cerreta
Premium Member
I wrote this story about three weeks ago for the local forum, but since the story has a continuation I thought I would list the story here and ask a few questions at the end.
I was referred by Olin to this forum, where he sais that Frank has experience with the Bangaii. Frank you out there?
The story of how Pobrecito came to be a miracle baby!
You thought Nemo had a treacherous beginning to life, meet Pobrecito!
I was looking into the sump at some frags and I saw a lil flashing in the back of the tank. As I squatted down for a better look I discovered a baby Bangaii Cardinalfish swimming around down there.
Just like a lil baby with tiny toes and tiny fingers, this lil guy was fully formed, except all his parts were tiny. He had long fins just like an adult Bangaii. He has become known as Pobrecito (poor little baby).
His story is totally amazing. His parents are kept in the Nano tank located adjacent to the main display on the chiller stand. I believe the father is mouth brooding right now. I have fed the fish the last two evenings and one Bangaii eats while the other refuses to take food. A good sign of mouth brooding. However, his cheeks are not puffy from babies. So, I think the other guys have some growing to do, if there are still in papa’s mouth. If not, then the story of Pobrecito parallels the sole survivorship of Nemo even more closely.
So here is the story:
Pobrecito must have escaped from his fathers jaws into the wild as a mere morsel. And morsel he was to the saddleback clownfish and four stripe-headed gobies (the little ¾†long guys). After escaping near death of being a morsel, he managed to get spit through Niagara Falls. The water crashed through teeth of the overflow filter. From here, Pobrecito had to get sucked into a whirlpool created by a Durso Standpipe with an attached strainer. So image the size of him at this stage of life. Thos slits in the strainer are about 1/8" apart.
From here a one way trip through a water slide crashes into the sump. The amazing part is that his life was likely to end since the water dumps into a filter sock that is tightly sealed shut and the opening of the sock is suspended above the water level. However, I recall a time last week when the sock became clogged and the water would pour over the sock. This must have been his master plan to escape all along.
The journey does not end there. Next he had to travel to the depths of the deep, dark sump where scary worms and crustaceans live. This must have been as scary as Nemo’s adventure to the deep dark waters where he met a frogfish. Next, he swam under the drain chamber baffle while avoiding a sucking pump. Then the water got colder, darker and stiller as he was in the Live Rock Fragment chamber. Like a maze he had to wiggle and squirm his way through the jungle of rock towards the light. And then came an oasis awaiting his arrival.
Pobrecito came to rest in a converted refugium. While most of the weeds are gone, the water is calm, the sand is smooth and white, and small corals are scattered about. Ahhhhhh . . . heaven! As his heartbeat began to normalize and his belly began to stir, he caught glimpses of food everywhere. Little copepods danced right into his mouth. Even Marlin could not ask for a better place to raise his only survivor. In fact, I think his father will find his way (not the hard way) to the oasis so his brothers and sisters (if they are still incubating) can grow up in such an oasis.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i126/sdcerreta/Prodibio-3-Months082.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i126/sdcerreta/Prodibio-3-Months069.jpg
Update 10-4-06
I finished plumbing the nano today. The next step was to put the LR, zoos, and fish back in the tank. The bummer is that a yellow short stripe goby died
During the process of netting the Bangaii cardinalfish I was stressing them out big-time. They are darty and hard to catch. Finally I got one and off to the new nano she went.
Then after I finally caught the male, I placed him in the new nano and his guts eviscerated from his mouth. They were caught in the net and I was trying to free him. Finally he was free and it looked like he was swimming around while trying to eat his own guts, gross! After a closer inspection I noticed that the guts, he had swallowed were causing his chin to bulge. I could actually see swelling in his chin region then it dawned on me. These guts were unhatched eggs. Reflecting back on what I saw, there was a cluster shiny things each one about the size of a big pin head. They were pearly and round. They stuck to each other. Papa was probably stressed out during the capture and was probably going to release the eggs to save his own life.
In the past month since Pobrecito was discovered, I had given up on capturing his papa because I never saw him mouth brooding. The part that sucks is that now he was back in the nano reef and I missed my opportunity to place him down in the sump with Pobrecito where he would be safe to spit out his fry. After looking at him for a moment I realized that maybe I could net him. Sure enough I got lucky. The bangaii were dazed by the new surroundings and papa swam right into the net. By the way, it was easy at this point to tell which one was Papa, because his chin was obviously swollen in appearance compared to mama. He is now safe in the sump-a-fuge with Pobrecito and a bunch of copepods. Papa immediately took cover in a cave. This would be a perfect place for him to release the fry.
I wonder how long it will take for the eggs to hatch and be released?
Once the young are released I should I scoop up Papa and put him back with mama in the nano?
