WooHoo!! I have babies

[miracles38]

Just wanted to share my great experience this evening. My male bangaii has been carrying babies for about 23 days and tonight he literally came up to me and told me to get the babies out of his mouth! It was great. I was adding water to the top off and he came right up to the glass (since carrying the babies he stays back in the rocks mostly and won't come up as close as usual) and opened his mouth so I could see the babies in there swimming around. I got the two nets and he just stayed there and let me net him and then he spit them out. It was great! I have 11 babies and they are so cute. I hope they make it. I have already fed them frozen rotifers and they were stricking at them, so hopefully they got some. I started the bbs up and will have some in the morning. I had already started some, but they were too old for the babies now. So, here are some pictures:

Hopefully you can see them in the net box. I will get a sponge filter tomorrow and set-up a 10 gallon for them. If you have any advice on raising these cuties, please send it on!

 

[Reefugee]

Kim - Congratulation! For advice, your should check with Arlan (Undergrad) or Rian (ReefRian). They have been very successful in raising bangaiis.

 

[miracles38]

Thanks Minh.

I just found #12 in the long spine urchin. How do I get him out???

 

[Justin74]

:bounce3: :beer: :bounce2:

SWEET! Congradulations!Very awesome news!Thank you for sharing !!

-Justin

 

[thereefgeek]

Super excelent!!!
Once they're taking live foods well enough, give frozen Cyclop-eeze a try; small food size and fish absolutely love it. One of our members John Fernandez (mrclownfish) is using it with his baby clowns with great success and you can get the little bars at O- Street. Just remember to get the frozen because it suspends in the water column. The dry Cyclop-eeze floats and the babies end up ingesting air taking it from the surface.

Here's Rian & Arlan's thread on their clutch, and the Breeders forum has tons of info on Bangaii babies:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=3585658#post3585658

Let us know when they're sellable as I'd like to get one or two (hopefuly female). The three I got from R & A (now have two) all ended up male. I'm guessing from the agressive behavior of one toward the other.

 

[FunGuy]

Very neat. Congratulations!

 

[Undergrad]

Congratulations Kim! You are in for a treat of an experience. That is awesome your male let you catch him so easily. We usually have to chase ours around for a couple minutes and corall him into a corner in order to get him into a net. Definetely look into getting some sort of omega-3 fatty acid enrichment to enrich the live BBS with. I recommend Selcon.

Coincidentally, Rian and I just had another batch of babies on Saturday (6-3-06) -- 26 total. I was wondering where you got your banggai pair from? Are they wild caught or captive bred? If they don't trace back to us, I would definetely be interested in swapping a few babies with you so we can introduce a little genetic diversity into ours.

Rich - sorry to hear they all turned out male . Those are some pretty low odds of that happening ( 1 out of 9 or ~11%).

 

[ReefRian]

Congrats Kim! Be sure to check out some info on raising them. As they get bigger they get harder to keep alive.

To get the little guy out of the main tank area, the best way would be to remove the urchin since the fish will probably follow and but a cup or something under it since the fish can't follow it out of the water. Though this might not be good for the urchin or maybe your not suppose to touch them, I have no experience with them.

You could also use a syphon with a large diameter tube to lightly suck him out of the urchin without damaging him.

12 is a great number for your first clutch. Good luck raising them to adulthood.

Rian

 

[pepe.king.prawn]

Wow, that's great!!! I never had success raising clownfish fry, and would love to try bangaiis at some point. Let us know how it goes!

 

[miracles38]

Well, all 11 are still there this morning. I couldn't find #12 in the urchin so?? Undergrad - I got this pair from inlandaquatics - they are captive bred. I would be glad to swap some with you. I will keep everyone updated. Wish me luck!

 

[The Marmot]

Good luck, that is awesome!

 

[Mr.Nudibranch]

I always wonder how to tell if they are male or female because I would like to try to pair the 1 I have at home:love1: does anyone have any distinct ways of telling

 

[Fragmented]

I'm looking to pair my Banggai also. Mine is from Arlan and Rian's last batch.

Here is part of an article called "Captive care and Breeding of the Banggai cardinal fish "Pteragon kauderni"" By Frank Marini Ph.D.
January 31st, 1999

Sexing Banggais

This is the most asked question I receive, and the one question I cannot answer fully. Even though I have seen over 300 banggaiÃ"s I am only 50/50 on juvenile animals (animals under 1-1.5inches SVL). When the animals reach sexual maturity (12-14 months), then the jawline takes on a characteristic structure, particularly the male which gets squared off. The second dorsal fin is an excellent characteristic, as the males second dorsal extends past the caudal peduncle, however this flowing fin is often nipped off by other fish. The most accurate sexing method: My best method of sexing banggaiÃ"¢s is using my establish male [the original male banggai from the article]. I introduce another banggai into his tank and within 10 mins he either is trying to kill him (male) or trying to mate with it (female)...HE IS 100% ACCURATE!!! I have sexed many friends banggai this way. Alternatively you can buy 4 or 5 banggais allow then to reach sexual maturity and they will pair off, and please, please, return the unpaired banggais.

 

[presch52]

Congrats Kim on the babies!!

I have had my tank for a year and my first fish were a mated pair from inland aquatics as well. How long have you had yours before they started producing?? I am hoping mine will do the same but I am figuring it will take awhile????

Good luck with your extended family....

 

[Mr.Nudibranch]

loved the info sorry if I hijacked

 

[shilo_1]

Too cool ! Congrats and good luck !

 

[miracles38]

presch52 - I got my pair last summer, probably around April/May. This is about the 6th time that the male has carried eggs. The longest he had kept them before this was about 12-14 days. I didn't know if he would ever carry them the whole term. I also have quite a few fish in the tank and thought that was bothering him, but I guess not.

 

[presch52]

wow....6 times!!! And I thought mine were just too young....maybe they aren't a mated pair after all. Are you doing anyhing special with them???

Thanks for the info....

Paul

 

[miracles38]

I feed them lots of mysis with selcon. Other than that, not that I know. Did you order the mated pair from inland aquatics?

 

[presch52]

Yes, I bought them from inland about a year ago and paid around $90 for the pair. I absolutley love the fish but I am seriously wondering if they truly are a mated pair.

I have read that you can tell the fish apart by their jaw structure. To me, they look both the same...like a female. They don't fight and are typically together side by side most of the time.

I guess only time will tell.

Thanks for the info on the feeding...I feed mysis as well but I don't use selcon....heard of it but I have never used it.

Paul