Pants March 24, 2012 Share March 24, 2012 Hi everyone! This is my first post here. The only fish that was on my wife's list before we got the tank was Bangaii Cardinalfish so for her birthday last November I bought a pair of tank raised bangaii and QT'ed them secretly at work so she woke up on her birthday to surprise fish in the tank (we then went out to sushi taro). They were only ~4 months old when I got them (about the size of quarters) but by december 24 the male was holding eggs already (kids these days). On 17 January a single baby bangaii was released. I found him after lights out in the long spine sea urchin (first picture below). I thought the baby would have enough protection in the urchin, but alas by morning the baby bangaii was gone. I got the Long spine urchin from a NFS display tank at Rick's. At 2pm on February 16th I watched as the female passed the eggs to the male. She would come up alongside him and vibrate then she would move in front of him, eggs hanging out (next picture). On March 15 around 11pm I spotted a baby bangaii in the sea urchin. I fed to see if the male was done and he ate, so again just one fry. Not wanting to take chance again I used the feeding turkey baster to suck up the baby and moved it to a QT tank. I then ran around the house like a mad man trying to figure out what I had on hand to make a fake sea urchin. I guess I did alright because he has been hosting his fake urchin for the past week (next pic, day 1). I've been feeding frozen rotifers, cyclops, and freshly hatched brine but have seen no indication that it is eating other than it being bigger and not dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilary March 24, 2012 Share March 24, 2012 LOVE the fake sea urchin! Fingers crossed - let us know how it does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind March 24, 2012 Share March 24, 2012 Welcome to WAMAS and thanks for sharing the story. The fake sea urchin is awesome. Keep us posted on how the little guy does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad March 24, 2012 Share March 24, 2012 Love the ingenuity! Great job and welcome to WAMAS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainRon March 24, 2012 Share March 24, 2012 Very cool. I have a pair of Banggais and I'm hoping they mate someday. At this point I'm just hoping they're actually a pair. They've been in the tank for a month or two and haven't killed each other yet, although I did get them very small. Keep posting updates on how they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef March 24, 2012 Share March 24, 2012 Awesome job! Hope he makes it after all your hard work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunWyrm March 24, 2012 Share March 24, 2012 I'm in the same boat as CaptaintRon, at what point did you realize you had a pair? And what is your urchin made out of? Awesome job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveoutlaw March 24, 2012 Share March 24, 2012 Welcome to WAMAS! That is awesome......I'm going out today to get my second Bangaii and hopefully it will pair with the one I have. Good luck and keep us posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindeeo March 24, 2012 Share March 24, 2012 Another kudos for the urchin! Good luck with the new little ones! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants March 24, 2012 Author Share March 24, 2012 Thanks for all the well wishes. I actually saw him eat for this first time this morning. Doing those quick exaggerated darts at food that the big guys do. I knew it had been eating since it had grown, but I was never really sure what it was eating or when. I fattened up some brine shrimp on baker's yeast and fed those to him (the smell is terrible but he seems to like them). Not great for water quality so I am testing twice a day. The light is poor because of the fog but when the sun comes out I'll try to get a new photo. They've been in the tank for a month or two and haven't killed each other yet, although I did get them very small. Not killing each other is a good sign. When I bought mine I asked for the dominant on in the school and then one noticeably smaller. They were very small too; smaller than quarters. I QTed them in a 2.5G on my desk at work with beakers and erlenmeyer flasks to swim around. I'm in the same boat as CaptaintRon, at what point did you realize you had a pair? And what is your urchin made out of I hedged my bets by selecting the dominant one in the group of like 50 (much bigger than the others). Figured he was male. And then picked a middling one as a good guess for female (sort of like pairing clowns). They never fought much and looked a bit different, but of course I didn't know for sure until the male was holding eggs. The urchin is a piece of styrofoam with tooth picks stuck in it. I then pushed some wire through the styrofoam and through a suction cup and suction cupped it to the bottom of the tank so that it wouldn't float. He never leaves it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants March 24, 2012 Author Share March 24, 2012 Here he is today ~9 days old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveS March 25, 2012 Share March 25, 2012 Thanks for explaining the fake urchin. Couldn't tell due to lack of size reference. I thought you used pencils or chopsticks. Didn't realize how small the guy was until you said toothpicks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants March 25, 2012 Author Share March 25, 2012 They do look sort of huge in that shot without any perspective. Just normal toothpicks. Having the pictures side by side like this I can definitely tell he has grown. He might have even doubled in size already. When first released he looked like an eyeball with fins. Now he looks more like a mini version of the adult fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbh March 25, 2012 Share March 25, 2012 WOW! Congratulations! Thank you for the laugh with the "urchin" as it is a wonderful example of creativity. Keep it up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants April 1, 2012 Author Share April 1, 2012 The baby fish continues to grow. I think I've got him taking frozen food now (cyclops and rotifers) but I am continuing to feed brine. The bad news is the father is already holding a new clutch of eggs. I really don't think he should spend another month not eating so soon. Any advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals April 1, 2012 Share April 1, 2012 I think I'm more impressed with how quickly you were able to make a fake urchin Great job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef April 1, 2012 Share April 1, 2012 the males only take on eggs when they are ready too... Im not sure if he would do it to his own detriment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants April 1, 2012 Author Share April 1, 2012 He is now significantly smaller than the female because he has eaten so little this year. I think I've read that they will keep taking eggs until they starve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbh April 2, 2012 Share April 2, 2012 Is it possible to "bulk up" his food? Maybe separate him for a couple of days after the babies come to feed him? Just some thoughts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neto April 2, 2012 Share April 2, 2012 baby and urchin looks great!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunWyrm April 2, 2012 Share April 2, 2012 picspicspics? How fast is he growing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants April 3, 2012 Author Share April 3, 2012 Baby fish is doing well. He actually looks quite fat. I am getting sick of hatching brine though. Hopefully we'll get him 100% on frozen soon. I'm thinking of adding an eggcrate wall to the tank to separate the male from the female and see if I can harass him into eating the eggs or spitting them out so I can fatten him up more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants April 5, 2012 Author Share April 5, 2012 I'm thinking of switching entirely to frozen food after the current brine shrimp are used up. We have frozen cyclops and rotifers and I may pick up some frozen daphnia as well. Any opinions on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef April 5, 2012 Share April 5, 2012 im all for it...also to help you could make your own and add vitamins and fresh garlic juice too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants April 5, 2012 Author Share April 5, 2012 I have a supplement I've used a. Few times with both the live brine and the frozen food that has vitamins, Garlic, and HUFAs but the lil guy doesn't seem to like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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