So, if Papa still has eggs in his mouth, then Pobrecito must have been from another batch of babies. Is this true? Pobrecito is about the size of a dime (including fins).
I was referred by Olin to this forum, where he sais that Frank has experience with the Bangaii. Frank you out there?
The story of how Pobrecito came to be a miracle baby!
You thought Nemo had a treacherous beginning to life, meet Pobrecito!
I was looking into the sump at some frags and I saw a lil flashing in the back of the tank. As I squatted down for a better look I discovered a baby Bangaii Cardinalfish swimming around down there.
Just like a lil baby with tiny toes and tiny fingers, this lil guy was fully formed, except all his parts were tiny. He had long fins just like an adult Bangaii. He has become known as Pobrecito (poor little baby).
His story is totally amazing. His parents are kept in the Nano tank located adjacent to the main display on the chiller stand. I believe the father is mouth brooding right now. I have fed the fish the last two evenings and one Bangaii eats while the other refuses to take food. A good sign of mouth brooding. However, his cheeks are not puffy from babies. So, I think the other guys have some growing to do, if there are still in papa’s mouth. If not, then the story of Pobrecito parallels the sole survivorship of Nemo even more closely.
So here is the story:
Pobrecito must have escaped from his fathers jaws into the wild as a mere morsel. And morsel he was to the saddleback clownfish and four stripe-headed gobies (the little ¾†long guys). After escaping near death of being a morsel, he managed to get spit through Niagara Falls. The water crashed through teeth of the overflow filter. From here, Pobrecito had to get sucked into a whirlpool created by a Durso Standpipe with an attached strainer. So image the size of him at this stage of life. Thos slits in the strainer are about 1/8" apart.
From here a one way trip through a water slide crashes into the sump. The amazing part is that his life was likely to end since the water dumps into a filter sock that is tightly sealed shut and the opening of the sock is suspended above the water level. However, I recall a time last week when the sock became clogged and the water would pour over the sock. This must have been his master plan to escape all along.
The journey does not end there. Next he had to travel to the depths of the deep, dark sump where scary worms and crustaceans live. This must have been as scary as Nemo’s adventure to the deep dark waters where he met a frogfish. Next, he swam under the drain chamber baffle while avoiding a sucking pump. Then the water got colder, darker and stiller as he was in the Live Rock Fragment chamber. Like a maze he had to wiggle and squirm his way through the jungle of rock towards the light. And then came an oasis awaiting his arrival.
Pobrecito came to rest in a converted refugium. While most of the weeds are gone, the water is calm, the sand is smooth and white, and small corals are scattered about. Ahhhhhh . . . heaven! As his heartbeat began to normalize and his belly began to stir, he caught glimpses of food everywhere. Little copepods danced right into his mouth. Even Marlin could not ask for a better place to raise his only survivor. In fact, I think his father will find his way (not the hard way) to the oasis so his brothers and sisters (if they are still incubating) can grow up in such an oasis.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i126/sdcerreta/Prodibio-3-Months082.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i126/sdcerreta/Prodibio-3-Months069.jpg
Update 10-4-06
I finished plumbing the nano today. The next step was to put the LR, zoos, and fish back in the tank. The bummer is that a yellow short stripe goby died
During the process of netting the Bangaii cardinalfish I was stressing them out big-time. They are darty and hard to catch. Finally I got one and off to the new nano she went.Then after I finally caught the male, I placed him in the new nano and his guts eviscerated from his mouth. They were caught in the net and I was trying to free him. Finally he was free and it looked like he was swimming around while trying to eat his own guts, gross! After a closer inspection I noticed that the guts, he had swallowed were causing his chin to bulge. I could actually see swelling in his chin region then it dawned on me. These guts were unhatched eggs. Reflecting back on what I saw, there was a cluster shiny things each one about the size of a big pin head. They were pearly and round. They stuck to each other. Papa was probably stressed out during the capture and was probably going to release the eggs to save his own life.
In the past month since Pobrecito was discovered, I had given up on capturing his papa because I never saw him mouth brooding. The part that sucks is that now he was back in the nano reef and I missed my opportunity to place him down in the sump with Pobrecito where he would be safe to spit out his fry. After looking at him for a moment I realized that maybe I could net him. Sure enough I got lucky. The bangaii were dazed by the new surroundings and papa swam right into the net. By the way, it was easy at this point to tell which one was Papa, because his chin was obviously swollen in appearance compared to mama. He is now safe in the sump-a-fuge with Pobrecito and a bunch of copepods. Papa immediately took cover in a cave. This would be a perfect place for him to release the fry.
I wonder how long it will take for the eggs to hatch and be released?
Once the young are released I should I scoop up Papa and put him back with mama in the nano?
So, if Papa still has eggs in his mouth, then Pobrecito must have been from another batch of babies. Is this true? Pobrecito is about the size of a dime (including fins).
