Bangaii woes.

[Janice12]

In September I got 3 Bangaii cardinals. I ended up with 2 females and a male, the two bigger fish formed a pair. They began to spawn in October, and the male holds the eggs for 4 days before he eats them. What causes this? The tank is in a quiet place, the get fed tons of mysis, planckton, squid, spirulina enriched brine shrimp and bugs from the tank. One thing I've noticed is the eggs,around day 2-3 of being laid turn clearish to milky white after starting off as a bright salmon pink color. What do normal developing eggs look like? Maybe the male is a dud? Is that possible?

They have spawned 3 times already and every time on day 4, the eggs are gone. Would it be worth a try to put the male with the other female?

Thanks for any help. I picked up the book by Wittenrich, but there's not much info on Bangaii's in there.

Thanks!

 

[yellowslayer13]

feed better

 

[Janice12]

What would you suggest? I feed them 2-3 times a day with either mysis, planckton, squid, and other stuff. Can you recommend something else? I've tryed Spectrum pellets and ocean nutrition reef flakes they don't seem to eat prepaired foods.

 

[yellowslayer13]

wow dont know

 

[Guto]

I've heard that banggais got better spawns when fed live food.
Are you feeding properly the male between the spawns?
3 Spawns is too soon to say something. Wait for the next 2 spawns.
Good Luck!

 

[Luis A M]

It seems to happen frequently and to everybody.Consider stripping and artificial incubation.

 

[bangaii man]

from my limited experience, when the eggs turn whitish they are no good any more. I only feed frozen mysis once a day and my BC would spawn fine every month

 

[Janice12]

Guto-When I got them, they were all the same size, but now the female is a quarter of in inch bigger indicating that the male isn't getting enough food maybe? Would live brine or blackworms be a good catalyst and provide some nutrition as well? I have acess to both at the moment. The waiting is whats killing me :lol: Thank you.

Luis-I have considared that, I may do it next time

And Bangaiiman, your just lucky LOL

Thank you all! I'll keep trying different things, and maybe play some of Barry White's music.

 

[Atticus]

I always fed mine til they wouldn't eat anymore. They ate a ton of PE mysis. If feeding is not an issue then look at water flow as too high of flow will wash the sperm away before the eggs are fertilized, similar to the problem found with clownfish and unproducing eggs. Other than that I would say give them a few more chances.

 

[Guto]

Janice,
Whats the time between each spawn? I would separate the male for a week and keep feeding him heavly. Then put them together again.
Brine and blackworms are good feed. If you can, try feeding guppy fry.
And I know its hard... But patience is the key.
Good Luck again!

 

[Janice12]

Atticus-I do have quite a bit of flow in there, and I had not thought of that. Maybe the sperm cloud is getting blown away. I'll get a lower flow powerhead in there, right now I have a koralia 3.

Guto- The time between spawns is a month give or take a day or two. I didn't notice a brood this month, but she was heavy with eggs so it's anybodys guess. I'll give live brine and blackworms a try, and see if I can breed some guppies That may be the only thing I breed lol.

Thank you both for the help and the luck! Janice

 

[carlso63]

Janice:

1) Sounds like your eggs are getting fungus... do you remove the male from the tank once they have spawned or do you leave him in the main tank?

2) Your current feeding regimen sounds fine. You can add live food but you don't have to. I have never fed my Banggai live foods and it hasn't affected their spawning ability

3) I would give the male more than a week away from the female this time. Try a month. Feed him well during that time (mysis, brine, plankton, you can even try frozen beef heart, tubifex, bloodworms - mine love those) IMO variety is more of a factor than whether the foods are live or not

4) It doesn't happen to "everyone, all the time". IMO let the male keep the eggs. "Stripping" and artificial incubation are a PITA

5) What's your temp? Should be between 76 - 80F. Too cold the eggs may not be developing correctly. Too warm the same problem

6) If you have 1 Korallia 3 in a 40g that's not too much flow; I doubt the sperm is being "washed away"

7) If you do all the above and still have a failure then I would try that other female

Here is a thread on my Banggai breeding:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1289671

My pair is "2 for 2" on spawns totalling 23 babies successfully raised so far. Right now my male has been isolated for the past 2.5 weeks and will stay that way until around 2/15 when I will pair them up in hopes of getting a really large brood (25+) this time out

Any other questions just post them...

 

[Luis A M]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11712934#post11712934 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by carlso63
4) It doesn't happen to "everyone, all the time". IMO let the male keep the eggs. "Stripping" and artificial incubation are a PITA

I said "frequently"not "all the time"
There is not a poll or statistics made,but males miscarrying usually in the first days seem to be very frequent,and it happens also to advanced breeders.Guess only few breeders are lucky to own a pair of "holders".The reason is unclear and can not be corrected with simple diet or temp changes.
AI is not a PITA once you take some practice with it.If eggs were good you can save them and save the male the nursing stress and fast.FW african cichlid breeders use it as a routine.
Recently a well known breeder who also had a pair losing the eggs all the time,tried AI and got a nice batch of babies.He published his experience with nice pics in another breeders site.

 

[Janice12]

Carlso63-I leave the male in the tank with the female after they spawn. The temp is pretty stable, and holds around 80. The only reason I'm shying away from AI is the higher risk of bacteria and fungus that can attack the eggs. If nothing I do makes a difference I will do that as a last resort, but until then...
Thank you for the link, I will check that out and see if I can gleen anything from it

If all of the above fails, at least I'll have a nice pair of fish and they still hopefully will surprise me!

Much thanks for putting in your experiances!!