Baby pictures

[Anonymous]

down to four this morning.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Lawdawg,

I hope the remaining Babies made it.

I had a new batch this morning so I thought you'd be interested in seeing them.

 

[Anonymous]

Too bad about the fry. Best of luck with the remaining babies.

 

[Anonymous]

Still have just the four....ah well better luck next time!

 

[Anonymous]

I "heard" that your Banggai pair are going to the big tank.

Just FYI - you can still attempt to rear Banggai Babies. The Pair these babies came from are in my 155 Bowfront reef tank.

There's a little trick to catching the male when the time is right.....

 

[Anonymous]

I looked at your baby pictures again and they look like very healthy Banggai. I don't think it was food related like I said earlier. I don't know what it could be though.

 

[Anonymous]

I "heard" that your Banggai pair are going to the big tank.

Just FYI - you can still attempt to rear Banggai Babies. The Pair these babies came from are in my 155 Bowfront reef tank.

There's a little trick to catching the male when the time is right.....

Really?Can ya share that secret?

 

[Anonymous]

Then it wouldn't be a secret.









































After all lights have been off for 3+ hours get a net and a clear container ready to catch a fish. Turn on all lights.

The Banggai, with their gloom piercing eyes, will be stunned for about 2 minutes and swim around randomly.

Use the net only to steer the male into the container. Move slowly like a piece of seaweed.

Thise 10,000,000 candlepower flashlights work too but it's best if you have a partner to keep the light on the male Banggai.

 

[Anonymous]

[pun]Brilliant![/pun] I suppose I should try and find a book on the subject as well but if you don't mind I'll pick you brain a bit more.

After you transfer him to the brood tank is there a concern the he will eat the fry after he releases them? Also, what's the typical amount of time from egg to release as he was chipmunk cheeked last week but apparently had them as he is back to eating now.

 

[Anonymous]

After you transfer him to the brood tank is there a concern the he will eat the fry after he releases them?

If there's no place for the fry to hide there is a 100% probabability that the male will eat them. He hasn't eaten in over 3 weeks and will be starving once his mouth is empty.

what's the typical amount of time from egg to release

For mine it has been 21 - 28 days. The wide range is determined by fish health before spawning (female) and temperature of the water.

The fry are able to be on their own for several days before they are actually released. If they have an eggsac don't feed them. I will often remove the eggs from the male and incubate them seperately. I get more eggs that way and the male is ready to spawn a lot sooner.

I've never seen a book on breeding Banggai. Everything I learned was from Dr. Frank Marini.

he was chipmunk cheeked last week but apparently had them as he is back to eating now

After the male has released the eggs try to target feed him to quickly get his weight back up. The female will be wanting to spawn ASAP and the eggs won't make it if the male hasn't put on enough weight to make it through a 3-4 week fast.

 

[Anonymous]

I've skimmed Dr. Marini's forum on ((coff another board coff)) and will look there for further info. Actually I posted something there yesterday with regard to a STUPID move on my part (I cross-contaminated my 'pod culture with brine shrimp-yeah I know dumb).

How do you 'manually remove' the eggs/fry from the male? Also, would it behoove me to isolate him afterwards in order to taget feed and up his breeding condition or will a prolonged separation effect the pair bonding?

I am seriously thinking about setting up abrooding area in my fishroom for this project as I think the challenge would be fun.

As always, thanks for the guidance.


Tracy

 

[Anonymous]

I remove the eggs very very carefully with the rounded end of a bent paperclip. I also do this after the Banggai has been sleeping for a few hours. It seems to take them a few minutes to wake up and by then I'm done. I don't understand how a small fish can be a sound sleeper and survive in the wild but that's an unrelated observation.

Seperating the male for feeding is the absolute best way to get weight back on them. Don't worry about pair bonding. Females Banggai will jump the best male that wanders by so when you reintroduce the male expect them to get friendly rather quickly.

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting stuff. Then I assume you incubate the eggs in a pre-conditioned BB tank like you would with freshwater egglayers? I've raised Discus/Angels w/out parents before. Perhaps a 5 gallon? Or do you go for something smaller, like a two liter glass cylinder to keep them in motion? Or is allowing the eggs to 'settle to the bottom' with very little current preferable?

You do know of course by telling me these things you're ensuring a nice supply of unrelated brood stock for yourself .

 

[Anonymous]

You do know of course by telling me these things you're ensuring a nice supply of unrelated brood stock for yourself .

LOL. I'm quite concerned for the species actually. More tank bred Banggai = less imported Banggai. But I would just love to get ahold of some more broodstock.

I use nothing fancy for the eggs. An upsidedown 2 Liter pop bottle with the bottom cut off fitted with some nylon screen at the big end and fed by 1/2" tubing at a rate that keeps the eggs barely suspended. As the fry hatch they swim over the top of the screen material into the 10 gallon tank with the previously hatched fry.

 

[Mihai]

I use nothing fancy for the eggs. An upsidedown 2 Liter pop bottle with the bottom cut off fitted with some nylon screen at the big end and fed by 1/2" tubing at a rate that keeps the eggs barely suspended. As the fry hatch they swim over the top of the screen material into the 10 gallon tank with the previously hatched fry.

I read this at least 5 times, and I still don't understand the part with the screen (more exactly how does it keep the previously hatched fry away from the eggs). A picture is worth a whole bunch of words .

BTW, Guy, if you sell the fry, I'd love a pair! I too had a pair of wild caught and they died in 3 days after not eating a thing. I assume cyanide.

M.

 

[Anonymous]

I assume cyanide.

I think there's some disease or parasite that wild Banggai have contracted and the stress of shipping allows the parasite or whatever to take over.

 

[Anonymous]

This is the incubator itself.

 

[Anonymous]

This is the growout. Notice that the incubator is slightly submerged. When the Banggai hatch they are able to swim out the top.

 

[Anonymous]

And... the money shot LOL

 

[Anonymous]

I see, even I can build something like that! Is that tank Bb or do you use a substrate?