Peeping Banggai Fry

Still holding as of this morning. I counted from the first day he quit eating. I actually saw the eggs in his mouth on day 5/6 so that could be where the time line may be off. They are very active inside his mouth and appear to be trying to get out. If he hasn't released by the time I get home tonight I'll try to force him. Could him holding so long be because it's his first time? I keep the tank in the 76/77 degree range.

I had a real problem trying to find a tank bred pair. While searching on this site I ran across an old thread about Inland Aquatics breeding them on site. I sent them an e-mail and it just so happened that they had some almost ready to ship. About a week and a half later I got them. Sold to me as a juvenile m/f pair and they starting breeding while still in QT tank.
 
Okay here we go!
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I corralled him into the pitcher with a net. He offered very little resistance, he was just plain weak and wore out. He spit two out in the net, which I found later, one in the tank, which I found when I turned the pumps back on and the rest in the pitcher.

I have a total of 19!
DSCN3998.jpg

For size reference that is the cap from a gallon milk jug for the most awesome homemade fake urchin in the world.

They are currently in a breeder box in my 37 gallon puffer tank. It is a low flow tank and water quality won't be an issue.

FEEDING IS THE ISSUE!
How much am I suppose to feed them. As soon as I put them in I filled an eyedropper up with BBS that I hatched last night, that I had in the frig, and squirted a little in to see how it would go. It looked like a feeding frenzy on Shark Week. So I feed them some more, and a little more and then some more. They kept eating. So how much is to much?

I'm hatching BBS every night. After feeding I'll put the remaining in the frig for the next mornings feeding. After the morning feeding I'll add Selcon and put back in the frig until I get home. So here is the schedule, freshly hatched BBS about 10 p.m. right before lights out, the ones from the night before (out of the frig) again about 7 a.m. the next morning then adding Selcon and finally the enriched out of the frig as soon as I get home about 5:30 p.m.. Is this going to be okay?

More later, I have BBS to harvest. :D
 
Hey that is great, congrats. I would feed them until they are done eating. Little guys like that can't go long without eating, so if it is going to be several hours between feeding make sure they get full.
 
Thanks.

Is it possible to feed to much?

The waste is not a problem since they're in the big tank. But that puffer they're in there with I have to regulate her food, they have been know to eat themselves to death.
 
Still have all 19 as of this morning.

I plan to siphon the bottom of the breeder trap tonight since it's starting to get a little junk on the bottom. I also plan on getting another breeder trap in the next few days I've read that they start showing more aggression as they get older and also since it's starting to look a little crowded in there.

Still trying to decide on a grow out tank. I have a 20 long available and all the equipment needed to set it up already on hand, or I've been toying with the idea of putting them in a 60 gallon shallow (48x24x12) that I'm setting up now.

Congrats on finding a pair.
 
I still have all 19 and they've almost doubled in size. It is amazing how much they can eat and how fast they grow.

I've had to step up my brine hatching because I almost ran out of food day before yesterday. I was hatching 1/8 tsp in a 20 oz water bottle but now I'm doing 1/2 tsp in a 1 liter bottle. I'm not going to get caught short agin. I have one container of freshly hatched, one 12-24 hrs old w/selcon and one 24-48 hrs w/selcon. Anything over 48 hours old is discarded.

Them staying in the puffer tank is becoming a problem. Now that they are bigger and more active the puffer sees them as food. I have caught her a couple times trying to bite through the breeder box. So I'm starting to set up the 20 gallon long to move them into.

The plan is a 20 gallon long, two 50 watt heaters, maxi-jet 400 for flow, HOB filter, bare bottom with base rock and live rock. Does this sound okay? My only real concern is the live rock will have to come out of my two existing tanks so I have to be sure not to remove to much to cause a cycle in them but enough for the babies.
 
I think that sounds good. You may want to do a water change in the puffer tank and put the old water into the 20 where the banggais are going. Be carefull of the intake on the HOB, you may need to put something over it to keep them from being sucked in.
 
That's a good idea, wish I would have thought of that yesterday before I did my water change.

I'm going to start making more water tonight for the 20 so I should be able to fill it on Thursday. Test for a couple of days to make sure I don't get a mini cycle and if everything goes okay I should be able to move them the first part of the week.

Do you think it would hurt anything to put a frag rack in there also? I have a bunch of kenya tree and candy cane frags that are starting to clutter up my DT's.
 
They are looking great John. I am not sure about the frag rack, its worth a shot, you will just have to keep a closer eye on water quality with 19 fast growing banggais in there.
 
I've already decided against the frag rack. I'm just going to build one out of eggcrate and keep it in the puffer tank.

Isn't today the big day?
 
It was supposed to be. Inland didn't send me the invoice until I was already at work yesterday, so I could not get them the money in time to have the fish shipped. I'll try again next week. It has been a little difficult to place my order. It seems like a good company, just not well organized.
 
I was lucky and he was able to send the invoice to me at work so I didn't have to deal with that. I hope it works out for you.

Did my last adjustment of salt so water is mixing and if everything goes okay I fill it tomorrow. I'll put in some dry rock and a couple pieces of live rock, after it get to temperature, from the puffer tank and test it with a little ammonia. If it can process it pretty quickly then I'll move them over.

When can I start trying some other foods, like cyclopeeze?
 
Congratulation on your babies!
From my experience we placed 7 babies in a nursery, even at this young age the bigger babies will keep the smaller ones from eating.

BEST OF LUCK!
 
Thanks for that info. It could be useful in the future. I'm just about ready to move them into a 20 gallon long, but I do have another breeder trap if needed.

As far as feeding goes I feed them with a 3ml eyedropper and it works great. I'm able to squirt food to different parts of the breeder trap and it keeps them spread out real well and so far everyone is getting their fill.
 
Well I got them moved today, but not into the 20 long. I still need some more time to get my head wrapped around exactly how I'm going to do it. So for right now here is what I did:
DSCN4067.jpg


I built a cage for two breeder traps. I put 10 in the back and 9 in the front. They were moved using the bottom of a 12oz clear plastic bottle. I thought I had lost one because when I transferred it it floated to the bottom and laid on it's side. When I fanned some water on it to get it out of the corner so I could net it out it righted itself and swam off.

They have not eaten near as well since the move. I hope they get over it quickly.
 
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