confessions of a bangaii killer

[block head]

i can't believe i killed another bangaii! for an "easy fish " i 've killed almost double digits. :headwalls: it sailed threw 6 weeks of qt with flying colors. i moved it into the display, and thought all was great. the other bangaii swam peacefully with the new addition all day long. wake up, next morning ...

 

[Conesus_Kid]

Piscicide at the hands (fins) of the other Bangaai? Is there even a reliable way to sex these things?.

 

[NirvanaFan]

I've tried 8 now... I know how you feel.

 

[Eastamherstbias]

I killed 5 Borbonius Anthias so I know the feeling.

 

[shaggss]

They are pickie eaters. were they eating ok in the QT?

 

[tmz]

I had two pair: a pair in each of two tanks. In one case one was killed in afew months. In the other it was a mated pair and they were spawning but for some reason the male died after about 6months.
I've had the two singles for several years now. Mine eat frozen but not much, a peck here and there. They hunt the rocks at night for pods and such. A bit of lunar light makes that easier for them.

I can't sex them.

The mouth on the male has a broader jawline ;some can discern. They don't ship well either and have high mortality. Buying 3 at a time gives you better odds on hitting a pair out of the 3 ;about %77 in favor but at least one of the 3 will surely die and there's still a 2 in nine chance you'll get 3 of the same sex.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

you placed the new one into the display containing how many others...?

 

[block head]

you placed the new one into the display containing how many others...?

one.

 

[block head]

i've had a hard time just keeping them alive. i went through wild caught, aqua cultured, and capitive bred. i know there was a issue with the supply chain a while back. i finally had a breeding pair of captive bred fish. i lost the male, and i was attempting to find a replacement female. it's been failed attempt at a father /son breeding project.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

you're feeding them meaty frozen foods everyday, right?

 

[tmz]

Good point Gary. While mine peck at it they eat it sometimes more than others. I feed meaty frozen foods to my tank 2xper day. The borbonius anthias I have needs a lot of available food too.

 

[block head]

yup ,stay at home fish dork. i feed heavy . usually 2x or 3 x. mysis /cyclopeeze. it sucks. i like to buy in groups of three. first couple batches came in infected/without visible signs of sickness. lost whole batches. went to buying singles, always seemed to guess the wrong sex. usually you see aggression immediately. this time ,they waited for lights out to act up. i might just need to break down, and take detailed photos. if you look closely, you should be able to see tiny single/dual anal fins.

 

[windyridge]

I took a chance on two. One lasted a week, was killed by the other. The other has been with me 7 months, growing well and ate like a pig when it was growing from tiny to medium size where it is now. It would take huge pieces of meat and look silly swimming around with it in it's mouth. Now it's a little finicky but does eat. It prefers meaty food. It scratched it's eye last week on some rock I guess and had popeye. A week later it was all healed. I guess I was lucky and have a healthy specimen. Maybe get them when they are young? Mine were pretty small when I got the pair at ABC Reefs in Solvay.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Is there even a reliable way to sex these things?.

some claim there's a difference in jaw size or fin height. I don't know of anybody that can reliably sex these fish 100% of the time.

 

[NirvanaFan]

If they are a breeding pair, it is fairly easy to tell the male from female. But, I couldn't pick out a male from a female if they're not large and right next to each other.

 

[jaybfresh]

When I had a 6 foot tank I kept 3 with success, though 2 split off and one stayed on the other end

 

[tmz]

I know one of mine is a female because it was part of a mated breeding pair and the egg carrier, the male died. The other one which is in a differen t tank looks to have a wider jaw and I'd be it's a male but I',m not confident enough to catch it and put them together.

 

[block head]

it's been a while, but there are pics on mofib. the anal fin thing is reliable. the jaw/fin thing is easier with lrger fish. those captive raised abc fish are nice. that's where my pair came from.