Banggai babies found by accident!

Oldsalt · Apr 4, 2019

Hello folks was putting in new coral this morning and I caught sight of these 3 minuscule Banggai . Caught them and put them in grow out.
Will they eat brine shrimp fresh hatch? I have a kit but they will take 12 odd hours to hatch. I don't want these guys starving. I also have marine fry powder. Never thought my Banggais would breed..

ludnix · Apr 4, 2019

I understand they are very likely to eat freshly hatched brineshrimp. Congratulations!

MnFish1 · Apr 4, 2019

if they have survived to this size - the likelyhood is that they are getting something in the tank - CONGRATULATIONS (Granted there were probably many more - but still).

MnFish1 · Apr 4, 2019

PS what are the other small fish in that container? Are you a fish whisperer?

Oldsalt · Apr 5, 2019

MnFish1 said:
PS what are the other small fish in that container? Are you a fish whisperer?

Fish whisperer lol

They're baby Mollies from the pair that were added after acclimation to salt. I have had them for over 9 months. Nobody wants the Mollies but the female has babies every 30 days (clowns every 14) and they ultimately get eaten before I can grab them. This time last week I saw the mother having babies so I scooped her up and put her in the mesh trap. Now I have 30 salt born Mollies. I will acclimate some back to fresh and trade at LFS and others will go to friends establishing marine tanks.
I can't seem to find any more Banggais. I have a feeling that there are more but also likely lots were eaten by my 6 line or the parents. They are large for new born. What were they eating other than pods? I do have millions.. I put brine eggs on the "cooker" - at least another 18 hours till they begin to hatch. No LFS has live brine. One has frozen rots. Not sure if they'll be eaten though. I have coral to set so I'll be looking for other Banggais.

Oldsalt · Apr 5, 2019

PS. I just fed the molly babies with powdered fry food (can also be used as slurry to target feed coral) and the 3 Banggai are eating it. Go figure!

Smarkow · Apr 5, 2019

Congrats! I got one baby banggai to a cm size just by not noticing him in my sump until a second batch came through... I wish I had left them in the sump, when I put them into their own tank they wouldn't eat enough and slowly starved.

@pdisner gives good advice.

Oldsalt · Apr 5, 2019

Hmmmm .. Put them back in the tank? I'd hate to lose them..thanks for the heads up.

Smarkow · Apr 5, 2019

Haha PLEASE don't take my advice, mine didn't make it after all! Just sharing my experience, bc next round of babies are staying in that fuge below

Oldsalt · Apr 5, 2019

Smarkow said:
Haha PLEASE don't take my advice, mine didn't make it after all! Just sharing my experience, bc next round of babies are staying in that fuge below

I meant thanks for the heads up re - @pdisner there's lots of posts to follow.

It's ironic that many people have found fry in their sumps. I had a clownfish fry in mine which grew up there. I didn't risk moving it because it looked so fragile but was feeding on pods. I later traded him in for goods at my LFS. I watched a YouTube video of several clowns growing well in a sump. How they manage to get through a virtual Niagara Falls then through a maize of bubble traps, impellers, etc., never ceases to amaze me. My 3 Banggais babies are feeding on 1 micron fry/coral powder. I think they saw the mollie fry eating and followed suit. I started a batch of BBS over 8 hours ago anyway. These little guys are too precious to risk losing.

reef lover · Apr 5, 2019

Congratulations thats awesome!

Oldsalt · Apr 5, 2019

I was taking photos to show the difference between the male and the female. The male is carrying more babies. They're not anywhere as big as the 3 I have but have a look. I zoomed and shot. Notice how squared off his mouth is compared to the female. Also looks like an upward pointing arrow in white that she doesn't have - instead she only has 2 parallel white lines much closer together. For me it's an easy way to sex them. Anyway here are shots. If anyone cares to hazard a guess as to when he releases these go for it. I certainly can't !! Sorry about the "Naso small"

Tang in the way of the Banggai. He always thinks I'm going to give him Nori. OMG can he go through sheets of the stuff if I let him.

Oldsalt · Apr 5, 2019

Oops... That other is still the male Here's the female

Oldsalt · Apr 5, 2019

PS see that Demoiselle damsel over the hammer? I just bought that hammer for my Euphillia garden and temporarily placed it in a groove in some LR. Well, that damsel keeps hovering over it and the hammer is releasing either eggs or pods a bunch at a time. Then it all gets eaten. When it slows down, the damsel picks on the hammer until it retracts and spits out more. I think they're pods. Little rat bag Demoiselles have made a lot of work for me by undermining almost every temp coral placement - as I'm eyeing up the view, they go under the coral frag plug and flick it up. Because it's not glued in yet, I have to start all over!! They also seem to take joy in making me miserable by digging out under LR so far that it collapses an entire structure. Happened twice in 6 months. Now it happened again but only where I knew it could happen. The 2 other spots have the base LR on the bottom glass. I'm about to do the last side tomorrow. It's a tough job for an old fart! I was going to do it tonight but my clowns are laying as I write. This time it's a huge amount of eggs.

Smarkow · Apr 5, 2019

Great pics. What do you run in your sump? My sump has a 30 gallon cryptic section and a 50 gallon fuge, no skimmer and the return is sectioned off. I wonder if people with skimmers or reactors would have issues keeping fry in their sumps.

Oldsalt · Apr 5, 2019

Smarkow said:
Great pics. What do you run in your sump? My sump has a 30 gallon cryptic section and a 50 gallon fuge, no skimmer and the return is sectioned off. I wonder if people with skimmers or reactors would have issues keeping fry in their sumps.

I have a ~100 gallon sump (tank plus sump = 400 ~ gallons). I explained its complete layout in another post asking for advice a few days ago but nobody bothered to comment which, I have to admit, got me a little bummed out.

Here's the post link.
https://www.reef2reef.com/posts/5900595/

Captain Quint · Apr 5, 2019

Congrats @Oldsalt! I love it.

Oldsalt · Apr 5, 2019

Thanks guys!! You made my day!!

Captain Quint · Apr 5, 2019

Oldsalt said:
Thanks guys!! You made my day!!

Actually, you made our day.

reef lover · Apr 5, 2019

Oldsalt said:
I was taking photos to show the difference between the male and the female. The male is carrying more babies. They're not anywhere as big as the 3 I have but have a look. I zoomed and shot. Notice how squared off his mouth is compared to the female. Also looks like an upward pointing arrow in white that she doesn't have - instead she only has 2 parallel white lines much closer together. For me it's an easy way to sex them. Anyway here are shots. If anyone cares to hazard a guess as to when he releases these go for it. I certainly can't !! Sorry about the "Naso small" Tang in the way of the Banggai. He always thinks I'm going to give him Nori. OMG can he go through sheets of the stuff if I let him.

Id guess it won't be long! I can see thier little faces! If you have a spare tank or breeders net to put him in it would be easier to catch the babies. And i like to use a fake urchin for them to hide in so dad dont eat them.