 5 minutes and came back to find the male with a MUCH bigger lower jowl.

I was looking forward to this happening but I did not expect it 9 days after I put them in the tank. I am a little unprepared.

Is it worth the time and trouble to try and raise the young? I'm sure I'll try, the kids are fascinated by it. My plan is to get one of those hang on mini tank things to stick on the ledge of my 75 until they get big enough to put into a tank of their own. Any other suggestions? I haven't even looked at making brine shrimp very much. Anyone had luck using something easier?