Bangia Cardinal

[Ehudd]

Alright i posted previously about getting a pair and mating them. well 1 week ago I bought a bangia and the LFS said it was a female. Well today i went in and bought another,and the bloke said that the sex is determined by how long their fin is, and i said that is arubbish fact but he insisted. Well the one i got is a bit bigger and has a much larger fin. I put him in and straight up they are like shaping up to each other. Not biting in anyway at all. They are not chasing each other but they just follow each other. I noticed my so called "female" flares up its gills and her mouth is quite large. where the other does not really react in this way and ignores the threats.
Normal behaviour? or to male behaviour? sorry to be a pain guys!! it sucks when LFS knowledge is so plain.

 

[RonD]

this should help

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/f_marini.html
Q: I want to breed these fish, How do I sex them? Good question. If they are around 1.0-1.5 inches SVL.....good luck. These are juvenile animals and Iխ a full 50/50 at this size (meaning Iխ either 100% right or Iխ totally wrong). These fish become sexually mature around 10-14 months of age, and in my experience its almost impossible to visually sex them until they reach sexual maturity. However when they do become sexual mature, the best indication is a "squaring off" of the jawline (a more bulldog appearance) in male fish compared to females. The best overall indicator is the second dorsal or "banner" fin, it quite long in males, as compared to females, however it gets chewed off by other fish.

 

[Ehudd]

I have looked at that previously.
Well an update on the situation.
the new one i bought is hiding alot now, i havent seen my other one this morning either. Does this sound like male behaviour? i fear by the looks of things its territorial.

 

[RonD]

give them time.. I had my dominant female pass away a little while back so I gave the male one of their baby's to keep him company (they are kept in another tank). I placed what I thought was a juvenile female in with him. He reacted poorly towards the other for a few weeks. nipped and chased it, not causing harm but putting a run on it none the less. This went on for a while and now.. he has a mouth full. So I guess you could say things worked out in the end. Give them time. If they really start beating each other up, separate them before any real harm is done. I would be surprised to see an all out war considering I have 20 all together and have no real problems.. a small amount of nipping but no damage to one another.

 

[papagimp]

fwiw, the bulldog appearance obtained by the squarish jawline in males, is strictly muscular and not always 100% accurate. When not holding a clutch, my last males jawline looked identical to the female, who also had a larger second dorsal fin than the males. (and you called it just right with the LFS telling you finnage is a determining factor, some fish it is, with bangaii's it's not a gaurantee, it just plain luck)

Ehudd, it sounds like your female may be a male, if they are not fighting than possibly the male is a female. Males will often "poof" up their jaws when a new female is present, as a way to look all sorts of fishy sexy to them I guess. I've seen this behavior as early on as 6 months old, as mentioned 10-14 months is usual for sexual maturity in the wild, but in captivity, some specimens will mature a bit quicker than that and can start pairing off as early as 5 months old.

Ron, sad to hear bout the female passing, i just lost my breeding male not too long ago. kinda sucks. And the juvi's I have are far to small to try and pair up a male with her just yet.