The Pants/Sharkey Bangaii Breeding program…..

[Sharkey18]

So I finally have a mated pair of Bangaiis! Yay! 

 

Gregg ( Pants) and I have been working together for a while now raising up his Bangaii fry. He has a VERY happy breeding pair and has gotten quite talented at capturing the babies after the male releases them. At some point after "birth" he's been transferring some babies to me and I attempt to raise them without losing too many. He seems to travel a lot and those baby fish are ravenous little beasts…. 

 

In the first clutch I think I raised 2 successfully and they were sold. In the 2nd clutch (3) I raised 2 successfully and still have them. I also purchased a third wild caught fish.  Well, a few weeks ago the two I still had from Gregg started fighting so I knew they were same gender. I split them up and put one with the wild caught fish and they paired up immediately. 

 

That pair has mated, the wild caught was a female and the Pants baby was a male and he is now holding eggs. They are still young fish so this first clutch may not be successful but at least I have a pair now. 

 

Greggs fish also just released babies so I will have a quite a stock of tank bred babies this month. 

 

I would like to say that the partnership between Gregg and I has been really cool. It is another example of how this group brings people together to accomplish something we may not be able to do on our own. 

 

 

 

 

[smallreef]

Awesome!

[YHSublime]

That's pretty cool stuff! Is it hard work like clowns?

[Coral Hind]

Congrats on the newly mated pair. This is a great thing you two are doing!

[smallreef]

Oh and I think sharkey/pants sounds better,lol may not be correct...but so much more fun!

[Neto]

That is great news, pants is a cool guy I met him a while ago.. Would love to see pictures and show some love to wamas and sell some of those to us! at discounted price of course! lol

[CaptainRon]

Very cool Laura!

[Origami]

Congratulations!

[Incredible Corals]

Awesome! Hopefully you have a lot of success so I can carry them

[AlanM]

I purchased a pair of banggai cardinals from Brett at nicewrasse.com that were sold as a breeding, mated pair.  They seem to have settled into my tank well and are out and about often jostling with the others at food time.  I'd love for them to have an environment where they felt comfortable breeding again and a way to do it successfully. 

 

Think there's a possibility of giving a rundown of what you have found works and doesnt?  I'm doing some reading too, so is it OK if I come to you guys with questions?

[Sharkey18]

Absolutely. 

 

I keep my pair in a separate tank. This makes it easier to raise the fry. I think Pants has his in his display and has to try and scoop up the fry as soon as they are born so that they don't all get eaten.  

 

I keep mine in a small tank until about day 18. Then I remove any other fish. Once the male releases the baby, I remove him also and then I have all the babies in a small tank (20g). When they are really small I have almost no flow in the tank. I feed baby brine shrimp soaked in selcon for a long time. Until they start taking frozen. 

[AlanM]

OK.  I have an empty 55 downstairs.  Maybe I'll use it to raise banggai fry to add to your breeding program. 

 

I'm going to make a long spine urchin out of a handful of black coffee stirrers and a ball of reef epoxy to see if that makes them happier, 8).  I don't really want a real one in the tank at the moment. 

[Jason Rhoads]

Congrats Laura! The two I got from Pants (through you) are doing very well. Not sure if they are M/F, but they don't fight. 

[Sharkey18]

Hey Jason, If they don't fight they could either be two females, or a pair. Since those two are from the clutch before mine I would expect them to be breeding by now if they were opposite genders.

 

 

 Glad to hear they are doing well! 

[lutz123]

Hey Jason, If they don't fight they could either be two females, or a pair. Since those two are from the clutch before mine I would expect them to be breeding by now if they were opposite genders.

 

 

 Glad to hear they are doing well!

 

Have you tried sexing them using the vent method?

[Sharkey18]

I have tried using the vent method but I found it nearly impossible. I usually take a photo and then enlarge it on my computer, and I still can't tell. 

 

I just match them up based on behavior. It's really easy. The problem with that is having enough fish to play matchmaker with and having them in small enough tanks so that they are easy to catch and move them around.  Also you have to wait until they are approaching breeding age. 

[Jason Rhoads]

Yeah, I thought they were getting to the right size/age for breeding. Oh well, I am happy they are getting along so well, they are beautiful fish!

[tomtom2245]

This is awesome. I've had a pair for about 6 months now and I think they just started breeding. The male's mouth is huge and he's been hiding all the time now.

[Sharkey18]

That is great!  They do hide when they are brooding. Are you going to try and collect the babies? 

 

 

My male dropped his clutch. I wasn't surprised because my pair is really young and that often happens until the male gets the hang of it. 

 

But I did get 17 babies from Pants and they are all doing well.  

[Pants]

I thought I'd start using this thread instead of the old one to announce the Male Bangaii has been holding eggs since 25 December.

 

tomtom how is your male doing? I only got a single fish out of my pair's first attempt.

[Sharkey18]

Dude, Your pair is prolific! 

Edited January 8, 2014 by Sharkey18

[Pants]

This is why the male is still smaller than the female. Poor guy never takes much if a break.

[mr.x-ray]

This is why the male is still smaller than the female. Poor guy never takes much if a break.

I read in think it was coral magazine the author would seperate the male for a week or so to let him fatten up after a few sets. As soon as he went back in with the female they would breed again. Also said that if he is constantly carrying eggs that he will start spitting them out to eat and rarely carry the eggs full term.

[Sharkey18]

Here's a photo update of the last clutch I got from Pants. I started with 17 or 18 but only count 15 in the photo. 

 

[Sharkey18]

My male is holding eggs again, so maybe this time he'll keep them. I've made some changes in his tank. I removed a small hippo tang who was harassing the pair, so there are no other fish in that tank now. Also been feeding blackworms to help his nutrition.